About the Project
We are welcoming applications from prospective doctoral students interested in exploring the intersection of new information technologies, designed legal systems, and changing approaches to norms, values, decision quality or evaluation.
This studentship is offered by Kent Law School in association with the UKRI-funded Future Leaders Fellowship project led by Dr Connal Parsley, “The Future of Good Decisions: an Evolutionary Approach to Human-AI Government Administrative Decision-Making”. While the PhD research undertaken via this studentship doesn’t have to fit squarely underneath the heading of Dr Parsley’s project, some affinity between the two will be expected. The Future of Good Decisions project will take a new approach to the challenge that algorithmic decision-making presents to the principles of the rule of law. It will ask how emerging techno-social systems can support a new vision of participatory deliberative governance, to supplement that of liberal legal thought. It asks: how can our ideas of ‘good decisions’ evolve, via new administrative practices and evaluative concepts, for an age where humans and AI increasingly ‘co-decide’? It integrates expertise and research methods from across law, the humanities and social sciences, computing studies, and creative practice. Further information about the project is available here: bit.ly/3eQqK6a
Criteria
The studentship opportunity is open to all candidates with the following requirements:
- Have completed a degree in law, political theory, philosophy of technology, human-centred design or other relevant discipline at Master's level, equivalent to merit or distinction.
- A combination of qualifications and/or experience that is equivalent to a relevant UK Master’s level degree may also be accepted. All applicants will be considered on an individual basis, and a proposal’s outstanding quality and strong fit with the Future of Good Decisions project will be taken into account.
- This studentship is available to all candidates, but only covers UK home-rate fees. Candidates who are not eligible for the UK home-rate fees may use alternative funds to cover the difference.
Scholarship proposal
Project proposals are welcome from students with a clear methodological approach, for instance qualitative mixed-methods research (including critical textual methods), ethnography (participant observation), and/or participatory or creative methods, including in any of the following general areas (but not limited to them):
- ‘Design’ and participatory processes as novel priorities in digitalising democracies
- The legal theory of norms and values as ‘affordances’ of technology and designed systems
- Identifying new norms and value priorities in the context of emerging legal technologies and ‘technosocial ecologies’
- Critical analysis of existing design and regulatory mechanisms like ‘Human in the Loop’
- Critical analysis of the pressure that new technologies place on existing value goals and/or underlying conceptions of decisions and decision-making
- Media-jurisprudential histories of administrative decision-making, the foundations of the administrative state, or concepts central to the rule of law and ‘good decisions’ (e.g. deliberation, transparency, fairness, rationality)
- Leading approaches to decision system evaluation or other centrally important aspects of AI system design, and their potential application in the context of administrative decisions
- Prefigurative methods and ‘modelling’ as sources of normative value and good decision design (the Future of Good Decisions project uses creative prefigurative methods as a central part of its methodology, and there will be opportunities to participate in and study these methods)
We encourage potential applicants to arrange an informal 15-minute conversation about your research proposal, prior to submitting an application, with Dr Connal Parsley: [Email Address Removed]
Research at KLS
Kent Law School (KLS) is one of the UK’s leading law schools. It was the 2nd ranked UK Law School in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), with a scholarly environment judged as supporting world-leading research. Law at Kent is ranked 15th out of 101 in The Guardian University Guide 2022, 16th in The Times Good University Guide 2022, and 45th in the THE World University Rankings by Subject 2021. Our work draws upon doctrinal and interdisciplinary methodologies, diverse critical, contextual and socio-legal approaches, and a range of theoretical perspectives from the humanities and social sciences in order to contribute to a broad range of legal sub-disciplines.
The recipient of this KLS studentship will not be required to teach. However, as part of our commitment to support the next generation of legal academics, all doctoral students have the opportunity to undertake paid teaching on an undergraduate law module, at the direction of the Head of School.
How to Apply
To be considered for this scholarship, you must follow the steps detailed on our website
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