PhD Research Fellowship in Social Sciences
The Centre for Research on Peace and Development (CRPD) announces the vacancy of one PhD Research Fellowship in Social Sciences. CRPD is a multidisciplinary research centre at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in Belgium. CRPD’s multidisciplinary team conducts conceptual, empirical and applied research with the aim of improving our understanding of the causes of violent conflict and political instability as well as the challenges of sustainable peace building.
Project
The PhD Research Fellowship will form part of the following research project: “Who wants to share? Analyzing perceptions of horizontal inequalities and redistribution attitudes in India and South Africa”.
Despite the widespread recognition of the importance of inequalities between ethnic, religious and racial groups or so-called ‘horizontal inequalities’ (HIs) in multi-cultural societies, extremely little research has been conducted on three important and closely related dimensions of this concept and phenomenon: 1) the relationship between objective and perceived socio-economic HIs, 2) people’s general attitudes towards redistributive policies aimed at correcting existing socio-economic HIs or what we refer to in this proposal as ‘horizontal redistribution’, and 3) people’s actual behavioral responses to different kind of redistributive interventions.
The above-mentioned project addresses these three important –yet neglected- dimensions of HIs by systematically investigating and analyzing the determinants of people’s perceptions of socio-economic HIs as well as their general attitudes and actual behavioral responses to horizontal redistribution in India and South Africa; i.e. two countries that have been confronted with very sharp socio-economic HIs for a long time.
Profile
- The applicant should have completed a master’s degree in sociology, economics, political science, development studies or any other closely related subject;
- The applicant should have an outstanding educational/academic track record;
- The applicant should have excellent analytical and writing skills;
- The applicant should have strong quantitative research skills and should be able to statistically analyse survey and/or experimental data;
- Practical experience with survey and/or experimental research will be considered an advantage;
- Any peer-reviewed publications will be considered an advantage;
- The applicant should be fully proficient in English. Proficiency in any of the local languages of India or South Africa will be considered an advantage.
Offer
- A 4–year PhD Research Fellowship (100%) starting in November 2020 or by mutual agreement;
- Renewable contracts of 1 year on the basis of yearly positive evaluation.
- A competitive wage;
- A pleasant and challenging work environment;
- A position at an inclusive workplace enterprise;
- Time spent on teaching and administrative work will be limited to a maximum of 20%.
Interested?
For more information please contact Prof. dr. Arnim Langer, tel.: +32 16 32 32 63, mail: arnim.langer@kuleuven.be.
Applications should include the following documents:
– A letter of motivation (max. 2 pages);
– A comprehensive CV, including grades, courses attended and the names of two references.
Shortlisted applicants will be contacted for an online interview.
You can apply for this job no later than September 30, 2020 via the online application tool