The Conflict Research Group (CRG), based at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences,  Ghent University offers 2 PhD sandwich scholarships in partnership with a university from the Global South.

These grants take the form of a so called “sandwich” scholarship: the candidate obtains from Ghent University a scholarship for 24 months to work (within a span of 48 months) on the PhD at Ghent University. The candidate must take up this 24-month scholarship at Ghent University in minimum two separate stays: one at the start and one at the end of the PhD. Only for the periods the scholarship holder works at Ghent University the scholarship holder will receive a monthly income from Ghent University. The rest (24 months) of the PhD research will be carried out at the partner university in the South, for which no funding is provided through this scholarship.  For the application to be acceptable, it is required that a partner university confirms it will financially cover the 24 months spent at their institution.

 

Who can apply for this funding?

  • Students holding an MA in the broad field of social sciences (political sciences, development studies, anthropology, history…)
  • There must be a PhD supervisor at the partner university or research center in the South;
  • Students should be able to submit a written statement from the partner university stating that the candidate will receive a fulltime local PhD scholarship or salary for a period of 24 months when working on the PhD at the partner university in the South AND
  • will be sufficiently exempted from teaching or other assignments as to be able to fully concentrate on the PhD research in the South. Applicants can dedicate maximum 10 % of their time (fulltime appointment) to other tasks (teaching and other tasks)

 

Students are invited to submit their application consisting of  

  • 2-page CV explaining educational achievements and relevant publications and job experience
  • 3-page proposal (excluding reference), also clearly indicating how their research project relates to the following theme

‘In an area of globalization, hyper-mobility and digitalization, dynamics of contentious politics and violent conflict take increasingly de-territorialized and transnational forms. The ways in which conflict narratives, identities, technologies and affects ‘travel’ transnationally and are being shaped by processes like migration and digitalization, has received growing attention within political science over the past two decades. Building on this scholarship, the PhDs should contribute from a more bottom-up perspective to a better understanding of how conflict dynamics ‘re-territorialize’, when these transnational, mobile narratives, identities and technologies ‘land’ back on the ground. More specifically, we are interested in the various translations of this process of re-territorialisation in terms of: 

    • Spatial articulations 
    • Forms of security governance and armed politics
    • Contested access to resources
    • Humanitarianism
    • Cultural politics of conflict 

The proposal must be structured along the following lines:

    • State of the art
    • Research question/problem statement
    • Methodology
  • A written statement from the partner university stating that the candidate will receive a fulltime local PhD scholarship or salary for a period of 24 months when working on the PhD at the partner university in the South AND will be sufficiently exempted from teaching or other assignments as to be able to fully concentrate on the PhD research in the South. Applicants can dedicate maximum 10 % of their time (fulltime appointment) to other tasks (teaching and other tasks). Depending on the PhD programme of the university in the Global South, a joint PhD format can be pursued.
  • The contact details of two potential references.

 

How to apply?

  • Candidates are invited to submit their electronic application by January 15, 2025 to jobs.crg@ugent.be. The application should be submitted in one consolidated PDF file.
  • Candidates will be informed by January 31 whether they are invited for a formal job interview
  • Selected candidates can start their scholarship by April 1, 2025 at the earliest.

 

What we offer?

  • The candidate obtains from Ghent University a scholarship for 24 months to work (within a span of 48 months) on the PhD at Ghent University. The candidate must take up this 24-month scholarship at Ghent University in minimum two separate stays: one at the start and one at the end of the PhD. Only for the periods the scholarship holder works at Ghent University the scholarship holder will receive a monthly income from Ghent University. The rest (24 months) of the PhD research will be carried out at the partner university in the South, for which no funding is provided through this scholarship.
  • The amount of the scholarship is approximately € 2.470 per month for the part of the PhD done at Ghent University.
  • We offer a sandwich position as a doctoral fellow, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which – after a positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 24 months (within a span of 48 months).
  • Your contract will start on 01/04/2025 at the earliest.
  • The fellowship amount is 100% of the net salary of an AAP member in equal family circumstances. The individual fellowship amount is determined by the Department of Personnel and Organization based on family status and seniority. A grant that meets the conditions and criteria of the regulations for doctoral fellowships is considered free of personal income tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
  • All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits (in Dutch).