Doctoral fellow

ABOUT GHENT UNIVERSITY

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 11 faculties and more than 80 departments offering state-of-the-art study programs grounded in research in a wide range of academic fields, Ghent University is a logical choice for its staff and students.

YOUR TASKS

The PhD candidate will become part of the French Linguistics section within the Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication at Ghent University. The candidate will undertake original doctoral research leading to a dissertation and may also be involved in teaching activities. The candidate is expected to play an active role in the research group and to gradually build expertise in a specific area of study.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We seek candidates whose research and/or interest intersects meaningfully with the following research domains:

• Discourse Analysis, Enunciative linguistics and Rhetoric.
• French Studies.
• Ecocriticism and the Environmental Humanities.
• Sustainability Transitions Studies.
• Critical Theory.

We are especially interested in projects that cut across these areas, bringing them into dialogue in innovative ways.

• You hold a Master’s degree in French and Romance Languages and Literatures, French Studies or Linguistics (or equivalent).
• You have an outstanding record of undergraduate and Master’s-level work.
• You have research experience in one or more relevant fields.
• You have excellent writing and speaking skills in French.
• A multilingual profile or a project conceived in this context will be considered as an advantage.

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• 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, starting on 1 January 2026 or as soon as you are available.
• The fellowship amount is 100% of the net salary of an AAP member in equal family circumstances. The individual fellowship amount is determined by Team Personnel Administration based on family status and seniority. A grant that meets the conditions and criteria of the regulations for doctoral fellowships is considered free of personal income tax. Click here for more information about our salary scales
• All Ghent University staff members enjoy a number of benefits, such as a wide range of training and education opportunities, 36 days of holiday leave (on an annual basis for a full-time job) supplemented by annual fixed bridge days, bicycle allowance and eco vouchers. Click here for a complete overview of all the staff benefits.
• You will be based at Ghent University’s Mercator Campus, near Gent-Sint-Pieters Station.

INTERESTED?

The PhD project is part of a broader research initiative that examines contemporary French-language media and their representations of potential future (geo)political conflicts. Its objective is to identify the argumentative practices, rhetorical strategies, and enunciative features – such as points of view, ethos, figures, modes of enunciation, formulas, distancing techniques, implicatures and reported speech – that emerge when discussing energy-related issues and the armed conflicts associated with them – for a more detailed project description, see this link : https://research.flw.ugent.be/en/projects/energy-transition-future-war-examining-futurological-discourses-french-speaking-media-2022.
Applicants are invited to submit 4 documents – a curriculum vitae, along with a motivation letter, the master dissertation and the names and full contact details of two referees – by 15 November to the following address: thomas.franck@ugent.be. Shortlisted candidates will subsequently be invited to present their vision for the research project in an oral interview with the commission (in French): the applicants are free to submit an original research project of their own design, and the corpus may be expanded to include other types of discourse.