Doctoral fellow - Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy

Organisation/Company Ghent University Research Field Anthropology » Social anthropology Geography » Human geography Psychological sciences » Psychology Sociology » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Final date to receive applications 15 Mar 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Belgium Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Department PP04 - Department of Social Work and Social Pedagogy

Degree You hold an internationally recognised Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in social work, educational sciences or psychology or another relevant diploma in the social sciences.

Occupancy rate 100%

Vacancy type Research staff

Ghent University is a world of its own. Employing more than 15.000 people, it is actively involved in education and research, management and administration, as well as technical and social service provision on a daily basis. It is one of the largest, most exciting employers in the area and offers great career opportunities. With its 11 faculties and more than 85 departments offering state-of-the-art study programmes grounded in research in a wide range of academic fields, Ghent University is a logical choice for its staff and students.

About the UNPACK project:
‘Unpacking the asylum procedure in its intersecting linguistic, sociocultural, psychological and legal dimensions’ (hereafter ‘UNPACK’) is an interdisciplinary and interuniversity iBOF project investigating fairness in asylum procedures. Asylum procedures are challenging, partly due to the diverse socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds of all actors involved (such as applicants, officials, interpreters, and lawyers) and the interactions between them.
The UNPACK project integrates insights from four disciplines – linguistics, anthropology, psychology and law – to examine the lived experiences of those involved. Through in-depth ethnographic research of specific case studies and the broader organizational context, UNPACK seeks to gain a deeper understanding of the asylum procedure, in order to develop a new, comprehensive and evidence-based framework of fairness.
With iBOF funding, the Flemish universities pool resources from their research funds to support frontier research. UNPACK is coordinated by Karel Arnaut (anthropology, KU Leuven), Ilse Derluyn (social work, UGent), Katrijn Maryns (applied linguistics, UGent) and Ellen Desmet (law, UGent). The project is embedded in a unique collaboration – the first of its kind in Europe – with the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS), the Belgian authority responsible for deciding on applications for international protection.

• You will engage in mixed-methods research on the intersections between wellbeing/mental health and the asylum procedure, from the perspective of the various stakeholders involved, with the goal of obtaining a doctoral degree.
• You will develop the specific research focus in dialogue with the supervisors, the co-researchers and the asylum administration.
• As a member of the UNPACK team, you will be intensively working together in a team of 8 researchers and 4 professors. You will share your data and analyses with your co-researchers and supervisors, and engage in extensive collaborative (interdisciplinary) research, next to individual (disciplinary-specific) research.
• You will report on your research both academically and to a broader audience.
• You actively contribute to the activities and tasks of the research group and department.

General requirements for UNPACK research positions:

• You are a team player, as this project is distinctive by the degree of collaboration required.
• You have a demonstrated affinity with the topic of refugees and/or asylum procedures.
• You have excellent analytical, writing and presentation skills.
• You have a high level of proficiency in Dutch or French, and considerable fluency in the other language.
• You are fluent in written and spoken academic English.
• You…