Two funded PhD positions at the University of Twente

The Department of Science, Technology, and Policy Studies (STePS), Faculty of Behavioural, Management and Social sciences at the University of Twente is hiring two PhDs in Science and Technology Studies (STS) to join the ERC-funded project ‘Processing Citizenship: Digital registration of migrants as co-production of citizens, territory and Europe’ (ProcessCitizenship), with Dr. Annalisa Pelizza as Principal Investigator. The positions are fully-funded, full-time, and require commitment to the project’s goals.

Project and work description
‘Processing Citizenship’ investigates the information infrastructure for migrant registration at and across European borders, focusing on how citizenship, modernist institutions and territory are co-produced.

The project combines border studies and surveillance studies in IT and migration with a materialist performative approach derived from science and technology studies and media geography. It aims to develop a history of the present that accounts for contemporary materially-embedded practices of registration of migrants at Hotspots as activities of governance transformation. Data will be collected and analysed via qualitative and computational techniques.

We offer an interdisciplinary, interactive and international research environment in a leading Science and Technology Studies (STS) department. The PhDs will work as part of a trans-disciplinary team of seven, working under the supervision of the Principal Investigator and three post-docs.

Activities
The PhDs will conduct technology-focused qualitative analysis, as well as analyses using computational methods.

Fieldwork research will be conducted mainly at Hotspots for migrant registration in Greece and Italy, but other European locations might be added. It will consist of non-participant observation of identification and registration practices, focusing on the techno-social settings. Interviews with migration officers will also be conducted. Computational analyses will be conducted through existing and ad hoc developed techniques.

PhDs will receive initial training in STS and information systems, ethnographic methods and interviewing methodologies, plus training in the computational methods developed by the project team. Already possessing some of these skills is a plus.

As part of the team, the PhDs will conduct communication and organizational activities related to the project, and participate in publications and conferences. As doctoral researchers, they will submit a final PhD dissertation, on a topic drawn from their involvement in the project.
Your profile

The ideal candidates have a master (or equivalent) degree in:

profile 1: computer science or communication, including knowledge of the socio-political implications of technologies;
profile 2: anthropology, qualitative sociology, human geography or political sciences, including knowledge of the socio-political implications of technologies.

More details about the requested profile are available at https://www.utwente.nl/organisatie/werken-bij-de-ut/vacatures/!/vacature/1020480

Application procedure
Applications should be submitted via https://www.utwente.nl/organisatie/werken-bij-de-ut/vacatures/!/vacature/1020480  before May 7, 2017 h. 23:59 (CET).

Our offer
We offer a full-time contract spanning a period of 4 years. The appointees are expected to take office on September 1st, 2017. The monthly salary starts at € 2.191 gross per month in the first year, leading up to € 2.801 gross per month in the last year.