VACANCY: PhD scholarship (VUB): PhD Collective negotiations in sovereign default and corporate insolvency (DEADLINE: 15 April 2026)

(image source: VUB - CORE)

The Faculty of Law and Criminology, Department Interdisciplinary Studies of Law, is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant. 

More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains:

Our team is looking for a doctoral student (bursary position) for the project ‘Collective negotiations in sovereign default and corporate insolvency (1890-1920)’.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, crises caused by defaulting states were discussed in committees of bondholders. These committees coordinated the negotiations and defended the interests of individual bondholders.

The candidate will conduct research in archives. Based on an analysis of source material, the strategies developed to reconcile the interests of multiple bondholders will be examined. Specific attention will be paid to the dynamics caused by voting rules and the autonomy of representatives; in addition, the influence of developing ideas about creditor meetings in bankruptcy law will be examined.

The project takes the Belgian Association of Foreign Bondholders (1898) as a case study. This association was part of the Antwerp Stock Exchange. Its members had ties to the Antwerp business community, where merchant insolvencies were a regular occurrence.

Insolvencies of private bondholders and companies could influence decisions of the bond committee; deficient bonds could be discussed in debt assessments of insolvent traders. The project studies the organisational characteristics of the bondholders' committee and the structure of negotiations and meetings, in comparison to corporate insolvency.

This research offers points of reference for contemporary law and can form a basis for developing expertise in insolvency law and/or international financial and economic law.
 
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.
 
Profile

What do we expect from you?

• You have a master's degree in law or history (in which case, with an interest in political, institutional or economic history)
• Good command of English.
• Knowledge of French
• Ability to conduct research both independently and as part of a team.
• You have not performed any works in the execution of a mandate as an assistant, paid from operating resources, over a total (cumulated) period of more than 12 months.

The VUB wants to be a reflection of the society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, age, religion, skin color, migration background, disability and neurodiversity.
 
Offer

Are you going to be our new colleague?

You’ll be offered a full-time PhD-scholarship, for 12 months (extendable up to max. 48 months, on condition of the positive evaluation of the PhD activities), with planned starting date 01/05/2026.

You’ll receive a grant linked to one of the scales set by the government.

Apply, at the latest on 15/04/2026, via dave.de.ruysscher@vub.be, and attach the following documents:

• your CV;
• your motivation letter;
•  your diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni).

Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Dave De ruysscher at dave.de.ruysscher@vub.be.