Post-Doctoral Fellowship Position
Striking from the Margins:
From Disintegration to Reconstitution of State and Religion in the Middle East

Center for Religious Studies

Starting date: Academic Year 2019/2020
Application deadline: January 15, 2020
Full- Or Part-Time: Full-time (40 hours/ week)

The Center for Religious Studies at Central European University invites applications for a post-doctoral fellow position for the second phase of its research project Striking from the Margins (SFM).

In its first phase, the project developed novel analytical and conceptual perspectives to address the complex dynamics of relations between state, religion, and society in the rapidly changing context of the Middle East, under conditions of disaggregation and violent conflict. For the second phase, the project will move its multidisciplinary focus from disintegration and disaggregation to reconciliation and reconstitution.

The project is supported jointly by Central European University and by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The position is for a period of 15 months, beginning as soon as possible, preferably in March 2020. As CEU operates two campuses, some of the projects out-reach and academic activities may take place in Vienna.

For more information on the program please visit https://www.strikingmargins.com/#striking-from-the-margins or https://religion.ceu.edu/projects

The main focus of the project is Syria and Iraq over the past three decades, and seeks to connect developments in these countries with those in Arab countries and with global dynamics overall. The new post-doc position will join an existing research team and will work towards integrating gender as a transversal perspective in the overall work of the project.

Post-doc Position (15 months):
The Pertinence of Gender Regimes under Conditions of Continuing Conflict
In line with SFM’s overall approach, this component of the project will merge with a concrete case study of Syria or Iraq, or cutting across both, conducted by the Post-doctoral Fellow. The Fellow is expected to develop analytical distinctions pertaining to gender, in order to view the present transformations in gender regimes in situations of civil conflict as novel phenomena to be understood contextually and dynamically, rather than appeal to the revival of impulses long submerged. SFM will appoint a post-doctoral fellow who will conduct personal research towards a monograph and who will assist actively in preparing a special international workshop on After violence? Gender and authority in the Middle East, comparative perspectives from Iraq, Syria, (working title), gathering scholars and experts in gender-specific theory and practice.
Applications are invited from researchers whose work falls under this thematic field from any of the following disciplines: comparative gender, policy studies, sociology, anthropology and religious studies.

The fellowship 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 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 a coherent research program. The project has worked to produce a critical mass of original scholarship that would map novel research domains to produce more convincing analytical results than those in wide circulation. Post-doctoral fellows are expected to undertake detailed empirical research with appropriate analytical elaboration to be published and disseminated in print and in digital form. Along with the entire team, post-doctoral fellows are expected to participate in the internal life of the project, and to participate actively in preparing an international conference scheduled for the end of the project. This will bring in participants from both the research and policy communities and will result in a major co-edited publication.

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

Duties and responsibilities:

- 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 work on a monograph during their tenure of their fellowship.
- The Fellow will assist actively in preparing a special international workshop on After violence? Gender and authority in the Middle East, comparative perspectives from Iraq, Syria, (working title), and in preparing the resulting volume for publication.
- Fellows will be given the opportunity to play an active role in preparing the concluding international conference, and to produce with the relevant team member the edited volume resulting from the international conference.
- Post-docs are expected to acknowledge clearly the contribution of CEU and Carnegie Corporation of New York to publications and activities arising from their tenure of the fellowship.

Qualifications:

- Eligible applicants should have held a doctoral degree for a period of less than five years, and have a demonstrable record of achievement and promise in a relevant thematic field and discipline.
- 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.

Compensation
We offer a competitive salary that is commensurate with experience as well as a dynamic and international academic environment.

How to apply:

Applicants need to submit:

- 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

Please send your complete application package to: advert070@ceu.edu - including job code in subject line: 2019/070.

Requests for additional information should be sent to Esther Holbrook, Coordinator of the Center for Religious Studies (religion@ceu.edu).

Applications will be processed on a rolling basis and shall not be accepted for consideration any later than January 15, 2020.

The privacy of your personal information is very important to us. We collect, use and store your personal information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation. To learn more about how we manage your personal data during the recruitment process, please see our Privacy Notice at https://www.ceu.edu/recruitment-privacy-notice.

CEU is an equal opportunity employer.

About CEU

Central European University (CEU) is a graduate research-intensive university specializing in the social sciences, humanities, law, public policy and management. It is accredited in the United States and Hungary. CEU’s mission is to promote academic excellence, state-of-the-art research, research-based teaching and learning and civic engagement, in order to contribute to the development of open societies in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other emerging democracies throughout the world. CEU offers both master’s and doctoral programs and enrolls more than 1,400 students from over 100 countries. The teaching staff consists of more than 180 resident faculty from over 50 countries and a large number of prominent visiting scholars from around the world. The language of instruction is English.
For more information, please visit https://www.ceu.edu/.