Postdoctoral Position at iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
fuldtid
Postdoctoral Position at iCourts, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen
The Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen is inviting applications for a postdoctoral position available from February 1, 2026, for a duration of 2 years. Successful candidates will join the Xhaile project at the Department of Computer Science and the iCourts, Centre of Excellence at the Faculty of Law, both at University of Copenhagen.
About the project: Xhaile – Explainable Hybrid AI for Computational Law and Accurate Legal Chatbots
Xhaile is a larger interdisciplinary research endeavour. The PI for the project is Professor Thomas Hildebrandt and the legal aspect is led by Prof. Henrik Palmer Olsen. The project’s research focus is computational law. Traditionally there are two ways of making law subject to computational representation. One way is through digital modelling of statutory law. The other way is through case based reasoning systems. The recent upshot of Large Language Models (LLMs) have given more attention to the latter and has led to the development of various forms of legal AI-assistants and conversational legal agents. Various benchmark datasets have been introduced to enable researchers to benchmark and compare different language models and approaches in the legal domain. Recent work has added benchmarks for language understanding in Danish, but it remains a challenge to produce trustworthy benchmarks for legal reasoning.
With a focus on developing AI assistants that can support activities such as applications for welfare services, assessing GDPR requirements, and other such activities, the project seeks to investigate how this can be done responsibly. The project will focus on both legal content (for example by developing benchmarks for the performance of chatbots designed to help applicants or caseworkers) and processes (for example how to design user interfaces so as to avoid unwanted user behavior) as well as distribution of legal responsibility for chatbots, once launched.
The postdoc project will collaborate with the larger research group of lawyers and computer scientists to develop a State-of-the art and metrics for legal benchmarks that can be operationalised in validating the quality of legal AI assistants. The postdoc will also be responsible for developing a benchmark for one or more specific areas of law (specific areas to be selected by the larger research group).
More information about the research project and its aims and methods may be found here: https://jura.ku.dk/icourts/research/artificial-legal-intelligence/
About iCourts
iCourts, Centre of Excellence for International Courts and Governance was originally set up as a research centre dedicated to the study of international courts. Today the centre engages a broader agenda concerning courts and legal governance at the international, transnational and national levels. This includes questions related to innovation in legal governance in society, ranging from the creation of new courts to AI and legal decision-making to the public engagement with courts and legal governance. The centre’s mission is to provide basic science explorations the role of law and courts in governing society. The centre often employs interdisciplinary and empirical methods to attain its objectives.
About the position
Successful candidates will be required to:
Required qualifications
Applicants must hold a PhD, JSD, or equivalent degree in law or social sciences (e.g., political science, sociology, international relations). Candidates should either have obtained or expect to obtain the required degree by fall 2025. Proficiency in English (written and spoken) is essential. Successful candidates will demonstrate a track record or clear potential for high-quality peer-reviewed research publications in top international outlets.
The overall assessment will emphasize the applicant’s research and teaching experience and potential, with special attention to their track record of excellence and interest in developing impactful research ideas. Experience in collaborative research and teaching activities is also valued.
Salary and terms of employment
The appointment is temporary and will be made in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC). In addition to the basic salary, you will receive an annual supplement per month and a total contribution to your pension fund equal 18.07 % of your salary and annual supplement is paid. It is possible to negotiate further salary supplements.
Application
Letter of motivation, appendices and the submitted research publications (including papers, articles and books), must be written in English. Applicants should clearly indicate which of the research projects they are applying for. The application will be rejected if not all the required documents are submitted.
It is essential that you fill out all the mandatory fields in the electronic application even though the info is already stated in your CV, application, publication or other material you may find relevant to upload. The completed fields will be screened during the shortlisting and assessment process and in order to generate your final assessment, which we will send to you after the assessment work is finalized.
The application MUST include the following eight (8) elements:
1. Letter of motivation (a one-page document explaining the reasons for applying)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Research project. Applications should include a proposal for a research project to be completed during the post-doctoral period. Proposals should be no more than four pages long. The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to develop a postdoctoral project, identifying the relevant methodological tools to achieve the outlined project.
4. Diplomas, PhD or JSD diploma or alternatively a document showing that the applicant submitted or will submit a dissertation
5. Publication list. (Complete, numbered list of publications)
6. Teaching portfolio, including documentation for teaching qualifications as well as a brief statement of the applicant's teaching visions within the research area. For more information regarding the teaching portfolio, please see the related guidelines
7. A maximum of five (5) scientific publications that the applicant wishes to have included in the assessment, of which no more than one (1) may be a monograph. Applicants, who have written a PhD or JSD thesis or equivalent, must always submit the complete thesis (if the thesis is written in Danish, English, Swedish or Norwegian) and the written assessment of the thesis as a part of submitted publications.
8. If citing work where the applicant has been a co-author, a co-author declaration, which addresses the applicant's share of these works, must be submitted. Material that has not yet been published can be submitted. However, please indicate if this is the case.
Application procedure
Upload letter of motivation, appendices and the research publications electronically using the link below. We advise you to have the above mentioned documents ready before you begin to fill out your online application, and it is essential that all required documents are enclosed.
Applications must be addressed to the Associate Dean of Research and uploaded electronically.
An automatically generated message is sent out acknowledging receipt of the uploaded application.
Applicants will be kept informed about the process of the application procedure on a regular basis via email.
Following the application deadline, the Associate Dean of Research selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. Applicants are selected on the basis of an overall assessment of the applicants that best match the recruitment needs of the Faculty as described in this advertisement for the post. This is compared with the applicant's research and teaching profile as set out in the application, CV incl. list of publication, teaching portfolio and any research/development plan. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert Assessment Committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and when the committee has completed its assessment, each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicants themselves.
University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society and therefore encourages all interested parties regardless of personal background to apply for the position.
As an applicant to the University of Copenhagen, you should be prepared to undergo a security screening related to international research collaboration as part of the recruitment process. The security screening will be conducted in cases where the University deems it appropriate based on an overall assessment.
Contact information
Questions about the project may be addressed to PI Henrik Palmer Olsen at henrik@jur.ku.dk
Further information about the recruitment process is available from HR, e-mail: HR-SOENDRE@adm.ku.dk. Please refer to ID number 211-2358/25-2I #2.
The application deadline is 16 November 2025, 23:59 CET.
Applications received after the deadline has expired will not be accepted.
About the project: Xhaile – Explainable Hybrid AI for Computational Law and Accurate Legal Chatbots
Xhaile is a larger interdisciplinary research endeavour. The PI for the project is Professor Thomas Hildebrandt and the legal aspect is led by Prof. Henrik Palmer Olsen. The project’s research focus is computational law. Traditionally there are two ways of making law subject to computational representation. One way is through digital modelling of statutory law. The other way is through case based reasoning systems. The recent upshot of Large Language Models (LLMs) have given more attention to the latter and has led to the development of various forms of legal AI-assistants and conversational legal agents. Various benchmark datasets have been introduced to enable researchers to benchmark and compare different language models and approaches in the legal domain. Recent work has added benchmarks for language understanding in Danish, but it remains a challenge to produce trustworthy benchmarks for legal reasoning.
With a focus on developing AI assistants that can support activities such as applications for welfare services, assessing GDPR requirements, and other such activities, the project seeks to investigate how this can be done responsibly. The project will focus on both legal content (for example by developing benchmarks for the performance of chatbots designed to help applicants or caseworkers) and processes (for example how to design user interfaces so as to avoid unwanted user behavior) as well as distribution of legal responsibility for chatbots, once launched.
The postdoc project will collaborate with the larger research group of lawyers and computer scientists to develop a State-of-the art and metrics for legal benchmarks that can be operationalised in validating the quality of legal AI assistants. The postdoc will also be responsible for developing a benchmark for one or more specific areas of law (specific areas to be selected by the larger research group).
More information about the research project and its aims and methods may be found here: https://jura.ku.dk/icourts/research/artificial-legal-intelligence/
About iCourts
iCourts, Centre of Excellence for International Courts and Governance was originally set up as a research centre dedicated to the study of international courts. Today the centre engages a broader agenda concerning courts and legal governance at the international, transnational and national levels. This includes questions related to innovation in legal governance in society, ranging from the creation of new courts to AI and legal decision-making to the public engagement with courts and legal governance. The centre’s mission is to provide basic science explorations the role of law and courts in governing society. The centre often employs interdisciplinary and empirical methods to attain its objectives.
About the position
Successful candidates will be required to:
- Conduct and deliver independent, high-quality peer-reviewed research related to their project.
- Actively engage in the research environment at the University of Copenhagen.
- Participate in international conferences, courses, and meetings relevant to their research.
- Conduct research stays abroad.
- Contribute to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in Danish or English at the Faculty of Law.
Required qualifications
Applicants must hold a PhD, JSD, or equivalent degree in law or social sciences (e.g., political science, sociology, international relations). Candidates should either have obtained or expect to obtain the required degree by fall 2025. Proficiency in English (written and spoken) is essential. Successful candidates will demonstrate a track record or clear potential for high-quality peer-reviewed research publications in top international outlets.
The overall assessment will emphasize the applicant’s research and teaching experience and potential, with special attention to their track record of excellence and interest in developing impactful research ideas. Experience in collaborative research and teaching activities is also valued.
Salary and terms of employment
The appointment is temporary and will be made in accordance with the agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikernes Centralorganisation, AC). In addition to the basic salary, you will receive an annual supplement per month and a total contribution to your pension fund equal 18.07 % of your salary and annual supplement is paid. It is possible to negotiate further salary supplements.
Application
Letter of motivation, appendices and the submitted research publications (including papers, articles and books), must be written in English. Applicants should clearly indicate which of the research projects they are applying for. The application will be rejected if not all the required documents are submitted.
It is essential that you fill out all the mandatory fields in the electronic application even though the info is already stated in your CV, application, publication or other material you may find relevant to upload. The completed fields will be screened during the shortlisting and assessment process and in order to generate your final assessment, which we will send to you after the assessment work is finalized.
The application MUST include the following eight (8) elements:
1. Letter of motivation (a one-page document explaining the reasons for applying)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Research project. Applications should include a proposal for a research project to be completed during the post-doctoral period. Proposals should be no more than four pages long. The proposal should demonstrate the capacity to develop a postdoctoral project, identifying the relevant methodological tools to achieve the outlined project.
4. Diplomas, PhD or JSD diploma or alternatively a document showing that the applicant submitted or will submit a dissertation
5. Publication list. (Complete, numbered list of publications)
6. Teaching portfolio, including documentation for teaching qualifications as well as a brief statement of the applicant's teaching visions within the research area. For more information regarding the teaching portfolio, please see the related guidelines
7. A maximum of five (5) scientific publications that the applicant wishes to have included in the assessment, of which no more than one (1) may be a monograph. Applicants, who have written a PhD or JSD thesis or equivalent, must always submit the complete thesis (if the thesis is written in Danish, English, Swedish or Norwegian) and the written assessment of the thesis as a part of submitted publications.
8. If citing work where the applicant has been a co-author, a co-author declaration, which addresses the applicant's share of these works, must be submitted. Material that has not yet been published can be submitted. However, please indicate if this is the case.
Application procedure
Upload letter of motivation, appendices and the research publications electronically using the link below. We advise you to have the above mentioned documents ready before you begin to fill out your online application, and it is essential that all required documents are enclosed.
Applications must be addressed to the Associate Dean of Research and uploaded electronically.
An automatically generated message is sent out acknowledging receipt of the uploaded application.
Applicants will be kept informed about the process of the application procedure on a regular basis via email.
Following the application deadline, the Associate Dean of Research selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Appointments Committee. Applicants are selected on the basis of an overall assessment of the applicants that best match the recruitment needs of the Faculty as described in this advertisement for the post. This is compared with the applicant's research and teaching profile as set out in the application, CV incl. list of publication, teaching portfolio and any research/development plan. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an expert Assessment Committee. Selected applicants are notified of the composition of the committee and when the committee has completed its assessment, each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicants themselves.
University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding society and therefore encourages all interested parties regardless of personal background to apply for the position.
As an applicant to the University of Copenhagen, you should be prepared to undergo a security screening related to international research collaboration as part of the recruitment process. The security screening will be conducted in cases where the University deems it appropriate based on an overall assessment.
Contact information
Questions about the project may be addressed to PI Henrik Palmer Olsen at henrik@jur.ku.dk
Further information about the recruitment process is available from HR, e-mail: HR-SOENDRE@adm.ku.dk. Please refer to ID number 211-2358/25-2I #2.
The application deadline is 16 November 2025, 23:59 CET.
Applications received after the deadline has expired will not be accepted.