Doctoral fellow - Department of Conflict and Development Studies

Organisation/Company Ghent University Research Field Anthropology » Ethics Geographic…

Department PS05 - Department of Conflict and Development Studies

In its aim to study the transnational urban dimensions of war dynamics and war narratives, this PhD position will be supervised from the Conflict Research Group (CRG), more specifically its cluster ‘spaces of conflict’, under the supervision of Prof. Karen Büscher at the Department of Conflict & Development Studies, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. CRG is a multidisciplinary research unit that studies the larger social dynamics of civil conflict and political violence based on qualitative fieldwork methods.

The ‘spaces in conflict’ cluster investigates how violent conflict produces or conditions space and place and how space and place in their turn produce or inform violence, conflict or political contestation.

The PhD position will be co-supervised by the Urban Design, Urbanism, Landscape and Planning (UULP) research section (Prof. Luce Beeckmans) at the Department of Architecture of KU Leuven.

This PhD position forms part of a new interdisciplinary FWO research project at KU Leuven and Ghent University. Situated at the intersection of conflict studies, migration studies and urban studies, this project sets out to investigate the formation of transnational ‘urban warscapes’ between cities in Eastern Congo and Flanders. From the specific perspective of female everyday experiences, this project aims to provide a better spatial understanding of the dialectical relationship between war, migration and urbanisation across transnational geographies.

A team of researchers trained in urbanism and political anthropology will generate original scientific data through collaborative multi-sited fieldwork in secondary cities in both D.R. Congo and Flanders, involving both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The team will investigate the transnational mobility and reconfiguration of conflict narratives and social tensions that emerge from the protracted civil war in Eastern DRC, and its impact on urban settlement patterns and home‑making practices (with specific focus on the role of women) in the Congolese diaspora in Flanders.

Ultimately, the project will deliver a novel transnational epistemological and analytical framework and empirically grounded theory‑formation on the reconfiguration of urban spaces through the de‑ and re‑territorialisation of violent conflict dynamics within transnational fields.

The candidate will conduct research within the project team resulting in a PhD in Political and Social Sciences within four years. The candidate is expected to spend 20% of the time on educational and administrative support within the Department.

We are looking for a candidate with:

• An excellent Master’s degree in (Political) Anthropology, Conflict Studies, Political Science, Human/Political Geography (or a related discipline) with a demonstrable research interest in civil war, transnational conflict dynamics and conflict urbanism. Affinity with migration studies and gender studies is an added value.
• A strong commitment to working within an interdisciplinary team;
• Ability to formulate sharp research questions, develop studies and deliver valuable results;
• Methodological training in (political) ethnographic data collection methods
• A high level of proficiency in English and French, both spoken and written. Knowledge of local languages of Eastern‑D.R. Congo is highly welcomed;
• Regional knowledge of Eastern D.R.C. and/or the Congolese diaspora in Belgium is recommended;

All candidates are strongly encouraged to submit their Master’s thesis and/or any other relevant English writing sample. Short‑listed candidates will be asked to fulfil concise assignments to test their language proficiency and the technical competencies listed above.

• We offer a full‑time position as a doctoral fellow, consisting of an initial period of 12 months, which - after a positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 48 months.
• Your contract will start on 1/3/2026 the earliest.
• The research…