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Twelve PhD Positions in Politics of Adolescence and Democracy (Political Science, Psychology, Neuroscience and related disciplines) 

We are inviting applications for 12 Early Stage Researchers / Doctoral Candidates to join the Marie SkÅ‚odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network project ‘Interdisciplinary Perspectives of the Politics of Adolescence & Democracy’ (IP-PAD). 

  

What is IP-PAD : The IP-PAD project “Interdisciplinary Perspectives of the Politics of Adolescence & Democracy” is an MSCA Doctoral Network that aims to train a new generation of early career researchers in the fields of political science, political psychology and developmental neuroscience. 

  

What will you be doing ?  IP-PAD will study how young adolescent citizens process political information and how this affects their engagement with politics. IP-PAD will integrate, for the first time, in a systematic, rigorous and mutually beneficial way two main areas of research: first, the extensive literature on youth political engagement from the perspective of political and social sciences; and second, the insights on the wide-ranging changes that occur in the adolescent brain, obtained from the fields of developmental psychology and neuroscience. By integrating these two perspectives, IP-PAD will provide an in-depth interdisciplinary training to a young generation of social scientists in conducting open, rigorous, innovative and impactful research. Description of the Work Packages and Research Questions that will be hosted in each of the participating Universities can be found here : https://www.ippad.eu/research

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About us : The project involves extensive collaborations between the following universities located in Europe (in their country’s alphabetical order): University of Vienna (Austria), Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (Greece), University of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Jagiellonian University (Poland), and Royal Holloway University of London (UK). Across all universities we have formed multidisciplinary supervisory teams with the participation of political scientists and political/social psychologists, cognitive and developmental neuroscientists, and social scientists. Each university will recruit between two and three Early Stage Researchers who will also enrol for their Doctoral Degree. 

   

What are we looking for ?

We are looking for early-stage researchers with an academic background in any of the relevant disciplines who meet the following Essential Requirements :   

  • BSc in Psychology, Political Science, Communication Science, Neuroscience, Sociology, or other cognate discipline; 

  • MSc/MA (already in possession or expected to be obtained by the start date of the project) in Psychology, Political Science, Communication Science, Neuroscience, Sociology and related disciplines with an interest in Political Psychology, Cognitive Science, Survey Methodology, Experimental Psychology, Social Psychology, Cognitive or Developmental Psychology and Neuroscience; 

  • Strong quantitative research skills; 

  • Motivation for developing interdisciplinary and impactful research; 

  • Excellent spoken and written command of English; 

 

In addition, the successful MSCA Doctoral Candidate must meet the general MSCA criteria:  

  • Early Stage Researcher: Be in the first four years of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctorate. This 4-year period is measured from the date of obtaining the MA/MSc degree until today (excluding military, parental, sick leave, etc;). In this case, you are able to apply for this PhD position. 

  • Mobility Rule: Applicants can be of any nationality. They must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country where they apply for more than 12 months in the last 3 years immediately before the recruitment date. Applicants should indicate for which of the five Universities they want to be considered and explicitly explain how they meet the mobility rule requirements as this is a requirement from the EU.  

 
Some of the participating Universities have specific requirements :

 

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Please make sure that you familiarise yourself with these criteria in advance.  

 

What can we offer you ?  
We offer an ambitious interdisciplinary doctoral research training programme, which is to be completed with a PhD thesis. These fixed-term positions are for three years and start between 1st September and 30th October 2023. The salary consists of a generous living allowance, mobility allowance, and family allowance (if applicable) as determined by the European Commission for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions guidelines.  Specific benefits and salary levels for each participating Institution are presented in the tables above.
 

In our team, we value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage individuals with diverse backgrounds to apply.  

All the potential supervisors have a strong research track record, are committed to Open Science and all participating universities have excellent infrastructure, are highly experienced in the training of doctoral researchers.  

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In addition to hands-on training in multidisciplinary and intersectoral research, we offer extensive transferable skills training through network-wide training events. Each Doctoral Candidate will also undertake a period of secondment with one of our associate partners: the European Youth Parliament, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission,  Gallup International, and Counterpoint Global.   

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Questions : If applicants have specific questions addressed to a particular Institution, they should contact one of the following people: 

 

​How to apply ? 
 

All applicants, irrespective of the University they wish to apply for,  should submit their applications here  by Monday 30th of January 2023. The application should be written in English and include the following sections:  

  • Curriculum vitae (max. 4 pages) that covers education and academic qualifications, any professional experience, a summary of research and transferable skills, languages and  the names and emails of two academic referees that we can approach for letters of recommendation 

  • List of publications (if applicable)  

  • A motivation letter (max. 2 pages) that includes the following:  

    • How the applicant’s academic and/or professional experience and expertise meet the essential requirements. 

    • An explanation on why the applicant is interested in this project and position (relevant experience and future career plans are valuable to provide here) 

    • A clear indication of which of the five participating Universities you would like to be considered for and why, explaining your interest in the specific project at the specific university. Description of the Work Packages and Research Questions that will be hosted in each of the participating Universities can be found here . Applicants can indicate more than one University in the preferred ranked order but need to explain their interest for each University in the letter.  

  • A Research Statement (max. 2 pages) that gives an example of research that the applicant has conducted as part of their undergraduate or postgraduate studies, that includes the following sections:  

    • The research question(s) 

    • The methodology  

    • Brief description of key findings (include Figures if necessary) 

    • Conclusions 

 
All documents should be submitted as one single pdf file (under the button CV/resume on the next page) with the applicant’s surname as file name (e.g. Bakker.pdf) 
 

Only applications containing all relevant documents and submitted through the online recruitment system will be considered. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview.  

  
 

Deadline : Monday 30th January , 23:59 CET 

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