PhD fellowship as part of the research project “Endocrine Economies: The Cultural Politics of Hormones”

PhD fellowship as part of the research project “Endocrine Economies: The Cultural Politics of Hormones” funded by the Velux Foundations Core Group Program. 

The Department for the Study of Culture is offering a fully funded 3-year PhD fellowship commencing February 1st, 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter. 

We are looking for a candidate who is highly motivated to undertake doctoral research as part of a four-year collaborative research project funded by the Velux Foundations Core Group Program and headed by Professors Charlotte Kroløkke and Karen Hvidtfeldt. 

Presentation of the host project
In Denmark, sex hormones have recently gained visibility and shape powerful cultural and gendered imaginaries in ways that both resemble and surpass international experiences. The research project Endocrine Economies seeks to develop a conceptual and empirical approach to the ways sex hormones (re)shape cultural and embodied understandings of gendered selves in a Danish context. Our main research question is: What cultural imaginaries emerge as sex hormones circulate to regulate, optimize and disrupt gendered bodies? In our response, we prioritize qualitative explorations that we view as especially illustrative of the ways that sex hormones today come to matter. In choosing Denmark as our case, we study the ways that sex hormones, within a welfare state, emerge at the intersection between the biological, the (bio)political, the biomedical, the marketplace, and the cultural. Not only do sex hormones do something to humans; the welfare state, interest groups, markets, various communities, and individuals attempt to control their effects. Consequently, in Endocrine Economies, we seek to study a wide range of cases making a timely contribution to the ongoing Human Health and Environmental Humanities efforts at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) as well as to international research within critical cultural studies and feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS).

Job description
The work to be undertaken in the PhD project is designed to understand the ways in which hormonal birth control become visible in Danish imaginaries of reproductive control, gendered responsibility as well as risks. While open to the candidate’s proposal, we are committed to understanding the ways that the birth control pill gets embedded in the every-day-lives of young Danish women as well as has been debated in Danish mainstream media and become mediated in Danish educational material.
PhD candidates are expected to outline a research design for the case study as part of their application. The project should fall within the general framework of Cultural Studies. We especially welcome projects that are situated within critical cultural studies and feminist STS and show an understanding of qualitative methods such as ethnographic interviews, online ethnographies, and archival methods. Theoretically, the PhD project should contribute to the host project’s overall understanding of hormones as agents that materialize and circulate in different ways.
The PhD student will be supervised by Professor Charlotte Kroløkke. The thesis can take the form of a monograph, or it can be article based, depending on the nature of the proposed project and the successful candidate’s preferences.

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
• Since the empirical material will include Danish educational, mediated, and interview data, the successful candidate must illustrate research competency in Danish.
• The candidate must demonstrate strong analytical skills as well as knowledge of critical cultural and/or feminist STS scholarship.
• Due to the highly collaborative nature of the research project, the candidate must have excellent collaborative skills and be interested in partaking in an internationally oriented research team.
• Strong communication skills in English. While the candidate may choose to write the dissertation in Danish or English, the candidate must be able to present the empirical work and scholarship in an international academic milieux. 

Further information is available from the Vice Head of Department Anita Nell Bech Albertsen at phone: +45 6550 3163, email: [email protected] or Professor Charlotte Kroløkke at phone +45 6550 3431, email: [email protected]  

Application, salary and conditions of employment etc.
A PhD Fellowship is a three-year position. Employment ends automatically by the end of the period. The holder of the fellowship is not allowed to have other paid employment during the three-year period.

The successful applicant will be employed in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and AC (the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations), Cirkulære om overenskomst for Akademikere i staten 2019 (the document only exists in Danish).

To qualify for a PhD position, you must have completed a relevant master's degree with a good assessment by the application deadline.

The application should include:

• Special PhD-application form found here
• Curriculum Vitae
• Detailed project description, no more than 5 pages
• Examination certificates
• A maximum of 2 of the most relevant publications. Please attach one pdf-file for each publication. For any publication with a co-author, a co-author statement must be submitted as part of the pdf-file

Application and all appendices must be in Danish, English or one of the Scandinavian languages. Only material in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, and English will be assessed. Please always include a copy of original diploma/certificates.

Please always include a copy of original diploma/certificates.  We only accept files in pdf-format no more than 10 MB per file. In case you have more than one file per field you need to combine the pdf-files into a single file, as each field handles only one file. We do not accept zip-files, jpg or other image files. All pdf-files must be unlocked and allow binding and may not be password protected.

Applications will be assessed by an assessment committee and the applicant will receive the part of the evaluation that concerns him/her. The assessment report will subsequently be forwarded to the Head of Department who will assemble an appointments committee. An interview may form part of the overall assessment of the applicants’ qualifications.   The committee may request additional information, and if so, it is the responsibility of the applicant to provide the necessary material.

If the application does not meet the requirements mentioned above, the Faculty of Humanities may reject your application without further notice. Applications received after the deadline will neither be considered nor evaluated.

Shortlisting and tests may be used in the assessment process. Please note that only a shortlisted applicant will receive an assessment.

Applications should be sent electronically via the link “apply online” and the Faculty expects applicants to read the information “How to apply ” before applying. 

We recommend that as an international applicant you take the time to visit Working in Denmark where you will find information and facts about moving to, working and living in Denmark, as well as the International Staff Office at SDU .

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Further information about the PhD-program at the Faculty of Humanities can be found here .