Job Opening for an Early Stage Researcher in Political Sciences at Babes-Bolyai University

Position available within the research project entitled Horizon Europe MSCA 101073440 ‘Coping with Varieties of Radicalization into Terrorism and Extremism’ (VORTEX).

VORTEX’s overarching aim is to develop new evidence-based innovative strategies to countering and preventing ideological and behavioural radicalization. The project, which is divided into 10 individual research projects, one for each doctoral student, includes Malmö University (Sweden), Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (Germany), the University of Marburg (Germany), the University of Helsinki (Finland), the University of Turin (Italy), the Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium), the University of Oslo (Norway), and Babeș-Bolyai University (Romania). The general project coordinator is Dr Kristian Steiner, Malmö University. The general project coordinator at Babeș-Bolyai University is Prof. Sergiu Mișcoiu.

Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of European Studies/Department of International Relations and German Studies, is seeking a highly motivated and mobile candidate with a strong academic record holding at least a Master’s Degree in Political Science/ other fields of Social Sciences, fluency in English and some subject knowledge of political and social mobilization theories and analysis.

The ESR will work within the Faculty of European Studies/Department of International Relations and German Studies/ European Paradigm Doctoral School on the PhD research project “Radicalization and the politics and social dynamics of populism and protest”.

The ESR will work under the supervision of Prof. Sergiu Mișcoiu and with the secondment of Prof. Kristian Steiner (Malmö University), will be offered an international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral training.

Entitled “Radicalization and the politics and social dynamics of populism and protest”, the individual research project of ESR4 is in the fields of Political Science and European Studies and needs to meet the following objectives:  

• To identify the main political varieties of current populism and to connect them to the developments of the contemporary geographical, cultural and sociological divides
• To analyze the proliferation of contemporary protest movements and to produce relevant arguments in order to weigh if this is a pan-European phenomenon or if it rather reflects a series of heterogeneous trends that are specific to some national and/or regional processes of Radicalization
• To identify and analyze the main markers of Radicalization of populism and protest movements in contemporary Europe
• To select based on a motivated process three case studies in Europe to study in-depth the developments in populism and protest.
• To analyze if the Radicalization of populism and protest movements leads to a further dilution of the boundaries between the two or on a contrary to their progressive intertwining

As part of their application, candidates will be asked to submit a personal interpretation of the research project in the form a specific project proposal of 2-3 pages, including a research question, a theoretical framework, a methodological strategy, and a justification for the suggested empirical choices.
 

More information (start date, requirements, etc) and application procedure can be found here on the Euraxess website.