Postdoctoral position - Ensuring a Fair Material Supply Chain for Batteries: An analysis of EU battery regulations - 7 months

The University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour (UPPA) is a multidisciplinary university (science and technology, humanities, languages, law, economics, management) with several campuses (Pau, Anglet, Bayonne, Mont de Marsan, Tarbes).

The UPPA is one of the 17 French universities out of 54 that have been awarded the IDEX or I-SITE (Initiative Science-Innovation-Territories-Economy) label of excellence by the government. It has also been awarded other future investment programmes: MARSS excellence equipment (Equipex label), SPACE personalised student support programme (NCU label), GREEN university research school (SFRI label), doubling the number of students on the Basque coast IREKIA (ExcellenceS label). In 2022, it was also awarded the "Science with and for society" label.

The TREE laboratory (UMR 6031), created on 1 January 2021 and supervised by the UPPA and the CNRS, is conceived as a problem-oriented interdisciplinary unit. It addresses energy and environmental transitions by bringing together researchers from the fields of geography, sociology, law and economics. The general objective of the unit is to analyse the challenges, obstacles and levers for the implementation of energy and environmental transitions by working on the innovations, regulations and recompositions that they imply. Its accreditation as a Mixed Research Unit (UMR) by the CNRS reflects the support and recognition of the scientific level of the work carried out by the laboratory's researchers.

The JPEC (Justice Pathways for Extractives and Critical minerals) project, coordinated by the TREE laboratory, aims to study the evolution of mining law as a tool for energy transition and sustainability at the European and international levels. The project will provide useful analysis for the development of a European Mining Law. Its main feature is that it is based on general legal issues, while focusing on the specificity of the area under study. In this case, the study of mining will provide an understanding of the various issues of governance, normativity, planning and litigation related to mines, as well as the challenges of reconciling European Union law and French law.

Finally, the TREE laboratory is a partner in the RAISE 2024 hub, launched in 2019, which aims to develop new advanced battery systems using solid electrolyte technology for electric vehicles (cars, light aircraft, etc.) and renewable energy storage, in partnership with two major international groups, Arkema and SAFT.

The postdoctoral study, part of the RAISE 2024 hub, will also be linked to the JPEC project. It will focus on the mining sector and energy justice in relation to battery sustainability. The mining sector faces many challenges due to the increasing demand for essential minerals. The issue of integrating critical materials into a circular economy is therefore more important than ever. Specifically, based on an analysis of future regulations (particularly European), the aim is to identify the extent to which the sustainable battery market should operate within an ideal of energy justice. This postdoc will will seek to understand how European regulations can ensure a fair supply chain for battery materials.

Scientific supervisors: Louis de Fontenelle (Associate Professor, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, TREE laboratory) and Mohammad HAZRATI (Senior Research Fellow in Energy law and policy. National University of Singapore)

• Analysis of European regulations on critical materials and batteries, including the new EU Battery Regulation (2023/1542) the EU Critical Raw Materials Act (2024/1252), and aspects of environmental law, energy law, etc.
• Writing international scientific articles, reports, as a result of the research
• Possible presentation of research results at conferences and to the hub RAISE partners

• A PhD in Law (possibly if the applicant has a strong legal background in social sciences or humanities),
• A specialisation in energy law will be appreciated,
• Motivation, dynamism, professional experience, maturity, scientific curiosity, ability to integrate a high-level research team and to carry out projects with stakeholders,
• Autonomy, organisation, rigour in carrying out tasks,
• Team spirit, ability to develop international partnership networks,
• International and professional experience is desirable,
• Fluency in English.