Foreign investments controls motivated by national security concerns: a comparative analysis of the legal regimes in the European Union and United States

Call for a Ph.D student position in the Doctoral School within the PRELUDIUM BIS project

Foreign investments controls motivated by national security concerns: a comparative analysis of the legal regimes in the European Union and United States

Principal Investigator: dr hab. Łukasz Gruszczyński

About the project

The last thirty years have been characterized by the progressive internationalization, or as some say ‘hyperglobalization’, of the economic relations. A system of deep transnational interdependencies and connections has been created, driven by the aim of achieving the highest economic efficiency. More recently, however, this neoliberal order seems to be changing and transforming into a new arrangement that is based on geostrategic competition between main international actors. States now seem to be turning their attention to the national security considerations and attempt to control foreign investment and international trade flows. At the same time, however, they try to keep as much benefits as possible resulting from free movement of investments/goods/services. These two contradictory processes will greatly determine the shape of the international economic cooperation in the future.

The above processes determine the boundaries of the project. In particular, the project will explore the regulatory models for safeguarding national security through control of foreign investments in the United States of America (US) and in the European Union (EU). The comparative analysis of both regimes will allow the versatile understanding of existing differences and similarities and the reasons behind them. It will also shed the light on the advantages and disadvantages of each regime and thus facilitate the decision of other states as to the choice of the most suitable solution. The special attention will be paid to the impact in this field of the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath (e.g. the on-going economic crisis in most of the Western countries and expansive economic policies increasingly employed by China).

The research and its conclusions will form a basis for a doctrinal analysis regarding a possibility of creating new mechanisms at the international level that would harmonize certain aspects of investment control. In this context, the project will particularly investigate which specific issues can be harmonized, what kind of formats (e.g., non-binding standards, international clearing house, binding requirements) and which international forum can be used for such arrangements (e.g. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Trade Organization, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). The project will also attempt to connect its findings with the theoretical framework proposed by Anthea Roberts et al. and to assess whether and to what extent the changes that are happening in the field of investment control can be regarded as an element of the bigger transformation of the current paradigm of international economic relations (i.e. form the neoliberal order to geoeconomic one).

Requirements for candidates

The candidate has to have the following qualification and expertise:

- a master’s degree in law,

- high command of English and Polish, both written and spoken,

- working knowledge of additional language (preferably German),

- university curriculum that includes public international law and EU law classes (grades at least 4.5),

- practical experience in mooting (preferable in international and European law),

- at least one scientific publication

Evaluation criteria and method

The committee shall evaluate the candidates by awarding them points for their competences to perform specific tasks in a research project and scientific achievements to date. On the basis thereof, the committee shall rank the candidates according to the following criteria:

Competencies to perform specific tasks in a research project (70% of the final score)

3 points very good

2 points good

1 point poor

0 points no competencies

Publication track record, including publications in renowned scientific papers/magazines (30% of the final score):

4 points prominent

3 points very good

2 points good

1 point poor

0 points no publication track record

Scope of work

• Implementation of the tasks indicated by Principal Investigator in all phases of the project, including
• conducting a detailed literature review,
• conducting an analysis of the investment control systems in the US and the EU,
• conducting a comparative analysis and exploring the potential for international harmonization in the field
• participation in scientific conferences and events organized at the Kozminski University with the presentation of research results
• preparation of scientific publications, including Ph.D. thesis

Conditions for awarding a doctoral scholarship

• PhD scholarship for a period of 4 years,
• The amount of the scholarship is:
  • 5000 PLN brutto brutto per month up to the month of mid-term evaluation of a PhD student at the doctoral school and
  • 6000 PLN brutto brutto per month after the month of mid-term evaluation of a PhD student at the doctoral school,

• Programme starts: 1 October 2021
• PhD students receiving PRELUDIUM BIS 2 doctoral scholarships cannot receive any scholarship or other remuneration granted under the heading of direct costs in other research projects funded by the NCN, with the exception of remuneration for the principal investigator in the PRELUDIUM call
• The mandatory foreign fellowships shall be funded by the NAWA. PhD students funded under the grant shall submit foreign fellowship funding proposals no later than 6 months before the fellowship
• PhD students participating in a project under PRELUDIUM BIS 2 must be awarded a PhD degree within 12 months of project completion

Required documents

• Application,
• Application form,
• Data processing declaration
• CV in English confirming fulfilling the Requirements for candidates and language qualifications:
  • list of academic activities (e.g. active and passive participation in scientific conferences), scientific interests and scientific achievements,
  • list of publications,
  • foreign language command confirmations (including statement of a candidate
  • The CV should contain this clause:

I agree to the processing of personal data provided in this document for realising the recruitment process pursuant to the Personal Data Protection Act of 10 May 2018 (Journal of Laws 2018, item 1000) and in agreement with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

• copies of diplomas, diplomas supplements and transcript of records (applies to both bachelor’s and master’s degree studies),
• health certificate - in the case of applicants from outside the European Union

Information on the recruitment process

The rules of the call are set out in point 2.1.3 “Salaries and scholarships for students and PhD students” – PRELUDIUM BIS doctoral scholarships in the Annex no. 2 to the Regulations on awarding funding for research tasks funded by the National Science Centre as regards research projects, set forth in NCN Council Resolution No 95/2020 of 14 September 2020:

Recruitment procedure

1. Submission of documents

Scans of the Required documents, listed above, should be sent to nauka@kozminski.edu.pl by 30 June 2021 (PDF preferred).

2. Interview

The recruitment interview with candidates will be conducted by the Recruitment Committee. The interview will be conducted in English.

3. Decision on admission to studies

The decision will be announced by 31 July 2021.