Doctoral fellow

ABOUT GHENT UNIVERSITY

The Conflict Research Group (CRG), based at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences,  Ghent University offers a fully funded PhD position within the FWO-project ‘Transnational urban warscapes between Eastern Congo and Flanders: Mapping the everyday re-territorialisation of conflict through diaspora home-making’.

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.

YOUR TASKS

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.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

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.

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.
• Your contract will start on 1/3/2026 the earliest
• The research will be carried out at the Department of Conflict & Development Studies, located in Ghent, Belgium.
• 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.

INTERESTED?

You can apply for this job no later than February 15, 2026, by sending your CV, copy of your diploma, your master thesis (or other academic writing sample) and a motivation letter ALL IN PDF FORMAT to conflict.development@ugent.be.

We do not accept late applications.

As Ghent University maintains an equal opportunities and diversity policy, everyone is encouraged to apply for this position.

Note that the maximum file size for each field is 10 MB.

MORE INFORMATION 

For more information about this vacancy, please contact prof. dr. Karen Büscher: Karen.buscher@ugent.be