Application deadline: 27 June 2019
Post Description Hiring Institution: Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium. Duration: 12 months (October 2019 – September 2020). Besides this internal funding, the research fellow will be invited to apply for a FNRS PhD-grant in January/February 2020, to extend the duration of the research to 60 months.
Income: 34.500€ gross per year. The research Fellow will enjoy a monthly gross income of about 2900€ which corresponds to an average net income of about 1900€. Please note that a Fellow’s individual net income after Social Security Contributions can vary in light of their nationality, family status and antecedents.
Requirements Degree: Top-level graduate degree (Master or equivalent) providing access to PhD programmes in Anthropology or Sociology. The degree must have been awarded in 2017, 2018 or 2019, so as to allow applying to a FNRS doctoral grant in February 2020.
Nationality: There is no requirement on nationality but the candidate must settle in Brussels within two months after the beginning of the contract. Candidates from Southeast Asia are encouraged to apply. Language: Proficiency in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge, or willingness to learn French, is a plus. Speaking Lao, Thai, Vietnamese or another relevant regional language is a strong point for application. The research fellow is in any case expected to learn the national language.
How to apply
Candidates must send their applications as a single PDF file to the PhD supervisor’s professional email address (pipetit@ulb.ac.be) no later than 27th of June 2019.
Applications must include:
– A letter of introduction (statement of motivation and personal interpretation of the research project, on maximum 3 pages);
– A full academic CV, including the name and contact details of two academic referees (we may contact your referees during the application process);
– If possible, an academic record with marks obtained for the different grades (BA and MA).
Description
EASt, centre for East Asian Studies, is a research unit within the Maison des sciences humaines of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium. The key role of EASt is to be a central hub of the ULB to foster Asia related activities and research across the university. EASt offers high quality research on current developments in the East Asian region, and established research projects and networks focusing on Asian studies. PhD positions are funded by an ARC project, “GENEsYs – East Asian Youth: Identities and Practices in Public Space”, which already includes 3 doctoral and 2 postdoctoral fellows. More information available on http://msh.ulb.ac.be/equipes/east/?sub=projets-arc-genesys. Public spaces fulfil a key role in developing citizenship, social inclusion and critical discourses. They are also sites where competing memories and contested positions are displayed, experienced or silenced. The main objective of this cutting-edge project is to understand how Southeast Asian youth occupy and use public spaces, be they material or digital ones. This project seeks to develop an interdisciplinary research team and agenda on the emerging region of Southeast Asia, fostering collaboration at ULB between scholars from cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, philosophy and political science.
Negotiating Identities in Public Spaces Among Youths (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam) Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam have recently witnessed substantial changes that dramatically transform the physical and human cityscapes. This process occurs simultaneously with rapid technological changes, large urban infrastructural planning projects, and the development of digital spaces. The research will explore, through ethnographic methods, how young people experience, use and appropriate public spaces, including cyberspace. The applicant will select one of the three countries listed and is free to elaborate a specific project that fits with the general topic; it must be closely related to either youth or public space, and preferably to both. Since another PhD student funded by EASt is working on digital space, the proposal should concentrate on physical space (even if acknowledging the connection between the two domains). The research can be carried out in urban or rural environments, as long as it is linked to public spaces. The approach should be ethnographic, and a visual-oriented approach is welcome. The Search Committee will especially appreciate the originality of the proposal and its possible contribution to anthropology at large.
Supervisor: Pierre PETIT, pipetit@ulb.ac.be; http://lamc.ulb.ac.be/spip.php?article42&lang=fr; https://ulb.academia.edu/PierrePetit Faculty of Philosphy and Social Sciences: https://phisoc.ulb.be/ Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains: http://lamc.ulb.ac.be Any question pertaining to this post and the related application process are to be directed via e-mail to the supervisor.
