U Oslo: PHD Research Fellowships in Political Science (Norway)

“Studentships“1-3 Ph.D. Research Fellowships in Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Deadline: 1 September 2024.

The Department of Political Science is recruiting 1-3 Ph.D. Research Fellows. They invite applications from excellent candidates in all sub-fields of political science, including public policy and administration, comparative politics, political theory, international relations and research methods. The appointment is for a fixed, non-tenured term of 4 years, and has a 25% teaching component. The Department teaches in all the sub-fields mentioned above, and directs study programmes in Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies, International Studies, and Public Administration and Leadership. The successful candidate will be part of the Faculty’s PhD programme. The work is expected to lead to a PhD in political science.

Utrecht U: Cancelling as a Postcolonial Strategy for Repairing Cultural Heritage (Netherlands)

“Studentships“Ph.D. in Cancelling as a Postcolonial Strategy for Repairing Cultural Heritage, Utrecht University, Netherlands. Deadline: 15 August 2024.

The Department of Media and Culture Studies is looking for a PhD candidate for a project that delves into the meaning and applications of canceling practices within antiracist and decolonial movements. The specific focus is on cancelling as a reparative strategy aimed at addressing the enduring impact of historical injustices in the present. Termed ‘reparative canceling,’ these practices seek to rectify symbols, art, knowledge, cultural heritage, and ingrained cultural norms that are deemed harmful and unjust, thus perpetuating the legacy of colonial history.

You will investigate how reparative cancelling of cultural heritage is performed within antiracist and decolonial activism in both postcolonial (Global South) and post-imperial (Global North) societies. Specifically, it will scrutinise the foundations, justifications, reparative outcomes, and potential drawbacks of the diverse canceling strategies employed by contemporary antiracist and decolonial publics to engage with memory and cultural heritage.

The project will address the following sub-research questions:
* Where does the ‘right to cancel’ stand in relation to the ‘right of memory’ and the preservation of cultural heritage?
* How is the emergence of decolonial and antiracist counter-narratives and counter-memories facilitated by reparative cancelling?

You will tackle these questions by analysing chosen case studies encompassing a range of reparative cancelling practices, such as suppressing/banning, removing/displacing, renaming, and blacklisting/censoring, situated in different geographic locations – namely two postcolonial contexts and two post-imperial contexts.

U Sheffield PhD Studentship: Status Conflict in Teams Led by Women & Ethnic Minorities 2024 (UK)

“Studentships“
PhD Studentship 2024-5: Status Conflict in Teams Led by Women and Ethnic Minority Team Members, Sheffield University Management School, University of Sheffield, UK. Deadline: 10 July 2024.

This PhD project will use two secondary datasets and a series of experiments to explore how teams led by white women and ethnic minorities manage status related conflict in newly formed teams. The project will draw on Expectation States Theory which highlights how individuals in newly formed performance-oriented groups are likely to be granted high and low status positions. In the absence of task expertise, diffuse status characteristics (e.g. gender, ethnicity) tend to be used as indicators of high status, meaning that women and ethnic minorities often occupy low status positions in teams. Recent work has found that teams seem to perform ‘better’ when ethnic minorities and women are in low status positions. This is theorised to occur due to the absence of status related conflict among team members, which illustrates the barriers that women and ethnic minority leaders face when adopting leadership roles. This project will therefore explore when and how minorities are able to overcome status conflict in these teams using an interaction process analysis methodology.

Given the quantitative nature of this research, the successful candidate will have a very strong aptitude for research design and statistics and will have a background in psychology or a related discipline. They will be supervised by Dr Sam Farley, Dr Nicola Thomas, and Professor Jeremy Dawson from the Institute of Work Psychology Sheffield University Management School.

The project offers the opportunity to collaborate with Professor Eden King and Professor Mikki Hebl from Rice University’s Department of Psychological Sciences. Professors King and Hebl are experts in Diversity and Inclusion and have a longstanding collaborative relationship with Professor Jeremy Dawson. The plan is for the successful candidate to have a four week stay at Rice University in the final year of their studies, so that they can write up their findings for journal publication under the guidance of Professors King and Hebl, who would feed into the supervision throughout the PhD project.

Heriot-Watt U PhD Studentships: 2 in Languages & Intercultural Studies 2024 (Scotland)

“Studentships“
2 PhD Studentships with Graduate Teaching Assistantships 2024-5 in Languages and Intercultural Studies, School of Social Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. Deadline: 10 July 2024.

The School of Social Sciences seeks to award a number of PhD scholarships with associated Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) positions to outstanding doctoral candidates with clear potential to excel as academic teachers and researchers. The GTA PhD scholarship is a four-year fixed term position: Students undertake a PhD on a 0.75 FTE basis alongside a 0.25 FTE teaching contract. Remuneration consists of a PhD stipend of £14,427 per annum (0.75 of the standard UKRI rate), plus a salary of £7,401. In addition, PhD tuition fees will be covered.

Two posts are available in the Department of Languages & Intercultural Studies. One of the posts will provide teaching support in Spanish, and the other will provide teaching support in British Sign Language (BSL). Under the leadership of the Head of Department, Prof. Jo Drugan, the role-holders will provide teaching support, including large and small group teaching, tutorials and assessment activities.

Queen Mary U: PhD Studentship in Linguistic Integration in Quebec (UK)

“Studentships“
Funded PhD Studentship: Linguistic Integration in Quebec, Queen Mary University, London, UK. Deadline: 24 June 2024.

Forming an independent project in its own right, this PhD studentship in applied linguistics or French (applied/sociolinguistics) will contribute to a broader Leverhulme-funded project on the ethics of linguistic integration in England, Quebec and Wales, by providing the empirical data on Quebec and contributing to the development of an innovative interdisciplinary approach that combines insight from applied/sociolinguistics and political theory/philosophy. Informed by theoretical debates on linguistic integration from these and other disciplines, your project will focus on the following specific research questions: a) How is linguistic integration conceived, practised and experienced by different parties in Quebec? b) What language-related expectations result from these conceptions and experiences? c) What is the relative legitimacy of these expectations when assessed against core liberal democratic values and principles (e.g. justice, equality, inclusivity, solidarity)? To address these questions, you will undertake a qualitative analysis of a broad sample of documentary materials in Quebec (e.g. legislation, policy documents, media debates, speeches, campaign pamphlets) and conduct (in French) semi-structured interviews and/or focus groups with policymakers, second-language teachers and adult immigrant language learners during a fieldtrip.

You will be based at Queen Mary University of London and supervised primarily by Professor Leigh Oakes of the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film. You will also benefit from input from political philosophy/theory through additional supervision by Professor Yael Peled of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity and the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, and from participation in a rich set of group activities (e.g. four meetings per year, reading groups, conference participation, joint publications) involving the other members of the research team: Dr Huw Lewis (Aberystwyth), Dr Gwennan Higham (Swansea) and another PhD student based in Aberystwyth. This is a unique opportunity to be part of an innovative, collaborative research project and a new generation of scholars committed to interdisciplinary approaches to the politics of language.

NOTE: The studentship is funded by the Leverhulme Trust and will cover 100% of home tuition fees and an annual tax-free maintenance allowance at the UKRI London rate for three years. Due to funding restrictions, this scholarship is unfortunately only open to applicants eligible to pay tuition fees at the UK home rate.

Swansea U: Studentship – From Wales to the World (UK)

“Studentships“
PhD Scholarship: From Wales to the World: A History of the Children’s Peace and Goodwill Message, 1922-1972, Department of History, Swanse University, Wales, UK. Deadline: 13 May 2024.

Swansea University, and the National Library of Wales are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2024 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

Every year without fail since 1922, a message of Peace and Goodwill has been broadcast to the world in the name of the children of Wales. Emerging in response to the violence of the First World War and in support of international peace, the message elicited responses from young people around the globe. The Goodwill Message linked Wales and the world and was a key means through which peace activists sought to mobilize children in the cause of peace against the backdrop of international upheaval. Despite having no parallel in modern history, little has been written of the history of the Goodwill Message or the international responses to it.

This innovative project stands at the intersection of Welsh and international history. Based at Swansea University and the National Library of Wales and working in conjunction with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, it will utilise the NLW’s rich collections to research the history of the first fifty years of the Goodwill Message, analysing how visions of peace were articulated in the face of international turmoil and questioning how young people appear in the historical record. There will be opportunities to take part in the programme of CDP Cohort Development events and other activities organized for CDP students by the AHRC, as well as training and development provided by Swansea University and the CDP Welsh Culture and Heritage Consortium.

U Galway: PhD Studentship in GAELFAM (Ireland)

“Studentships“
PhD Studentship in GAELFAM project, Moore Institute, University of Galway, Ireland. Deadline: 15 April 2024.

The GAELFAM investigates the everyday linguistic experiences of families who reside in the Irish Gaeltacht and who use a language other than/in addition to Irish or English in the home. The PhD researcher will focus on adolescents who fit this profile and will carry out a number of tasks to enable the successful competition of their PhD thesis and viva voce examination. The PhD researcher will gain valuable skills in conducting ethnographic research in school settings, and will also present their research findings at a number of national and international conferences, as well as contribute to organising a conference at the University of Galway and a youth-led event, also to be held at the University of Galway. They will also contribute to scholarly publications and publications for a wider audience (e.g. blog posts). Garda-vetting will apply.

Eurac Research: PhD Studentship in Applied Linguistics / Linguistic Ethnography (Italy)

“Studentships“
PhD Studentship in Applied Linguistics / Linguistic Ethnography, Institute for Applied Linguistics, Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy. Deadline: 31 March 2024.

The Multilingualism and Plurilingualism research group at the Institute for Applied Linguistics at Eurac Research is looking for a PhD student in applied linguistics/linguistic ethnography, who will join the team of the research project EduLiM and conduct PhD research within the project. The ideal start date for the position would be June 1st 2024.

EduLiM stands for Educational Transitions in the Context of Linguistic Minoritization and is a project funded by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen South Tyrol in the framework of the Programme “Research Südtirol/Alto Adige 2022” and carried out in partnership with a research team at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Innsbruck. The project takes a linguistic-ethnographic approach to examining the role of language in children’s transition from early childhood education (ECE) to primary school in German-language education in South Tyrol. It combines critical educational and sociolinguistic theories and is designed as a multi-sited ethnography conducted in first-year primary school classes and with children’s families. In this way, EduLiM aims to create new knowledge on (language) education policies and practices related to transitions, on collaboration across institutional boundaries and between families and institutions, and on different ways in which children are constructed as linguistically minoritized.

The selected candidate will develop their PhD project within EduLiM and contribute to the project activities in this manner.

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.