Professor of Strategic Legal Design

The University of Vaasa is now inviting applications for an Associate Professor (tenure track) or Professor position in Strategic Legal Design. The position will be filled either as a fixed-term Associate Professor or permanent Full Professor position under the tenure track system. The tenure track level is determined by the applicant's merits and career stage. The scope of the position is connected to the rapidly developing international field of Legal Design research. In this position, the perspective is directed particularly toward the business environment, where law functions as part of the design and development of business solutions. The position is located within the discipline of Business Law, and its research activities are integrated into the Business Law and information research group. The specific area of expertise of the position is Strategic Legal Design, focusing on the development of legally sustainable operating models, tools, and governance mechanisms that support business, as well as strengthening the strategic role of law in organizational decision-making. Strategic Legal Design is broadly linked to the university’s research and teaching fields. Accordingly, the position serves the overall mission of the Business Law discipline, the School of Accounting and Finance, and the entire university. For this reason, the position requires readiness to allocate resources flexibly and innovatively in ways that support the interests of our university community. This is facilitated, among other things, by the university’s multidisciplinary research platforms. The position is research-oriented, but also includes supervision of doctoral dissertations and other theses, teaching, applying for external research funding and participating in funded projects, as well as administrative duties within the university. Teaching and supervision are primarily directed toward the Doctoral Programme in Business Studies and the Bachelor’s and Master’s studies in Business Law. In terms of teaching duties, the focus is on the Strategic Legal Design doctoral pathway within Business Law. A central purpose of the position is to supervise doctoral candidates, coordinate the overall structure of the pathway, and serve as its lead, supported by other professors in the discipline. Regarding the basic studies in Business Law, Legal Design is being developed to comprehensively cover the discipline. In this respect, the position’s resources are allocated partly to thesis supervision and partly to introducing the role and potential of Legal Design across various courses. These include, for example, contract law, company law, tax law, financial reporting regulation, and market law. This broad scope is made possible by the fact that the position does not include full responsibility for delivering bachelor or master level courses. The language of instruction in bachelor and master level studies is Finnish. Pedagogically, the position emphasizes research supervision, particularly the supervision of doctoral dissertations. Therefore, the job description places corresponding emphasis on prior supervisory experience. The amount of teaching included in the Tenure Track position increases as the career path progresses. Given the central role of supervision in this position, preference is given to applicants qualified at the level of Associate Professor or Full Professor. The position strongly integrates research and business practice. Practical familiarity with the field and experience in legal practice therefore significantly supports the applicant’s suitability for the role and are considered an advantage. However, practical experience in the field is not required for appointment. The research related to the position is also linked to the University of Vaasa's strategic focus areas of business renewal, energy transition and societal transformation. Applicants must describe in their research plan how their plan relates to the research group and the strategy of the University of Vaasa. The annual working time is 1612 hours based on the general collective agreement for Finnish universities and tasks are agreed in more detail in the Annual Work Plan. Applicants are required to have a relevant doctoral degree and, in addition, excellent academic credentials, a proven track record of producing outstanding research, and evidence of high-quality teaching or the potential to do so.