Witteveen Memorial Fellowship in Law and Humanities

Tilburg University | Tilburg Law School
is looking for a

Location: Tilburg

Duration: One month

Intended state date: Between February and May 2026

Job Closing Date: September 22, 2025

The Witteveen Memorial Fellowship in Law and Humanities aims to promote research and teaching on law and rhetoric, narrative, image, performance, sound, and/or culture. The fellowship enables a junior scholar (PhD or postdoc level) to share and develop their research in the field of law and humanities during a residency at Tilburg Law School for one month in February-May 2026.

We expect the Fellow to participate actively in the academic life of Tilburg Law School by presenting their research in a research seminar and by teaching a guest class to students. Past Fellows have introduced film screenings, have organized a reading of their play with students, have read their poetry, have mounted exhibitions, have given teach-outs, and have given a lecture performance, in addition to participating in various research seminars.

Eligible candidates are scholars who are in the final stages of their PhD research or who obtained a PhD in the field of law and humanities within the last five years.

The Fellow is assigned a contact person at TLS to get as much out of the Fellowship as possible. Tilburg Law School offers shared office space and online library access. An adequate offer will be drawn up for travel and accommodation expenses within the fiscal possibilities. In principle, the fellowship only covers travel and accommodation and does not include an allowance for other expenses.

Tilburg University is committed to an open and inclusive culture, embracing diversity, and encouraging the mutual integration of groups of staff and students. We work in a vibrant and lively environment on our beautiful campus, close to the forest and easily accessible by public transport. We are committed to a sustainable society.

We kindly invite you to apply before September 22, 2025, this can only be done online. Submit a CV including a list of publications, a writing sample (article or chapter), a short research statement (about one page) explaining how your research relates to law and humanities, and one letter of recommendation. Selection will be based on the information provided. We look forward to your response.

More information can be obtained from contact Michiel Bot, Associate Professor of Law and Humanities: michiel.bot@tilburguniversity.edu

The selection committee consists of:

1. Dr. Michiel Bot, Associate Professor

2. Dr. Richard Clements, Assistant Professor

3. Dr. Inge Graef, Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Research

4. Dr. Emily Sipiorski, Assistant Professor

5. Dr. Inge van de Ven, Associate Professor

Willem Witteveen (1952-2014) was a Professor of Jurisprudence at Tilburg Law School and a Labor Party Senator who practiced and promoted research and teaching at the intersection of legal scholarship and rhetoric, literary analysis, political philosophy, and cultural history, and who fostered an academic environment that revolved around thinking and discussing. After Professor Witteveen’s untimely death in the MH17 shoot-down, Tilburg Law School established the Witteveen Memorial Fellowship in Law and Humanities to commemorate his life and work.

Since its founding in 1963, Tilburg Law School has become one of the leading law schools in Europe. Through top research and the provision of high-quality university education, the School contributes to society. Tilburg Law School is organized into five Departments: Public Law and Governance; Law, Technology, Markets and Society; Private, Business and Labour Law; the Fiscal Institute Tilburg; and Criminal Law. The mission of the School is to understand and improve the role of law and public administration in addressing the social problems of today and tomorrow. Through research and education, our scholars contribute to that mission.

More than 4,000 students pursue a Bachelor's, pre-Master's or Master's degree at Tilburg Law School. Through this education, we train students in law, public administration, and data science. The Tilburg Educational Profile (TEP) is unique in the Netherlands. Central to it are three core concepts: knowledge, skill and character. A university education provides students with the latest substantive knowledge and trains them to be critical thinkers and resilient professionals. In addition, the School is committed to innovative educational concepts and, partly in response to the coronavirus crisis, has invested heavily in the quality of online education and in innovative didactic tools to make and keep students inquisitive.

Tilburg Law School's research is highly regarded nationally and internationally. The Tilburg Law School Departments work closely together in their research in four signature research programs: 1) Global Law and Governance; 2) Law and Security; 3) Connecting Organizations; and 4) Regulating Socio-Technical Change.

Tilburg University applies the recruitmentcode of the Dutch Association for Personnel Management & Organization Development (NVP).

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The text of this vacancy advertisement is copyright-protected property of Tilburg University. Use, distribution and further disclosure of the advertisement without express permission from Tilburg University is not allowed, and this applies explicitly to use by recruitment and selection agencies which do not act directly on the instructions of Tilburg University. Responses resulting from recruitment by non-contractors of Tilburg Universities will not be handled.