The EUI has an open vacancy for a
Research Assistant in the
Department of Law
Florence, 01 July 2026
Reference: V/RA/LAW/2/2026
Who we are
The European University Institute (EUI) at a glance:
- an international organisation set up in 1972;
- a research university focusing exclusively on postgraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral studies, and advanced research;
- located in the hills overlooking the city of Florence, Italy.
The Institute also hosts the Historical Archives of the European Union.
The Department of Law is European and international in character, comparative in its approach and contextual in its perspectives. It is committed to the study of law in its many facets. The Department's researchers study the challenges facing European law, private law, constitutional and administrative law, public and private international law, climate change law, environmental law, competition law and economic regulation, and algorithmic, computational and digital law with PhD opportunities across social, cultural, political and economic topics. The Department's methods are diverse. The spectrum of research developed in the department spans doctrinal legal research, critical legal studies, empirical analysis, law and economics, law and technology, comparative law, and more.
Employment details
Contract type
Full-time (30/30, 40 hours/week).
Length of contract
9 months, with possibility of extension for another 9 months.
Start date 1 October 2026 (or soon after)
Academic contracts at the EUI may be further renewed (several times and conditional to the availability of funds), leading to an extension of the period of service up to a total of 5 years, including the first contract period.
Salary indication and grade
Grade: ASTAC1b step 1
The basic net monthly salary after taxes is approximately 2980 Euro, plus allowances if applicable.
More information about conditions of employment is available here.
Place of work
To be agreed with Project Director (salary simulation based on place of work Florence, Italy)
About the project
Project Director
Prof. Mathias Siems
Project details
Justice-In-Context (JUST-IN): Social Practices, Local Realities and the Everyday Work of Judicial Independence in Europe.
The EUI's role in this project extends through several work packages: it has some involvement in developing the common methodological framework (a mixed-methods research design), the application of the tools developed in the project, and academic and policy-related publications. The EUI's primary task is the development of the Judicial Independence Codebook, which seeks to establish a unified and operational classification framework for the systematic identification and coding of the multiple dimensions of judicial independence.
The Codebook will span formal safeguards, administrative practices, managerial and efficiency-driven routines and informal networks. It will be directly adapted for qualitative data analysis (QDA) (and, possibly, natural language processing (NLP)) and will serve as the backbone of the data analysis. The coding framework will be multilingual and context-specific: keyword dictionaries will be developed per country to reflect local languages, idioms and legal-cultural meanings of judicial independence. In its outcome, it will also code and analyse case law to identify how judicial independence is interpreted and operationalised in practice.
Job description
The research assistant will provide research support to the Director of the project. Main tasks include:
- Assisting the preliminary work activities (literature review, overview of existing measures, datasets and codebooks);
- Contributing to the design and creation of the Judicial Independence Codebook and the subsequent data collection;
- Assisting the EUI's general involvement in the JUST-IN project, including the communication and dissemination of its scientific activities, its data analysis and management, and the organisational coordination of all the scientific activities in of the EUI's contribution
- Contributing to the preparation of research outputs following the initial work, including academic articles, background papers and presentations
Qualifications and experience
Qualifications and Experience
Essential:
- Master's degree in law or in a related field (eg, political science)
- Proven knowledge of quantitative research methods applied to legal studies or related fields;
- Proven analytical, writing and communication skills acquired through previous experience;
- Strong demonstrated organisational and teamwork skills, with the ability to take initiative, manage competing priorities, and consistently meet deadlines
Desirable:
- Completed PhD in Law or in a related field (eg, political science)
- Proven experience in research which has applied quantitative methods in law;
- Demonstrated experience in research which has dealt with courts in Europe.
Languages
Excellent knowledge of English, both spoken and written (CEFR level: C1 or above). Knowledge of other official EU languages constitutes an advantage.
How to apply
Deadline
The closing date for applications is 16 July 2026 at midnight (Florence time)
Contact details
For more information contact Ian Devine (Ian.Devine@eui.eu)
How to apply
Fill in the online application form and upload the following documents:
- Full CV, including degrees and list of publications
- Motivation letter (2 pages maximum)
Data Protection
The purpose of processing the data submitted by candidates is to manage their application in view of a possible pre-selection and recruitment by the EUI. The information candidates provide in their application form is collected for the purpose of the selection procedure. The EUI will ensure that candidates' personal data are processed as required by its Data Protection Policy (President's Decision No. 10/2019 of 18 February 2019 regarding Data Protection at the EUI).
Equal opportunities
The European University Institute applies a policy of equal opportunities, which, in accordance with Article 1d of its Staff Regulations, prohibits discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation.