PhD position in the arts: Deradicalizing the city
As a researcher in the arts, you will be recruited by the Faculty of Social Sciences of KU Leuven. You will be working on a PhD in the arts and will be supervised by lead supervisors Prof. Dr. Roel Vande Winkel and Prof. Dr. Steven Devleminck, and the co-supervisors Prof. Dr. Nadia Fadil and Prof. Dr. Maarten Loopmans. The lead supervisors both combine a ZAP-appointment at KU Leuven with a research and teaching appointment at LUCA School of Arts (Association KU Leuven; campus Sint-Lukas Brussels). During your four-year scholarship, you will mainly focus on research and will be tasked to a limited extent only (max. 120 hours / year) with teaching activities and/or administrative support to the supervisors. You will mainly work in and around Brussels.
Project
The doctoral research project is part of the ID-N project « Deradicalizing the city. Policy assemblage, security and the question of belonging in Brussels ». This research project will investigate how (1) notions of ‘urban security’ are influenced and transformed by the ‘war on terror’ and the fight against radicalisation and (2) what impact this has on notions of connectedness and (in)security among the residents of the targeted neighbourhoods. The research is carried out by a team of three doctoral researchers: a researcher in the arts (you), an anthropologist and a social geographer. Each team member will carry out other aspects of the project.
The ID-N project is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Nadia Fadil, Prof. Dr. Maarten Loopmans and the above-mentioned supervisors (Devleminck and Vande Winkel).
The neighbourhoods that are at the heart of this project have been subjected to intense policing, media interest and all kinds of academic and/or governmental research. This tends to result in a high degree of distrust, fatigue (‘research fatigue’) and refusal to participate in research projects (‘non-response’). Your research focuses on the development of creative, artistic methodologies or techniques that enable residents of the targeted neighbourhoods to articulate how they experience life under a research, media and security surveillance. The artistic practices and experiments that will be developed will revolve around the central questions of the ID-N project.
Within this framework, you will use, explore and deepen innovative artistic methods that do not act as a short-lived experiment, but become a central research tool and allow communities to reflect on their lived experiences. The research has a clear methodological approach and aims to develop innovative tools and methods based on artistic practices. Your research must lead to the attainment of a doctoral degree (PhD) in the Arts at the KU Leuven. By consequence, throughout this project, you will have to meet the requirements of the “Regulation concerning the attainment of doctoral degrees at the KU Leuven, supplemented with the Particulars of the Faculty of Arts”. (https://admin.kuleuven.be/rd/doctoraatsreglement/en/phdregulation-arts).
Profile
- As a researcher in the arts, you have a background in audio-visual arts (fiction, documentary, experimental cinema, etc.), design or visual arts (visual arts, graphic or multimedia design, photography, information visualization, etc.).
- You have a master’s degree, preferably a master’s degree in the arts. Other master’s degrees will also be taken into account, provided you have a rich artistic portfolio.
- You have a well-developed artistic practice, which shows maturity and has a clear research dimension. This is also evident in your portfolio.
- You are willing to work in a team and play an active and constructive role within the project described above. You must be able to carry out research both autonomously and in groups.
- You are verbally strong. You read, write and communicate fluently in French and English. Knowledge of Dutch or one of the North African languages (Amazigh orArabic) is recommended..
- You have the skills to complete a multi-year research project within the given time frame of four years.
- You are prepared to communicate about your research at conferences, through artistic presentations and through publications.
- You are aware that you work with privacy-sensitive information and must be able to be extremely discrete.
- You are experienced in working with vulnerable and stigmatized communities.
- You are familiar with urban contexts such as Brussels (or the surrounding area), or are willing to move there.