PhD Vacancy in religious, social and architectural history: Catholic workers’ parishes and the...

The PhD researcher will study local parish life in late 19th century Belgium, particularly in popular urban areas, and this from a triple perspective: (1) socio-pastoral agency and impact, (2) financial-administrative governance and (3) material-spatial embodiment and imprint. All this is crucial for a genuine understanding of the micro-dynamics of social Catholicism in this period. A balanced set of case-studies has been prepared, documented by rich and newly available source materials.The PhD researcher will be supervised by prof. Kim Christiaens (supervisor, KADOC-KU Leuven), by prof. Thomas Coomans (co-supervisor, Department of Architecture KU Leuven), prof. Dries Vanysacker (co-supervisor, RU History of Church and Theology) and by Peter Heyrman (Head Research KADOC-KU Leuven). He/she is expected to carry out the following tasks:

• Conduct a thorough literature study and in-depth archival research 
• Write and defend a dissertation on the topic within the agreed term 
• Prepare academic publications, peer-reviewed journal articles in particular
• Actively participate in academic conferences
• Transparently communicate on your research, both in an academic context and towards the larger public. 
• Help to organize an international workshop on the topic, of which the proceedings will be published
• Participate in the research activities of the involved research units