The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded London Interdisciplinary Social Science (LISS) Doctoral Training programme (DTP) (a partnership of Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL), King’s College London and Imperial College), is funding a 4 year studentship (1 year MRes programme + 3 year PhD) at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) at QMUL, to commence in September 2019, to support research in the field of IT and Shipping Law. Specifically, the successful candidate is expected to complete a doctoral research project titled “If blockchain is the answer, what is the question? The legal and economic implications of using blockchain technology in container shipping”.
The project will examine the legal implications for all stakeholders in cross-border trade of replacing paper transport documents with blockchain records in container transportation. The use of blockchain can result in many advantages: as a secure technology, it has the potential to reduce fraud, as an electronic platform granting simultaneous access to real-time data to multiple stakeholders, it has the potential to reduce delays and because it does away with the need for manual processing of information recorded on paper, it would inevitably reduce administrative costs and errors. However, the legal framework to enable and regulate potential blockchain alternatives to paper is as yet very undeveloped and there is a risk that there will be a formal legal void surrounding their use and the associated risks. The project will be undertaken with the support of Maritime UK, QMUL’s CASE partner for this project, giving the researcher access to a wealth of market knowledge and practical experience of the shipping business.
The successful candidates will undertake research for an MRes & PhD degree within the field of IT and Shipping law under the supervision of Dr Miriam Goldby and Prof. Christopher Reed.
Applicants must submit, by the deadline date:
The deadline for Studentship applications to the School of Law Monday, 22 July 2019.
You must have submitted both your application to the MRes programme (including all required supporting documents) and your ESRC LISS DTP Collaborative (CASE) Studentship 2019-20 Application form by this date.