GROW Research Programme position open for PhD candidate

The African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL) is thrilled to announce the opening of one more position for a dynamic and motivated PhD researcher to join our team. We are seeking an enthusiastic candidate to collaborate with professor Janine Ubink (Leiden Law School) and professor Mayke Kaag (ASCL) and/or Chibuike Uche (ASCL).

Within the GROW Programme (Graduate Research on Worldwide Challenges) Leiden University and four other Dutch universities appoint 51 PhD candidates to conduct solution-oriented research for and with the African continent. They will focus on urgent challenges such as climate change, the energy transition, accessible and affordable global healthcare, political stability and governance, access to clean water and sustainable urban development. The other four universities are VU Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam and TU Delft (programme lead).

Candidate description
The ideal candidate has a proven interest in the relationship between law and society and would like to do research into the highly interdisciplinary (socio-legal, political, administrative and sociological/anthropological) field of legal pluralism in Africa. We are particularly interested in proposals that look at the nexus of traditional justice and governance systems / governmental regulation / corporate actors and interests. Alternatively or relatedly, aspects of gender, power, access to justice and rule of law are also considered of interest. In their application, the ideal candidate would show an understanding of legal pluralism in their own country or another proposed country of study and would describe aspects of interest for research in that particular country. The country of research is as yet undefined, but will be chosen from among Anglophone Africa, South Africa or Namibia.

What is offered
All selected candidates receive a full-time, employment contract with the hosting institute, including all conditions and remuneration in accordance with the Dutch collective labour agreement for PhD students. They are facilitated and supervised in running their research project of choice, in alignment with GROW’s ambition to address the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa.

All candidates have a supervision team of Dutch and/or African academics and an advisory team of societal experts who understand the context of their research topic (e.g. NGOs, government, business etc.). In addition, all candidates are participating in a PhD training programme, peer to peer sessions with your fellow GROW PhD students and a secondment and/or fieldwork in the African context will be part of the programme. All of these elements are further detailed by the supervisors and PhD student after selection.

More information and application 
The application deadline is January 31st 2025. Selection process will be from February – April and the selected PhD candidate will start the PhD-employment ultimately July 2025.

Interested candidates are invited to go to the official GROW website for more information and apply through the GROW Applications Portal.