Description du sujet de thèse

The research project focuses on analyzing the increasing influence of non-governmental organizations and private foundations in the penal field through their litigation at the European Court of Human Rights. In particular, the recruited person will investigate disputes in the criminal field (including either abortion, medical assisted reproduction, euthanasia, LGTBQ rights, prostitution, pornography, hate speech and crime, counter-terrorism, or detention policies) initiated by conservative and liberal groups to impact the European human rights justice through judicial, cognitive, moral and political tactics. He/she will study these issues and how these private interest groups attempt to influence criminal policies through the European human rights judicial systems by elaborating and applying judicial, political, and financial strategies. Through a legal method (interpretation of the case law, its inputs and outputs) and a socio-legal (interviews, analysis of documents and the grey literature) lens, he/she will demonstrate how these private interest groups impact penality through the jurisprudence delivered by the European Court of Human Rights. The recruited researcher will contribute to 3 Work packages (WP2, 3 and 6) on legal, socio-legal, and political analyses of actions taken by conservative and liberal NGOs in the penal domain.
The recruited researcher will participate in 3 sets of work (WP2, 3 and 6) on the legal, socio-legal and political analyses of the actions carried out by conservative and liberal NGOs in the criminal field.
- Contribution to WP2: Legal, socio-legal and political analysis
• Analysis of the European litigation by the private interest groups and the judgments obtained, including direct complaints (task 1), third-party interventions (task 2), submissions made by the interest groups on the execution of the European judgments (task 3) and the political effects of the litigation and judgments (task 4)
• Global analysis of the legal, socio-legal and political influence played by private interest groups (task 5)
- Contribution to WP3:
• Contribution to the empirical analysis (28 months) consisting in the analysis of the judicial and financial archives of interest groups (NGOs and private foundations), interviews with NGOs and private foundations (task 7) and meeting with the British partners; consultation of the ECtHR archives with access to the complaints and third-party interventions and interviews with private and judicial actors (task 11); interviews with judges and lawyers working at the European Court of Human Rights (task 12); analysis of the financial statements, financial and annual reports of interest groups (task 13); analysis of the documents on strategic litigation pursued by interest groups (task 14); analysis of the complaints, third-party submissions and submissions related to the execution of judgments made by interest groups which are not directly available through judicial databases (task 15); interviews with private and judicial actors (task 16)
• Contribution to the general analysis of the empirical inquiry (task 17)
- Contribution to WP6: participation in the scientific and social dissemination:
• Contribution to the scientific dissemination of the results (task 23) on open-access in order to disseminate the results of the research in a fair and efficient way:
▪ Publications (for a scientific audience) in international high-ranked scientific and open journals (special issues and articles) and scientific books:
▪ Presentations at scientific conferences and involvement in the organisation of a scientific conference (for a scientific audience)
Contribution to Social dissemination (for a global and professional audience) (task 24)

Expected Skills: We are looking for a student holding a Master 2 in criminology/European criminal law with a focus on European human rights law related to the European Court of Human Rights with a significant openness to other social sciences and with at least one significant experiences in conducting and analyzing semi-structured interviews with NGOs representatives and/or European judges. The candidate must demonstrate the ability to develop a European legal and sociolegal analysis capable of combining criminal, judicial and sociological constraints within the same analytical framework. Proficiency in literature in European law and fundamental rights with significant knowledge of judicial strategies applied by NGOs will be highly appreciated. Autonomy, oral and relational ease, synthesis skills, and an attraction for teamwork are necessary. Interactions with various stakeholders (NGO and private foundation managers, European judges and lawyers) to be interviewed and the analysis of interviews in English require a perfect command of English (native language or fluent C2), which is the working language of the ERC JUST PEN. Due to planned field studies in Strasbourg and the United Kingdom, one or more previous significant research experiences in one at least or these both countries is an asset.

Contexte de travail

This recruitment is part of the ERC-2023-advanced grant research agreement entitled “What moral influences on European criminal and prison policies?”, “JUST PEN” 101141553, funded by the European Research Council and obtained under the ERC advanced grant scheme. See https://www.inshs.cnrs.fr/en/node/5353, and https://iode.univ-rennes.fr/actualites/gaetan-cliquennois-laureat-dune-erc-advanced-grant-pour-son-projet-justpen.
The researcher will work closely with the ERC members involved in WP1-6 and the principal investigator (PI), Gaëtan Cliquennois. Working meetings are regularly held online in English within the consortium. Researchers (including the recruited researcher) must work closely with the socio-professional partners involved in ERC JUST_PEN.

Contraintes et risques

No specific risks