Taming The Dark Energy Of EU Law
The Court of Justice of the European Union increasingly invokes the ‘specific and essential characteristics’ of the EU and of its law to explain the EU legal order and to justify the high demands of EU membership. Yet most of these characteristics are not provided for expressly in the EU Treaties, producing a constitutional energy that is simultaneously powerful and elusive, as well as challenges around textual invisibility, internal accountability, and external scrutiny.
'Taming the Dark Energy of EU Law' is a Leverhulme Trust-funded four-year project. It explores the unwritten constitution produced by the specific and essential characteristics of the EU and of EU law, including primacy, mutual trust, and autonomy. The project adopts a dark energy metaphor to underline how these characteristics expanded to fill empty Treaty spaces, establishing the deep structure of EU law and propelling its constitutional significance while remaining, for the most part, textually invisible – a constitutional energy detected, but not yet well understood.
The project team – at present, Principal Investigator, Niamh Nic Shuibhne and Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Eleftheria Asimakopoulou - are studying the EU’s written and unwritten constitutions in a holistic way, building on perspectives that consider the extent to which the internal and external spheres of EU action are (and should) be legally distinct. A third researcher will join the team in autumn 2025. The project is also supporting an Early Career Fellowship, held by Bob Roth.
Overall, 'Taming the Dark Energy of EU Law' aims to retune the relationship between the written and unwritten dimensions of EU constitutional law.
Deadline: 28th February 2025
Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD position on a project entitled “Taming the Dark Energy of EU Law: The European Union’s Unwritten Constitution”. The successful applicant will work with Professor Niamh Nic Shuibhne in the Edinburgh Law School.
Taming the Dark Energy of EU Law is a Leverhulme Trust-funded four-year project. It examines the unwritten constitution produced by the specific and essential characteristics of the EU and of EU law that are not explicitly present in the EU Treaties, including primacy, mutual trust, and the autonomy of the EU and of its legal order. The Project adopts a ‘dark energy’ metaphor to underline that these specific and essential characteristics expanded to fill empty Treaty spaces, establishing the deep structure of EU law and propelling its significance while remaining, for the most part, textually invisible.
The project studies the EU’s written and unwritten constitutions in a holistic way, exploring how they relate to each other and considering the extent to which the internal and external spheres of EU action are, and should, be legally distinct. In this way, it aims to retune the relationship between the written and unwritten dimensions of EU constitutional law to improve both internal and external accountability.
The PhD will be carried out under the lead supervision of the Principal Investigator, Professor Niamh Nic Shuibhne.
Complementing the work of a postdoctoral researcher on the EU as an international subject, the PhD researcher will examine how the EU as an international actor balances its Treaty obligations, on the one hand, with the specific and essential characteristics of EU law, on the other hand, through its engagement with the wider world.
The PhD project will evaluate how the EU achieves this balance in its external relations through a case-study method, which could focus on a relevant policy area of the candidate’s choice (e.g. trade, defence, security, climate). The PhD project will be guided by overarching project themes but enable the researcher to develop their thesis ideas and especially the originality and significance of their findings and arguments over the course of the studentship.
This opportunity is open to candidates in law, with particular emphasis on prior study of the legal dimensions of EU external action.
Funding
This scholarship will pay tuition fees and provide an annual stipend in line with UKRI rates (approximately £19,237 per annum). The stipend will be paid in equal monthly instalments for 3.5 years, subject to satisfactory progress. Additional research costs will also be available to support training and development.
Candidate profile
The successful applicant will have:
- Excellent grades in both undergraduate law degree and postgraduate taught degree.
- A background, or clear demonstrable interest, in EU constitutional law and the legal dimensions of the EU’s external action.
- Proficiency in English (both oral and written). For candidate’s whose first language is not English, we require an overall IELTS score of 7.0 with at least 7.0 in the writing component and 6.5 in each of the other components (or other acceptable English language qualification at the equivalent standard).
- Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
Application Information
Applicants should apply via the University’s admissions portal (EUCLID) and select the PhD Law programme.
In the ‘proposed supervisor’ section of the EUCLID application, please enter ‘Professor Niamh Nic Shuibhne’.
Applications should be submitted by 28th February 2025. Interviews will take place before the end of March 2025. The successful applicant will be expected to start the PhD in September 2025.
Applicants must submit:
- All degree transcripts and certificates (and certified translations if applicable).
- Evidence of English Language capability (where applicable).
- A short research proposal (max 2 pages) outlining your approach to the proposed research project.
- A full CV and cover letter describing your background, suitability for the PhD, and research interests (max 2 pages).
- Two recent references (note that it the applicant’s responsibility to ensure reference letters are received before the deadline).
Please note that the proposal, CV and cover letter should be uploaded as a single, combined document within the application portal.
Only complete applications (i.e. those that are not missing the above documentation) will progress forward to the academic selectors for further consideration.
