(Associate) Professor in Cybercrime

Cybersecurity is a broad field relating to a wide range of challenges. It centers around cybercrime, cyber-espionage, hacktivism, cyberterrorism, network security, and so on. Among these, TILT has a strong focus on cybercrime and on the governance of cybersecurity. TILT’s Law & Technology master's programme includes a course on cybercrime law. To strengthen its research and education in this field, TILT has two vacancies. This vacancy concerns the:

Professor in cybercrime (0.6 - 1.0 fte)
This vacancy is for an associate or full professor in cybercrime (the rank will be determined based on the candidate’s track record). Cybercrime is the broad range of criminal activities involving computers and information as a primary target or tool. Combating cybercrime requires a broad range of regulatory instruments, including law, information security and standard-setting, and awareness-raising. 
Cybercrime law is a crucial pillar in the fight against cybercrime. This requires knowledge of both supranational law – primarily the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime – and national law. Substantive law faces challenges in applying existing provisions to new types or methods of cybercrime, and to new contexts such as the Internet of Things or virtual reality. Procedural law involves (even) bigger challenges than substantive criminal law. Cross-border investigation and access to data continues to be a stumbling block in criminal investigation. Challenges are compounded by the automation brought about by data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence systems, which require us to reconsider fundamental questions of criminal justice. 
Cybercrime governance requires not only adequate and up-to-date legal frameworks; it also must involve a variety of regulatory approaches, focused on enhancing network security, standard-setting, education and training, and other measures. Complex challenges include organising adequate responses to cyber-attacks in an international context, in establishing effective and legitimate public-private partnerships, in establishing a fair and incentivising distribution of responsibilities among stakeholders, and in establishing adequate procedures for dealing with unlawful content. 
There is an urgent need for research in these areas, both fundamental and applied. There are good opportunities in acquiring funding with the EU research schemes as well as within the Netherlands (NWO Cybersecurity, WODC). Candidates are expected to actively seek to acquire project funding, as well as to participate in relevant projects coordinated by colleagues. Cybercrime also plays an important role in education. The candidate will coordinate and teach in the Master-level Cybercrime course, and supervise theses on the subject.  

Job description: Tasks
1.    Research (50-60%)

• Conducting and supervising research on key themes in the area of cybercrime 
• Initiating and developing new research projects within the broad field of cybercrime, with acquisition of second-stream (NWO, ERC, EU) and third-stream funding
• Contributing to shaping the cybercrime research agenda at the national level
• Establishing and strengthening collaboration with cybercrime scholars both nationally and internationally
• Supervising PhD students on cybercrime and closely related topics
• Coordinating and consolidating the cluster of cybercrime and cybersecurity research within TILT
• Contributing to academic culture in TILT with motivating and inspiring academic leadership

2.    Teaching (20-30%)

• Coordinating and teaching the course Cybercrime in the Law & Technology Master
• Teaching at Master’s and Bachelor’s level as part of TILT’s contribution across the university and its related programs (topic dependent on expertise)
• Supervising (a limited number of) Masters theses

3.    Service (20%)

• Contributing to the dissemination of knowledge in academia, policy, and society
• Contributing to the academic flourishing of TILT by helping to organize discussion meetings, workshops, conferences and other events
• Contributing to the financial stability of the department by raising funds in research and/or education and coaching junior researchers in grant applications
• Playing an active part in TILT and LTMS management, and being willing to contribute to academic management of the faculty and university