Full-time, 40h per week

The Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History (IKT) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria’s leading non‐university research facility, is now offering two PhD student positions (f*m) for research on China/Rwanda (full-time, 40h per week) in the project “Globalized Memorial Museums – Exhibiting Atrocities in the Era of Claims for Moral Universals” (GMM, www.oeaw.ac.at/projects/gmm/) for a duration of 42 months (3,5 years) each, starting from 1 September, 2020 (earlier if agreed upon).
The five‐year GMM project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 816784) and is headed by Ljiljana Radonić (ÖAW). It examines 50 memorial museums dealing with the WWII period in the US, Israel, Europe, China, and Japan; and genocides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. This first global typology of memorial museums challenges the concept of ‘universal memory’ and the notion that memorial museums constitute a globalized space of communication and negotiation.

Requirements:
- A Master’s degree, or the equivalent, in culture studies, history, political science, Chinese or African studies or similar fields
- Interest in interdisciplinary research, memorialization and musealization processes
- Previous research on memory culture and politics in China for the first position, Rwanda for the second
- Fluent knowledge of English and standard Chinese for the first position, English and Kinyarwanda (and/or French) for the second position

The annual gross salary will be EUR 40.364,80 for the full‐time PhD student positions at the ÖAW, according to the salary scheme of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The PhD students will be based in Vienna. While the PhD will involve conducting research for the project on memorial museums in China for the first position, Rwanda for the second position, the candidate will be given independence to develop their own research question(s) and work towards an original project. If feasible, the PhD students will enroll at the University of Vienna supervised by Ljiljana Radonić at the Department of Political Science and co‐mentored by advisory board members – Kirk Denton from Ohio State University, in the case of China, and Rachel Ibreck from Goldsmiths, University of London, in the case of Rwanda. Other arrangements are also possible. For example, the student could work for the GMM project after finishing courses and comprehensive exams and remaining enrolled in a PhD program in the US as long as the dissertation topic overlaps with GMM. The field trips to China/Rwanda, conference travel, and research materials will be paid by the GMM project.

The application should include the following materials:
- CV
- Master’s diploma
- Master’s thesis
- A 5‐page abstract/prospectus (excl. bibliography) of your PhD project including research questions, theoretical and methodological approach, and the memorial museums you propose to analyze in China or Rwanda
- Contact information of at least two persons willing to write recommendation letters

Please send the application as a single pdf file to Marlene Gallner (marlene.gallner@oeaw.ac.at), no later than January 15, 2020. Feel free to contact Marlene Gallner or Ljiljana Radonić for further information regarding these positions.