Post-Doctoral Researcher Collective Social Futures and Dept Sociology & Criminology

Applications are invited for a Post-Doctoral Researcher post to collaborate on a ground-breaking Research Ireland Advanced Laureate funded project. This project seeks to address a ‘grand challenge’ that exists in the sociological literature across critical border studies and the mobilities field. This relates to the dearth of ethnographic, biographical, visual and relational research on borders and ‘borderities’ (Szary and Giraut 2015) at the edges of the European Union. The project sets out to explore the very meaning, experience and practice of borders, and the implications for European policy and second level education.

The project is led by the Principal Investigator at University College Cork, Ireland, in collaboration with academic partners at the University of Lodz and the University Zagreb. The successful applicant will be based in Cork at University College Cork.

The Post-Doctoral Researcher will work with the PI (University College Cork) and collaborating academics in Universities of Lodz and Zagreb. We are seeking a team player who will take a leadership role critically in the knowledge translation/mobilisation of the research findings from the project into highly accessible policy briefings and the production of a curriculum for second level education, across the jurisdictions we are working in.  These outputs will draw on the ethnographic, biographical and arts-based research outputs on borders and ‘borderities’ with a specific focus on the cross-border findings of the wider European project.

EuroBorderWalks is an inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional, European research project, funded by a Research Ireland Advanced Laureate grant. The overall aim of the research is to produce a biography of three historically, politically and strategically significant borders (Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Poland and Ukraine) at the edge of the European Union by conducting ‘bottom up’ research using ethnographic, biographical, relational and arts-based methods at the three borders critically to examine the very meaning, experience and practice of borders. Through a combination of walking biographical interviews, narrative interviews and arts- based workshops, as well as commissions from three artists, we will contribute to critical border studies and the mobilities field as well as European policy and education.

Many of the associated challenges with Europe’s borders, in critical border studies, relate to border security concerns, especially in relation to unregulated migration, increasing nationalism, the risks of ‘soft’ or ‘porous’ borders, as well as the impact of the UK exit from the European Union and the impact of geopolitical shifts and war. An important contribution of this research is to open up horizons for research, knowledge, understanding and teaching and learning, from an ethno-mimetic approach that involves documenting and writing the biography of three borders from ‘below’ as well as to impact upon policy, through a policy report, a variety of policy briefings, an exhibition and a curriculum contribution to second level sociology education.

The research brings together sociological research with the work of artists/photographers to document, critically analyse and understand the shifting and im/mobile borders, the securitisation and policing of borders, and to contribute pioneering research to critical border studies, mobilities and ‘mobility justice’ as well envision our collective European and global futures.

The successful Post-Doctoral Researcher will become an affiliated member of the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century (ISS21) and UCC Futures: Collective Social Futures, both at University College Cork.

This Post-Doctoral Researcher position will be awarded to an individual who has previously conducted their own independent research in an area of relevance to EUROBORDERWALKS. The successful applicant will have a PhD, have peer-reviewed publications, be bi-lingual in English and Polish/Ukrainian(desirable) or English and Croatian (desirable); strong leadership potential, and dedication to teamwork. Ideally, they will have a developing academic profile, experience in qualitative research, policy analysis, project management, education and curriculum development, and be highly skilled at translating research findings into highly accessible policy briefings. The Post-Doctoral Researcher will undertake a significant leadership role in the EUROBORDERS team and become part of a wider network of interdisciplinary researchers at University College Cork (ISS21 and Collective Social Futures). 

The research team seek a Post-Doctoral Researcher who seeks to make an impact in one or more of the fields of border studies, mobility studies, European education, European studies and biographical sociology.

The successful candidate will also collaborate with the research team to bring the project to fruition and deliver wider project outputs for a variety of audiences.