Postdoctoral fellow on political youth in Middle East conflicts

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world’s top universities. The University has around 45 000 students and more than 8 000 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition.

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The Department of Political Science and the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) announce one vacant position as a 2-year postdoctoral fellow on political youth in Middle East conflicts. The postdoctoral position is fully funded for 2 years and placed at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies.  

Project description 
The Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) coordinates the Strategic Research Area (SRA) “The Middle East in the Contemporary World” (MECW). The research program consists of four research themes: 1) Environment and sustainable development; 2) Security and sustainable peace; 3) Democratization, migration and sustainable socio-economic development; and 4) Religion, identity and culture. For more details about the MECW program: https://www.cmes.lu.se/middle-east-contemporary-world-mecw

The postdoctoral position will be part of a research project focused on the Middle East and youth in armed conflicts. The conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) since 2011 have resulted in two broad societal changes that challenge the political exclusion of youth: new spaces and institutions have opened up for youth action, allowing young women and men to assume new roles as political and social leaders. The UN Youth, Peace, and Security Agenda (YPS), based on Security Council Resolution 2250, has also been launched. The overarching aim of the project is to examine how, and in which ways, conflict has decreased or increased youth political empowerment in the region. It also explores how broad social and policy changes can be capitalized to ensure that youth are meaningfully contributing to political processes and sustainable peace. 

The project will assess youth grassroots political agency in conflict; evaluate the design and implementation of the YPS agenda; compare the YPS and the Women, Peace, Security (WPS) agendas; and evaluate the conditions for empowerment with a specific focus on sustainable peace. The countries of focus of the project are: Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. 

Main responsibilities 
The main responsibility for the postdoctoral fellow is to conduct research within the project in collaboration with the project team. The main duty involved in a postdoctoral position is to conduct research. Research tasks will involve data collection of various kinds, data analysis, interviews with youth peace activists as well as other international and regional stakeholders responsible for implementing the YPS agenda, and dissemination of results through publications in scholarly journals and conference presentations. The research should advance knowledge about young people’s ability to achieve political empowerment in the MENA region as a result of the disruptions provoked by conflicts by focusing on conditions for increasing their inclusion in political and peacebuilding processes and their ability to meaningfully contribute to sustainable peace and development. Teaching may also be included, but up to no more than 20% of working hours. The position includes the opportunity for three weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning. 

Qualifications requirements 
Postdoctoral positions are primarily for purposes of research. Applicants are expected to hold a Swedish doctoral degree or an equivalent degree from another country. 

Assessment criteria 
The degree must have been completed before the deadline for application and no more than three years prior to it. An older degree may be acceptable under special circumstances. Special circumstances refer to sick leave, parental leave, elected positions in trade unions, service in the total defense, or other similar circumstances as well as clinical attachment or service/assignments relevant to the subject area. 

Special consideration will be given to the scientific skills and merits of the applicant. We seek candidates with a PhD in Social Sciences, Middle Eastern Studies, Development Studies, or Peace and Conflict Studies. Experience from previous research on political youth, and/or peace and conflict in the Middle East is a merit. We are particularly interested in candidates with experience of comparative methods. Additional merits include Arabic language skills, a capacity to work in an international research team and to communicate research findings to wider audiences beyond academia. The candidate must have excellent skills in written academic English. Excellent communication skills, ability to work in a team and independently, and to complete activities on time.

We offer 
Lund University is a public authority, which means that employees get particular benefits, generous annual leave and an advantageous occupational pension scheme. Read more on the University website about being a Lund University employee Work at Lund University. 

Further information 
This is a full-time, fixed-term employment of 2 years. The period of employment is determined in accordance with the agreement “Avtal om tidsbegränsad anställning som postdoktor” (“Agreement on fixed-term employment as a postdoctoral fellow”). The starting date is at the earliest 1 January 2024 or as per agreement. 

Application 
Apply for the position in Lund University's recruitment system Varbi. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the application is complete in accordance with the instructions in the job advertisement and that it is submitted before the 20 November 2023. 

Please include the following documents with your application:

• Cover letter
• CV: degrees and other completed courses, work experience and a list of publications
• Research proposal (no more than 3 pages) describing:

– why you are interested in the field/project described in the advertisement
– why and how you wish to complete the project
– what makes you suitable for the project in question

• Copy of PhD diploma
• Letters of recommendation (no more than 3 files)
• Publications in support of your application (no more than 3 files).

The Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) was established in 2007 to support, coordinate and expand on research at Lund University on the Middle East. CMES coordinates the Strategic Research Area (SRA) “The Middle East in the Contemporary World” (MECW) since 2009. The Strategic Research Area includes more than thirty-five scholars from five different faculties at Lund University.

The Faculty of Social Sciences at Lund University is one of the leading education and research institutions in Sweden and operates both in Lund and Helsingborg.

The Department of Political Science combines ancient traditions with modern research and education. The department safeguards disciplinary breadth and diversity and has long been successful in competition for external research funding. Key research fields include democracy and democratisation, power and administration, diplomacy, peace and conflict, intelligence analysis, political psychology, gender, environmental policy and welfare. The strong research profile of the Department of Political Science is reflected in its teaching. The educational environment has long been strongly international.

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