As a PhD candidate, you will contribute to the glocal research project ’Emerging Divides? Encounters of refugees and host communities in a Glocal world’

The recent inflow of refugees has led to a persistent emergence of divides in Dutch society. Whereas some parts of society welcomed the newcomers, other parts showed clear reservations and felt that the newcomers might pose a threat to their life-worlds. The initially unprecedented scale of inflow (in relative terms, as other countries, e.g. Germany, noted much higher inflows) escalated the debate between those who feel that solidarity with those in need of support due to war or other types of humanitarian crises should be unwavering and those who argue that, if certain forms of highly considered societal norms and general levels of welfare are to be maintained, there is only limited room available for newcomers.

This project aims to study home making processes among refugees. What individual and contextual factors facilitate or hamper these processes? And how do encounters with the local host community impact home making processes? Thus, this research also seeks to understand the influence of locality and local solidarity mechanisms (formal and informal) on the kinds of interactions newcomers have with different parts of a local community. This requires an appraisal of everyday encounters between newcomers and local society (e.g. in public spaces, shopping zones, religious places, shared recreational activities), resulting in original data – qualitative and quantitative – that allows for a holistic analysis of these encounters to shed light on the question of how contact among groups shapes peaceful versus conflict-driven, and productive versus destructive interactions at micro- and meso-levels. In this, the focus is on both immediate and longer-term effects of these interactions.

You should be theoretically flexible, given the shifting ‘landscape’ studied, be eager to use a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods in data collection, and be willing to conduct field research in locations around the country, at flexible moments, reflecting the dynamics of the life-worlds studied.

- a Master’s degree in Human Geography, Development or Behavioural/Experimental Economics, Political Sciences or a related social science discipline that provides you with a suitable background in qualitative research methods and social theory;
- affinity with the research topic. Please indicate clearly in your application letter why this project appeals to you;
- an openness to mixed method approaches to research;
- excellent communication skills and an ability to engage effectively and conscientiously with various parts of society;
- excellent writing skills, as evidenced by a writing sample such as a chapter from your Master’s thesis or a (forthcoming or published) article or a recently presented conference paper;
- excellent command of English (in order to participate in international conferences and seminars, and to publish internationally);
- strong proficiency in Dutch (in order to conduct empirical research in the Netherlands);
- relevant international experience will be considered a bonus.

You will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years
- You will be classified as a PhD Candidate (promovendus) in the Dutch university job-ranking system (UFO).
The gross starting salary amounts to €2,222 per month, and will increase to €2,840 in the fourth year (P scale)
The preferred starting date is May 2018.

Radboud University

Strategically located in Europe, Radboud University is one of the leading academic communities in the Netherlands. A place with a personal touch, where top-flight education and research take place on a beautiful green campus in modern buildings with state-of-art facilities.

http://www.ru.nl

Nijmegen School of Management

The Nijmegen School of Management (NSM) is an academic centre of research and higher learning, focusing on institutional and managerial issues within complex organisations in both the public and private domain. There are seven focus areas within the NSM: Business Administration, Public Administration, Political Science, Economics, Human Geography, Spatial Planning, and Social and Political Sciences of the Environment. The NSM strives for a multidisciplinary approach whenever possible. Altogether, the NSM employs 220 full-time staff, of whom 75% are academics. Both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees are offered in the seven fields of study, which are organised in the NSM’s educational institute. The educational programme is based on a system of small-scale teaching and provides a stimulating learning environment with an emphasis on the development of academic skills. The Nijmegen School of Management has about 3,000 students. The NSM’s research activities are governed by the Institute for Management Research (IMR), which has the equivalent of 80 full-time staff members. It focuses on fundamental and applied research on the development, design and effectiveness of the public and private structures that regulate, govern or manage human interaction. The IMR’s research has six ‘hotspots’ or multidisciplinary groups of research. The above-mentioned projects are closely related to research carried out within the hot spots of Gender and Power in Politics and Management, and GAINS (see IMR's website for more information).

No commercial propositions please.

http://www.ru.nl/nsm/imr/our-research/hot-spots/global-local-divides-and-connections-glocal/