UNPAID VOLUNTEER - Director of Legal Research

Overview

Unpaid Volunteer — Director of Legal Research (1 position)

This home-based/remote role provides strategic and academic leadership to an organization’s legal research activities.

Role Purpose

This position is intended for an experienced legal scholar or academic legal researcher with a strong record of conducting and publishing substantive legal research.

The role focuses on legal research at the intersection of law, emerging digital technologies, climate change, and sustainable development, including areas such as technology law, climate law, environmental governance, carbon markets, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital regulation.

Responsibilities

The Director of Legal Research will:

• Lead the legal research agenda across technology law, climate law, environmental governance, and related areas.
• Supervise Legal Research Officers and provide academic, technical, and strategic guidance on research projects.
• Develop and oversee high-quality legal research, publications, policy papers, briefing notes, and other research outputs.
• Identify priority research questions at the intersection of emerging digital technologies, climate policy, and sustainable development.
• Develop strategic research and knowledge partnerships with universities, research institutions, governments, international organisations, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Review and approve legal research outputs to ensure academic quality, accuracy, and policy relevance.
• Lead or contribute to multidisciplinary research projects.
• Translate complex legal research into practical insights for policymakers, legislators, climate negotiators, and non-specialist audiences.
• Contribute research expertise to conferences, webinars, policy forums, executive briefings, and external engagements.
• Support the development of funded research proposals and strategic research initiatives.
• Contribute to senior-level research planning and institutional strategy.
• Monitor research progress, resource requirements, and delivery against agreed priorities.

Requirements

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Exceptional academic legal research and analytical skills.
• A strong record of scholarly writing, editing, and publication.
• Strong strategic and intellectual leadership capability.
• Excellent critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.
• The ability to identify important and emerging legal research questions.
• Strong organisational and time-management skills.
• The ability to manage large-scale and long-term research programmes.
• The ability to lead, mentor, and develop highly qualified researchers.
• Strong professional judgement and research integrity.
• The ability to integrate different disciplines and areas of expertise into coherent research programmes.
• Strong stakeholder-engagement and relationship-management skills.
• The ability to communicate complex legal and academic concepts clearly to policymakers and non-specialist audiences.
• Strong presentation and public-speaking skills.
• The ability to develop and maintain strategic research collaborations.
• The ability to work independently and provide leadership within a remote, internationally distributed organisation.
• The ability to manage competing priorities, budgets, and research deadlines.
• A collaborative, credible, and intellectually rigorous leadership style.

General and Specialist Knowledge

Candidates should demonstrate strong knowledge or research expertise in one or more of the following areas:

• Technology law and digital regulation
• Artificial intelligence law and governance
• Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology law
• Climate change law and policy
• Environmental law and governance
• Carbon market law and regulation
• Climate finance regulation
• Renewable energy law and policy
• Natural resource governance
• Data protection, digital governance, and technology policy
• International environmental law
• Public international law relevant to climate and sustainable development
• Legal frameworks supporting responsible emerging-technology adoption
• Academic legal research methodologies
• Comparative and interdisciplinary legal research

Candidates are not expected to be specialists in every area, but should demonstrate substantial expertise in at least one relevant field and the ability to lead multidisciplinary legal research.

Knowledge of international climate processes, including the UNFCCC and related policy frameworks, would be advantageous.

Proficiency in Microsoft Office and relevant legal research, reference-management, and academic research tools is expected.

Education and Training

Candidates should preferably possess:

• A PhD in Law or another closely related discipline with a strong legal research component.

Candidates with equivalent advanced academic qualifications and an exceptional record of substantive legal research and publication may also be considered.

Specialist expertise or academic training in areas such as technology law, climate or environmental law, international law, digital governance, artificial intelligence regulation, blockchain or financial technology law, and sustainability and environmental policy would be advantageous.

Professional proficiency in English is required.

Knowledge of Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, or another international language would be advantageous.

Experience

Candidates should demonstrate:

• Significant experience developing and managing academic legal research projects.
• A strong and demonstrable track record of peer-reviewed publications, books, book chapters, research reports, or other substantial legal research outputs.
• Experience designing, planning, and delivering independent legal research.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary or cross-disciplinary research initiatives.
• Experience supervising, mentoring, or managing researchers.
• Experience developing and maintaining academic or institutional research collaborations.
• Experience translating academic research into policy-relevant outputs.
• Experience engaging policymakers, legislators, international organisations, or other senior institutional stakeholders.
• Experience developing research proposals and, ideally, securing or managing research funding.
• Experience contributing to strategic and operational research planning.
• Experience managing research resources, priorities, and deliverables.
• Experience presenting research findings at conferences, seminars, policy forums, or comparable external engagements.

Internationally recognised research leadership, or a sustained record of contributing to influential legal or policy research, would be highly advantageous.

Experience within a university, research institution, think tank, international organisation, nonprofit organisation, or comparable research environment would also be advantageous.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated ability to translate academic legal research into practical policy insights, briefings, and recommendations.

Compensation & Benefits

• This is an unpaid volunteer position.

Location

• Home-based / Remote
• Reporting to: Director-General

Selection Process

The selection process normally includes:

• Application screening
• Written or research assessment
• Interview and/or technical discussion for shortlisted candidates
• Final selection and onboarding

Shortlisted candidates may be requested to provide examples of published legal research, academic publications, or other substantive research outputs.