Center for Religious Studies Announces Call for Two 2-Year Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship Positions

The Center for Religious Studies at Central European University invites applications for two post-doctoral fellow positions for its new research project Striking from the Margins. The project, which examines religion and state disintegration in the Middle East, is supported jointly by the University and by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The two positions will be granted for the period two years, beginning January 1, 2017. For information on the program please visit https://religion.ceu.edu/projects.

The main focus of the project is on Syria and Iraq in the past three decades, seeking to connect developments in these countries with those in Arab countries and with global dynamics overall.

Position 1: Applications are invited from researchers working in one of the two thematic fields

• Reframing religion and the devolution of religious authority to new actors;
• The atrophy of state functions and devolution of the monopoly of violence, including security functions, to informal patrimonial and private actors as well as to quasi-state structures.

Position 2: Applications are invited for researchers working in one of the three thematic fields

• The political economy of structural marginalization and socio-economic, cultural and geographical segmentation;
• Transnational and global jihadist networks and the reconfiguration of the margins;
• Gender as a transversal perspective cutting across all previous themes.

The fellowships will be offered to young researchers who wish to conduct original research and who have already extensive experience with and in the region. It is expected that applicants apply with their own research profiles and agendas which they will integrate and develop further within the framework of the project.

Post-doctoral fellows will join doctoral students and members of CEU faculty from across a number of disciplines, along with external colleagues and members of partner institutions, in contributing to coherent research program. The project aims to produce a critical mass of original scholarship that would map novel research domains to produce more convincing analytical results. With specific reference to postdoctoral fellows, it aims to produce detailed empirical research with appropriate analytical elaboration that would be published and disseminated in print and in digital form. The two post-doctoral fellows will be expected to participate in a bi-weekly internal seminar, participate fully in the life of the project, and to play a major role in preparing an international conference at the end of the project which will bring in participants from both the research and policy communities and which will result in a major publication.

Fellows will be required to enter into a definite term employment contract with Central European University. Fellows will benefit from the usual research facilities in place, and will be eligible for support for field research.

Compensation

•  We offer a competitive salary, as well as a dynamic and international academic environment.

Eligibility

• Eligible applicants should have held a doctoral degree for a period of less than five years, and have a demonstrable record of promise in a related area.
• Applicants are expected to have extensive experience of the region.
• Applicants are expected to have a keen interest and experience in cross-disciplinary work in the social sciences.

Requirements

• Post-docs are required to be in residence at CEU for the duration of their fellowship except for agreed field research trips abroad and the normal seasonal holidays;
• Fellows will be expected to provide a mid-term narrative report, and a final narrative report;
• Fellows will be expected to post research results and other materials on the project’s website, and to prepare a manuscript of a monograph for publication during the tenure of their fellowship.
• Fellows will be given the opportunity to play a major role in preparing the concluding international conference, and to produce the edited volume of the proceedings.
• Post-docs are expected to acknowledge clearly the CEU and Carnegie Corporation of New York contributions to publications and to their participation at events arising from their tenure of the fellowship.

The Application package should include:

• A full curriculum vitae, including a list of publications
• A detailed covering letter
• A summary research proposal, and a full version of the proposal including bibliographic references
• A sample article or analytical research report, published or unpublished
• The names and contact details of three referees

Applications will be processed on a rolling basis and shall not be accepted for consideration any later than 1 November 2016.

Requests for additional information should be sent to Esther Holbrook, Coordinator by e-mail to HolbrookE@ceu.edu. or by phone to +36 1 327 3000 ex 2170.