Phd Position On Legal Pluralism in Africa

Vacancy number

15387

Job type

PhD positions

Hours (in fte)

1,0

External/ internal

External

Location

Leiden

Placed on

19 December 2024

Closing date

31 January 2025 43 more days to apply

**PhD position on Legal Pluralism in Africa (GROW Project) (1 fte)**
Vacancy number: 15387

Would you like to help drive interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral research & innovation to improve the lives of millions of people in Africa and beyond? Join the Netherlands’ leading universities as a PhD student and conduct novel research geared to realising the sustainability development goals on the African continent.

**This is what you will do**
Societal challenges to be tackled under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include food security, affordable global healthcare, climate change and the energy transition, housing, clean water, sustainable production and more. Research is crucial to accelerating real-world solutions. As a PhD student your challenge is to realise your vision by conducting high-quality research. Would you like to work with leading scientists, NGOs, companies, government authorities and citizens on the African continent, while developing your competencies and career as a researcher? Join the Graduate Research on Worldwide Challenges (GROW) initiative of five leading universities in the Netherlands.

At GROW we have raised funds for 51 PhD positions, including funding from the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND programme. 50 of the 51 positions have been filled and we are opening one extra position in this call.

**This is where you will work**

**The department**

**GROW: Graduate Research on Worldwide Challenges**
GROW is a network of leading universities in the Netherlands collaborating closely with 22 academic and 17 non-academic partners on the African continent. We invest in training scholars who have a strong connection with and understanding of the continent, while strengthening African-Dutch partnerships. We strive for collective learning and co-creation, creating a deeper understanding of the challenges, opportunities and their trade-offs. This will lead to more detailed specifications, earlier prototype testing, more opportunities for validation and transforming academic results into real-world solutions.

For GROW, Delft University of Technology, University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Leiden University and Erasmus University Rotterdam have teamed up and offer 51 PhD positions to conduct international, interdisciplinary and intersectoral (Triple-I) research. The GROW programme offers PhD students to equip themselves with an advanced, future-proof set of scientific and complementary skills that will help them pursue meaningful careers in an increasingly complex and connected world.

**This is what you bring**

As a PhD student, you will enrol at your university’s Graduate School, the programme of which will be tailored to your needs and ambitions. You will also disseminate your knowledge and findings, writing scientific articles and speaking at conferences. Joining one of the participating research groups, you will be coached and supported by dedicated supervisors from the Van Vollenhoven Institute and the Africa Studies Centre Leiden as well as an advisory team of societal experts. And you may coach undergraduate and graduate students involved in your research. In addition, you will be part of the internationally diverse and inclusive GROW peer community, in which you will share knowledge and experiences with fellow PhD students and their supervisors. We foster an open-minded, supportive and collaborative environment and share an ambition to accelerate sustainable developments and intensify African-European collaboration.

Learn more about GROW

**Requirements**:

- You hold a master’s degree, having graduated within the past ten years, but no doctoral degree.
- You have a strong connection with and understanding of the African continent. Any experience of working or studying in Africa will be a plus.
- You thrive on conducting impact-driven, interdisciplinary research, and are keen to learn more about other disciplines, which will help you as at least one of your publications is to be of an interdisciplinary nature.
- You are willing to work and study in the Netherlands, and travel to Africa.
- You meet the eligibility criteria as stipulated under the MSCA COFUND requirements.
- You harness your communication skills to connect with a wide variety of actors, ranging from scientists and decision makers to citizens. And with your entrepreneurial skills you know how to take initiative and open doors to relevant organisations.
- You have a good command of written and spoken English, as you will be working in an international environment and publishing in English.

Do you fully recognize yourself in this profile or do you not meet all the requirements but do you think this is the position for you? Then we would like to invite y