Doctoral Research Vacancy at Ghent University 2019/2020

Deadline: 8 November 2019
Open to: international students with a Master’s degree or PhD in  law or a related social sciences discipline
Benefits: the starting salary will be EUR 2334,88 net per month

Description

Applications are welcomed for Doctoral Research at Ghent University 2019/2020. They are seeking to fill two full-time positions as part of the ERC-funded research project “DISSECT: Evidence in International Human Rights Adjudication”

These positions will be filled at either doctoral or post-doctorate level, as appropriate in view of the CV and experience of the candidates. If the selected candidate is a Ph.D. candidate, the post is for 40 months. If the selected candidate is a post-doctoral fellow, the post is for 30 months (with the possibility of a limited extension in some circumstances). If you apply for a PhD position, you will have an MA in Law or a relevant Social Sciences discipline. As part of a research team that explores together evidence in international human rights adjudication, your task will be to investigate, from both a legal and a social perspective, the evidence regime developed at one of the following two institutions: the European Court of Human Rights or the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. If you are a doctoral candidate, you will write a PhD thesis. If you are a post-doctoral fellow, you will write academic publications. You will also attend academic conferences and participate in the dissemination of the findings of the research project. English will be your main language of work. The postholders will become members of the Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law and Criminology.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible, applicants must:

  • Have obtained their degree (Masters for the Ph.D. position; Ph.D. for post-doc position) at the time of the application or demonstrate convincingly that they will have that degree in hand by April 1, 2020;
  • Demonstrate prior familiarity with the court they will study;
  • Have a deep interest in the study of power and society;
  • Be fluent in English as their main working language;
  • Be in a position to spend periods of time abroad to conduct twice 3-month-long fieldwork and to participate in international conferences.

The following attributes are also highly desirable:

  • Direct experience of the institution to be studied (ideally having worked in the Registry of the Court you will study either as an intern or a lawyer);
  • In-depth knowledge of the case law of the institution to be studied;
  • Experience in conducting ethnographic fieldwork or qualitative interviews, or interest in conducting these;
  • Command of a second official language of the Court (French for the European Court; Spanish for the Inter-American Court);
  • An academic background that helps to interrogate questions of evidence;
  • Pre-existing networks relevant to the research.

In addition to these project-specific elements, candidates are expected to:

  • Have the ability to work independently and in a team;
  • Have excellent academic writing/presentation skills;
  • Contribute towards the general well-functioning of the team;
  • Have the ability to reach out to different audiences, including through use of social media;
  • Work in a meticulous way and be able to manage deadlines.

Benefits

Several elements, including prior experience and family situation, will be factored into the calculation of the salary offered.

An indicative starting salary for a person with six years of previous relevant experience and no family would be EUR 2334,88 net per month for a Ph.D. candidate but more for a post-doc researcher.

The University also offers several social benefits to which the candidate has access, such as commuter allowances and access to university restaurants.

How to apply?

For more information and to apply, please visit this website.