Job description
2 PhD positions:
'Project Paramilitarism, Organized Crime, and the Yugoslav State in the 1990s'
'Project Paramilitarism, Organized Crime, and the Turkish State in the 1990s'
The PhD candidate will work within the NWO-funded project “Paramilitarism, Organized Crime, and the State in the 1990s”, which examines the emergence, functioning, and aftermath of paramilitarism during modern violent conflicts in Europe and beyond. The project will examine several cases of recent paramilitarism, including Serbia and Turkey, within a comparative framework. It aims to answer the questions how and why paramilitarism emerges; to what extent and how it contributes to large-scale violence; what happens to these units after their role ends; and how paramilitarism is connected to transformations of warfare, human rights violations, and state-society relations.
The PhD candidate involved in this sub-project will concentrate on Serb paramilitary squads and the Yugoslav wars of succession in the period 1980-2000. The candidate will identify paramilitarism in Serbia, by mapping how these networks related to the country’s intelligence and security networks and political parties. The project will also examine the acts of the paramilitaries, including political assassinations, mass violence against civilians, organized crime, and material and environmental destruction.
The PhD candidate will work closely together with one other PhD candidate employed for this project. Both are expected to actively contribute to the activities of the research team both in Utrecht and elsewhere. The PhD candidate will be based at Utrecht University’s Department of History and Art History, as part of the research team led by Dr. Uğur Ümit Üngör.
Requirements
a (research) master degree in history or another social science (e.g. political science, sociology, anthropology); an outstanding record of undergraduate and Master's degree work; experience in archival research and/or fieldwork; a clear interest in mass violence, political conflict, civil war, and relevant theories; fluency in the Serbo-Croatian language. Knowledge of other European languages is an advantage; capacity to work both as a creative and independent researcher and as part of a team.
Conditions of employment
We offer a part-time PhD position (0,8 fte), consisting of an initial period of eighteen months which, after a satisfactory first year, will be extended by another thirty months (four years in total), with a gross monthly full-time salary starting at € 2,083,- in the first year, ending at € 2,664,- in the fourth year.Utrecht University offers a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% per year, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and flexible employment conditions. Conditions are based on the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch Universities.
Organisation
Utrecht University, founded in 1636, is an internationally renowned research university with a strong ambition in regard to education quality and study success. The Faculty of Humanities has around 7,000 students and 900 staff members. It comprises four knowledge domains: Philosophy and Religious Studies, History and Art History, Media and Culture Studies, and Languages, Literature and Communication. With its research and education in these fields, the Faculty aims to contribute to a better understanding of the Netherlands and Europe in a rapidly changing social and cultural context.
The enthusiastic and motivated colleagues and the excellent facilities in the historic town centre of Utrecht, where the Faculty is located, provide a stimulating professional atmosphere. Moreover, Utrecht University offers attractive terms of employment.
Additional information
Please write to u.ungor@uu.nl for further enquiries about this job position.
For more information about the project, interested applicants can consult the website.