Call for a Postdoctoral Researcher: New Legal Theories for the Digital Age

Sciences Po Law School invites applications for a one-year postdoctoral position as part of a project on "New Legal Theories for the Digital" led by Professors Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi and Raphaële Xenidis. This stream of research explores whether, how and to what extent algorithmic techniques transform legal imaginaries and traditional modes of lawmaking. This research project is part of the PostGenAI@Paris - Collaborative Acceleration Programme (CAP) which more broadly examines the normative and distributive eMects of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making systems.

The "New Legal Theories for the Digital" sub-research project investigates the paradox at the heart of algorithmic governance: while promising to liberate regulation from historical inequalities and systemic hierarchies, algorithmic modes of governance often reproduce and amplify existing structures of inequality and exclusion. We seek to understand how, despite narratives of neutrality, agnostic inferences and data-driven indeterminism, algorithmic governance enacts a deeply conservative social ordering.

The postdoctoral researcher will be fully integrated into the research collective, engaging in critical inquiries that:

• Examine how algorithmic rationality shapes the governance of society and transforms legal normativities and epistemologies;
• Trace how algorithmic modes of governance are inserted into the material infrastructure of law;
• Analyze how the logics and scripts underpinning algorithmic governance model legal interventions;
• Uncover processes of depoliticization that cement narratives of algorithmic governance;
• Explore the historicity of routine practices, tools, and categories that embody legal norms;
• Question how algorithmic modes of governance interact with pre-existing rationalities of exclusion;
• Explore the coexistence and potential interconnections of algorithmic modes of governance with analogue ones.

While candidates are encouraged to align their research with the project's broader themes, we particularly welcome diverse and innovative perspectives that contribute to crafting new legal theories for the digital age. Applicants should critically reflect on the lines of research proposed by the project.

Application Requirements

Interested candidates should submit the following by May 1, 2025:

• A detailed research statement (maximum 3,000 words), including:

1. A research proposal outlining the central questions, theoretical and methodological approaches, and expected contributions of their postdoctoral research.
2. A reflection on how the proposed research connects with the thematic focus of the project, particularly regarding how algorithmic rationality models legal normativities and the conservative eMects of algorithmic governance on social ordering.

• A CV detailing relevant research experience and publications.
• One writing sample (e.g., a published article, dissertation chapter, or working paper).

Preselected candidates will be invited to an interview. The one-year position will start in September 2025 and may be extended for an additional year.

Applications should be sent directly to rebecca.mignotmahdavi@sciencespo.fr and raphaele.xenidis@sciencespo.fr.