Category: Studentships

Heriot-Watt U PhD Studentships: Languages & Intercultural Studies 2024 (Scotland)

“Studentships“
PhD Studentships 2024-5 in Languages and Intercultural Studies, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Deadline: 2 April 2024.

Heriot-Watt University’s School of Social Sciences is offering a number of full-time PhD studentships to start in September 2024. Studentships include a tuition fee waiver and an annual stipend currently set at £18,622. The duration of the studentships is 3.5 years. The School of Social Sciences also offers a research support allowance of £2,250 over the registered period of study. In addition, full-time scholarship holders are normally offered an opportunity to undertake paid teaching support each academic year.

Projects in areas related to language and intercultural studies include The use of new language technologies for translation purposes by non-language professionals in higher education settings, and also Decolonising research and research methodologies. 

Coventry U: PHD Studentship in Contentious Civil Societies & Democratisation in Southeastern Europe (UK)


“Studentships“PhD Studentship: Contentious Civil Societies and Democratisation in Southeastern Europe, Coventry University, UK. Deadline: 31 March 2024.

Coventry University is inviting applications from suitably-qualified graduates for a fully funded PhD studentship examining Contentious Civil Societies and Democratisation in Southeastern Europe. Candidates will be based in the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations – a research centre in the Institute for Peace and Security.

Many current developments in Post-Communist Southeast European politics confound analysts. Firstly, while the overall trend is towards democratic backsliding, there is much variation between states to the extent that democracy databases often disagree; for example Romania’s democracy score has been on a negative trajectory since the mid-2010s according to Freedom House, but a positive trajectory according to V-Dem. Part of this confusion arises from the fact that, with the sudden emergence of battle-ready civil societies in the 2010s, most of these societies are far more contentious that they were in the 2000s. Contention is notoriously difficult to evaluate from the perspective of democracy evaluators. This ‘contention’ conundrum is of interest to political scientists and democracy promoters worldwide: are polarised, contentious civil societies better understood as catalysing or spoiling factors in young democracies? The former interpretation prevails in much rationalist political science theorising while the latter argument is rooted in agonistic democratic theory and the new social movements literature. Activists struggling for emancipatory causes are at once celebrated by democratic theorists as seeking to expand the democratic realm and (often implicitly) denigrated as drivers of polarisation by rationalist political scientists, especially as in Southeastern Europe where these activists are struggling against (often pro-EU) political elites. The whole situation calls for a closer look.

The proposed PhD project would be a mostly qualitative, possibly ethnographic study focussed in either one or two countries of Southeastern Europe that would ideally facilitate access to either or both liberal-emancipatory and illiberal civil society actors. Methodologies such as participant observation, focus groups and semi-structured interviews would be encouraged to allow civil society actors themselves to outline their interests and identities in relation to aspirations for – or against – democracy and its liberal dimensions.

U Antwerp: Studentship in Peace, Institutional Design and Ethnicity in Africa (Belgium)

“Studentships“

Graduate Teaching & Research Assistant in Peace, Institutional Design and Ethnicity in Africa, Institute of Development Policy, University of Antwerp, Belgium. Deadline: 29 February 2024.

As a graduate teaching & research assistant, you are part of the Academic Assistant Staff (Dutch: Assisterend Academisch Personeel, AAP). You spend at least 50% of your working time preparing a PhD thesis in development studies. In addition, you play an assisting role in teaching, research and service-delivery activities.

PhD research

  • You work on the preparation and defence of a PhD thesis in Development Studies – in English, French or Dutch – on a subject related to peace, institutional design and ethnicity in Africa. Your PhD research is situated at the national level of state institutions, possibly with linkages to the local sub-state and the intergovernmental regional level (African Union, RECs). You investigate how, as a conflict prevention or conflict resolution strategy, ethnic diversity and segmentation is institutionally managed through constitutional design or other governance instruments.  You may decide to focus on one country or engage in a comparative analysis. Your PhD contributes to the scholarly literature and policy on nation-building, state-building and peacebuilding in Africa.

  • You organise your own PhD research and report on your progress regularly.

  • You participate in a doctoral training programme, for instance by participating in courses offered by the Antwerp Doctoral School and/or CERES doctoral school in order to enhance your doctoral research skills.

  • You present the findings of your PhD research at academic conferences and you publish in scientific publications (among which IOB’s own publication outlets). You also communicate your findings to non-scientific audiences (among which IOB’s own Analysis and Policy Briefs).

  • You contribute to the research related activities organized by the community of IOB PhD students.

U Edinburgh: PHD Scholarship in Peace & Conflict Resolution 2024 (UK)

“Studentships“

Chrystal Macmillan PhD Scholarship, School of Social & Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. Deadline: 1 February 2024.

Applications are invited for the Chrystal Macmillan PhD Scholarship, which is offered by the School of Social and Political Science to a new PhD student studying a field relevant to Chrystal Macmillan. This is open only to new PhD pursuing a PhD topic in one of the following fields:

  • social justice
  • gender and equality
  • human rights
  • peace and conflict resolution

Chrystal Macmillan was a pioneering campaigner for social justice. In 1896, she was the first woman to graduate from the University of Edinburgh in science, later converting to law, and becoming one of the first group of women to be called to the English bar in 1924. She was a leading suffragist, campaigning for votes for women and equality of opportunity in other spheres. She was a prominent figure in the international women’s movement, campaigning for peace and conflict resolution during the First World War, and was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

U Hull: Studentship in Great Flood Stories and What They Teach Us: Applying Lessons from Cross-Cultural Diluvial Traditions (UK)

“Studentships“

PHD Studentship: Great Flood Stories and What They Teach Us: Applying Lessons from Cross-Cultural Diluvial Traditions, University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull, UK. Deadline: 24 January 2024.

Despite being one of the world’s oldest narratives, stories about Great Floods have yet to receive sustained critical attention. No synthesis has brought together the increasingly precious adaptation and mitigation lessons held within the anthropological, literary and historical intercultural responses to past floods. This PhD sets out to mine their potential lessons for the present. It will set out applied historical lessons of global value resulting from analysis of the Great Flood stories that span the ages through Indigenous South and North America, the Near East, the Greco-Roman world, and Mesoamerica.

This exciting PhD project will address this environmental history research gap via detailed examination centred upon the context-specific elements from flood stories that made the flood mitigation/adaptation options successful (or not) within sources such as the “earth-diver’ motif in the Northeastern United States, the Maya Deluge Myth and the Four Flood Myth Traditions of Classical China.

The student will analyse international historical, ethnographic, and paleoclimatology sources, oral history collections and academic literature on Great Flood stories and conduct semi-structured interviews/policy document analysis on present-day flood resilience in a specific flood-prone region.

They will be encouraged to produce a policy report, article and a short book publication such as a Cambridge Element (a book series within Treatied Spaces Research Group). The aim of each output will be to connect historical knowledge to present-day practice.

This is a funded 4-year PhD studentship to start in September 2024. An exciting opportunity for an ambitious, talented and enthusiastic researcher to conduct interdisciplinary research in order to advance thinking within the area of blue-green humanities. Because this project is international in design, it would benefit significantly from being carried out by a candidate with capabilities in multiple languages and cultural registers.

Brunel U: Studentships in Education (UK)

“Studentships“

ESRC Funded Studentships in Education at Brunel University London, via the Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership, Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK. Deadline: 12 January 2024.

The ‘Grand Union’ is a Doctoral Training Partnership between Brunel University London, the Open University and the University of Oxford. This is one of 14 ESRC Doctoral Training Partnerships across the UK, providing postgraduate students with high-quality social science research training. Brunel DTP students on the Education pathway will join the Department of Education. Education at Brunel is a leading department in the UK offering the full range of provision at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In common with the university as a whole the department has a rich ethnic mix among its student population and attracts a significant proportion of students from outside the European Union.

The most obvious options for followers of CID are:

 

Norwegian School of Economics Studentship: Professional and Intercultural Communication (Norway)

“Studentships“

PhD Research Scholar : Professional and Intercultural Communication, Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), Bergen, Norway. Deadline: 15 January 2024.

NHH is pleased to announce vacancies as PhD research scholar at the Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication. The department welcomes applications within three fields of research as specified below. The PhD specialisations offered by the Department of Professional and Intercultural Communication aims to give dedicated students solid training in performing high quality research. The students must undertake relevant course work equivalent to 45 ECTS. Given the international focus of the department, the PhD research scholars are strongly encouraged to carry out some of their coursework abroad or at other Norwegian institutions.

Qualifying education in the PhD specialisations in Professional and intercultural Communication should normally be a master’s degree in language/linguistics or translation. Emphasis will be placed on the quality and relevance of the research proposal. Some formal education in economics, business administration or other social sciences is an advantage.

In the application, candidates should state explicitly which research area they are applying for. Research proposals should preferably include a sustainability perspective.

  • Specialised translation

The research proposal should focus on translation of specialised texts preferably from or into Norwegian or a Scandinavian language, but other language combinations may also be relevant.

  • Digital text analysis

The research proposal should include computational approaches and focus on data and topics relevant for business organisations.

  • Discourse analysis/Conversation analysis

The research proposal should focus on the qualitative study of professional communication. Possible topics include, but are not restricted to, intersubjectivity, pragmatic strategies, multilingualism, or English as a business lingua franca.

Danube U Krems Studentship: Migration as Morality Politics (Austria)

“Studentships“

Research Fellow/PhD Student: Migration as Morality Politics, Danube University Krems, Austria. Deadline: 31 August 2023.

The advertised position is part of the FWF project “Migration as Morality Politics” coordinated by Prof. Julia Mourão Permoser. This project investigates the contentious politics of sanctuary in Europe and the United States. Sanctuary refers to practices by local governments and civil society organizations that aim to provide unauthorized migrants with a safe space where they can be shielded from immigration law enforcement. The project investigates three types of sanctuary: sanctuary cities, sanctuary churches (or other places of worship), and sanctuaries created along or near international borders by NGOs that seek to protect those who are trying to cross the border.

They are looking for a PhD candidate interested in conducting a PhD project that relates to the topic of the project. In particular, they welcome applications by researchers interested in conducting a study of sanctuary in the United States, and comparing it to the existing findings of the project about sanctuary in Europe.

Erasmus U: Studentship in Cultural Heritage (the Netherlands)

“Studentships“

PhD position in Cultural Heritage, School of History, Culture and Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Deadline: 30 July 2023.

The Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication at the Erasmus University Rotterdam is pleased to announce a challenging PhD position that delves into community engagements with colonial heritage sites. Although tourism in relation to contested heritage and colonial heritage has been studied from a wide range of perspectives, less attention has been given to the engagement of indigenous communities to sites explicitly concerned with colonial histories. Additionally, the consequences of involuntary loss from these sites (e.g., due to colonial looting), and the influence of changing narratives surrounding these sites, are often omitted. Taking a multi-actor comparative approach, and by actively involving indigenous communities in the research process, this PhD position will produce novel theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of colonial heritage and tourism.

Candidates interested in this PhD position are to propose specific case-studies and/or regions relating to the research questions: How do indigenous communities negotiate, understand, and engage with colonial heritage sites? How have broader discussions of indigenous rights and representation in modern society been impacted by the preservation and interpretation of the material and immaterial properties of colonial sites? And how do colonial heritage sites shape the ongoing interactions between indigenous and non-indigenous communities?

 

Justus Liebig U: Studentship in Intercultural Communication & Business 2023 (Germany)

“Studentships“

PHD Candidate and Research Assistant position, Intercultural Communication and Business, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany. Deadline: 18 July 2023.

Founded in 1607, Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) is a research university rich in tradition. They are currently offering a part-time position (50 %), for a PhD Candidate and Research Assistant in the field of Intercultural Communication and Business. The position is to be filled on a fixed-term basis at the Chair of Intercultural Communication and Business, Department of English at the Faculty of Language, Literature, Culture. As long as the maximum permissible duration of a fixed-term contract is not exceeded, you will be employed for an initial period of 3 years. An extension for up to another 2 years is possible under the above-mentioned condition.

JLU aims to employ more women in academic research. They therefore particularly encourage female candidates to apply. Due to the women’s support plan, there is an obligation to increase the proportion of women. JLU is regarded as a family-friendly university. Applicants with children are very welcome. Applications from disabled people of equal aptitude will be given preference.

Your tasks at a glance:

  • Opportunity for own academic and didactic qualification, activities in research and teaching according to § 72 HessHG
  • Taking on teaching duties according to the teaching obligation ordinance of the state of Hessen
  • Conduct research at the interface of two or more of the following areas: intercultural communication and education, cultural anthropology, intercultural management, international and political communication, migration and diaspora studies – with a focus on China and Asia.
  • Prepare and teach seminars and tutorials in undergraduate and graduate programs: teaching responsi­bilities – totaling two hours per week during each semester – include examination duties and student supervision
  • Develop and conduct a PhD research project
  • Assist the Chair with academic self-administration