PhD candidates in the field of governance of (I) migration and (II) remittances

The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) at Leiden University seeks to appoint 2 full-time, 4 year, PhD candidates to carry out research (80%) and teaching (20%) activities for the ERC funded research project JUSTREMIT.

JUSTREMIT investigates the governance, practices, and ethics of remittances. The team consists of four members including the PI, an ethnographer, and two PhD candidates. The PhD candidates will take the lead on researching the governance aspects of the research. One PhD candidates will study the governance of migration, the other will study the governance of remittances, preferably focusing on the Europe/West-African corridor. We are seeking one PhD candidate for each line of research:

• The Governance of Remittances: PhD1 will focus on the governances of money, focusing on remittances and remitters. The governance of remittances is an enormously complex collage of local, national, transnational, international, corporate, technological, and regulatory complications. To understand the political science of remittances in more analytical and normative depth, we need to understand the infrastructure and geography of the networks that connect remitters and receivers.
• The Governance of Migration: PhD2 will focus on the governance of migration and the geopolitics of remittances. We are interested in understanding how states try, succeed, and fail in governing their migrants. How do states—both receiving and sending—try to control, appropriate, steer, commandeer, or increase remittances? How are remitters and receivers becoming subjects of inter-state conflict? How do remitters and remittances shape or resist state actions? PhD2 will conduct a study of the realpolitik of migration and remittances in their cross-cutting, transnational, and translocal forms; where the global migrant community is conceptualized as an actor, not a patient or a victim. Political scientists have only recently started asking how remittances shape the politics of receiving states. PhD2 is expected to advance these debates by considering how states act to shape remittances flows and how remitters act to shape state local and national politics.

We are interested in candidates with experience in the European/West-African remittances/migration corridor. JUSTREMIT is an interdisciplinary project, and the PhD candidates are expected to learn from and contribute to the rest of the project. We are not looking for theorists or ethnographers, but we do want candidates who can talk with them while also championing their own topically and methodologically unique study.

Project proposal:
As part your application package, indicate which position you are interested in and provide a sketch of a line of research that you would like to pursue. What puzzle would you like to work on? What kind of evidence/data would you need to solve that puzzle? What method would you use to analyze that evidence? Keep it short, maximum 1 page.

Key responsibilities

• Meet all the official requirements of earning a PhD degree at Leiden University;
• Conduct research in the political economy of remittances or migration;
• Support the education activities at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, including lecturing, marking, and providing feedback to students to a maximum of 20% of the appointment;
• Present work to both academic and professional audiences;
• Participate in JUSTREMIT’s ongoing activities;
• Follow PhD courses based on an individual training and supervision plan.

• Master’s degree in political science, international relations, security studies, political economy or a related field with relevance to JUSTREMIT;
• Demonstrable ability and enthusiasm for interdisciplinary research (evidenced by excellent grades, diverse interests, Master’s thesis topic, etc.);
• The ability to work in an independent, organized, and result-oriented fashion;
• Excellent command of English.

We offer a PhD position for 4 years (1.0 FTE, 38 hrs per week), leading to the successful completion of a PhD thesis. Initially you will receive a one-year contract, with extension for the following 3 years on condition of a positive evaluation of progress and skills development. The gross monthly salary is set on € 2.395,- in the first year, increasing to € 3.061,- gross per month in the final year in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch universities.

The successful candidate will be expected to move to the Netherlands. Leiden University will assist in the application of a work visa for candidates from outside the EU. We expect the PhD to start in September, 2021 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3%), training and career development. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. For more information, see the 

Diversity
Leiden University is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from members of underrepresented groups.

The Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs (FGGA) offers academic education in the field of Public Administration, Safety and Security, and International Relations, as well as in-depth post-academic programmes for professionals. In addition, the Faculty is also home to Leiden University College. For more information about the Faculty, see the website. For more information about the Faculty, see the website.

The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) is a scientific institute that focuses on multidisciplinary research and education within the international field of security studies. ISGA operates from The Hague, centre of national and international governance and City of Peace, Justice and Security. The PhD candidate will support education activities within the Master Crisis and Security management, specialization track Crisis Governance.

Please submit online your application no later than 1 July 2021 via the blue button in our application system. Please ensure that you upload the following additional documents in PDF format, quoting the vacancy number:

• Motivation letter (1 page max);
• Project proposal (see above);
• Grade list from previous education programmes followed and completed;
• Curriculum vitae;
• Writing sample (MA Thesis, a recent paper, etc.);
• The names and contact details of two potential referees (do not send letters at this stage).

Enquiries from agencies are not appreciated.