PhD candidate in the field of Terrorism Studies

31 Jan 2024
Job Information

Organisation/Company

Leiden University

Research Field

Cultural studies

Researcher Profile

First Stage Researcher (R1)

Country

Netherlands

Application Deadline

1 Apr 2024 - 21:59 (UTC)

Type of Contract

Temporary

Job Status

Not Applicable

Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by an EU programme

Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

Project Description
The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) seeks to appoint a full-time PhD candidate to carry out research activities related to adaptations and evolution in violent non-state actors’ tactical and strategic behaviors and decision-making. The successful candidate will join the Terrorism and Political Violence Research Group at ISGA. This is a 100% research position, but opportunities to develop teaching expertise, gain experience, and potentially obtain a BKO (Basic Teaching Qualification) can be provided in consultation with ISGA and the PhD supervisor. The research should lead you to obtain a PhD within a four-year timeframe.

The PhD candidate’s research is part of the project Terrorist Group Adapatation & Lessons for Counterterrorism (TERGAP). To understand why terrorism is a persistent problem, we must explore and analyse how terrorist groups adapt their strategic use of violence and group decision-making in response to changes in their environment. For example, when governments install or expand security checkpoints, some groups adapt their violence by recruiting and deploying (more) female suicide bombers because they are less vulnerable to interception at checkpoints. TERGAP builds from this logic of adaptation to theorize and identify systematic changes and patterns in terrorist groups’ strategic violence in response to two changes in their environment: 1. New opportunities to radicalize, recruit, and mobilize aggrieved and vengeful individuals following government repression; 2. New counterterrorism policies, practices and operations.

To study the impact of the first change and identify adaptative mechanisms, TERGAP integrates emerging arguments in political science and international relations that rely on political psychology theories to understand how individuals’ needs influence group-level strategies. To study the impact of changes in counterterrorism, TERGAP identifies empirical models of organizational, organism, and/or other adaptation or adaptive behaviors and applies and tests them using new counterterrorism policy and/or counterterrorism event datasets generated by the project.
Terrorist groups have found ways to adapt to changes in their environment and stay relevant. We need to rethink existing frameworks of terrorism and counterterrorism strategies to improve our understanding of terrorist group adaptation that enables the continued threat.

The project is structured around three key pillars:

Terrorist Group Behavior:
Reframe how we think about terrorist groups’ motivations for violence to focus on recruitment and building support by developing a theoretical model and testing the expectations using statistical analyses and big data analytics. It is widely accepted in the empirical study of political violence, that terrorist groups are rational and strategic actors, but these groups rarely accomplish their political goals yet continue to use violence. This creates a fundamental puzzle. We accept terrorist groups as strategic, but we do not understand their motivations. One of the basic principles TERGAP explores is that in addition to the political objectives of terrorists, recruiting individuals seeking vengeance or retribution is of central importance to terrorist groups and motivates adaptation in their strategic use of violence.

Measuring Counterterrorism
Build two new cross-national datasets. The first data collection effort is completed using human-coding and focuses on counterterrorism policies and institutional practices. The second data collection effort uses NLP and/or LLMs machine-coding and focuses on identifying and recording counterterrorist actions and events.

Identifying Adaptation Patterns & Behaviors
Improve our understanding of terrorist group adaptation by applying inter/cross-discipl

Requirements
Specific Requirements

Selection Criteria

• Master’s degree completed by the time of the appointment, ideally in political science, international relations, security studies, STEM-related, computation social science, computer science, or mathematics. But Master degree in other disciplines will be considered if degree or field of research is relevant to the inter/cross-disciplinary objective of adaptation or evolutionary models. A research master degree is considered an asset;
• Demonstrable ability and enthusiasm for research at the intersection of conceptual and policy-oriented research;
• Experience with quantitative research methods and willingness to develop expertise;
• Availability to travel outside the Netherlands if necessary;
• Demonstrable good time-management skills;
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team in an organized and results-oriented fashion;
• The PhD thesis and/or journal articles will be written in English and therefore excellent command of English is required. Dutch language skills are not a requirement, but will be seen as a plus.
• Additional (non-English and non-Dutch) language skills will be seen as a plus, particularly if spoken/used in MENA, Africa, or Asia;
• An explicit interest in terrorism and political violence;
• Academic publications will be seen as a plus.

Additional Information
Benefits

Terms and conditions
The successful candidate will be part of an ambitious and dynamic team. He or she will be appointed for 1+3 years. The gross monthly salary is set on € 2.770,-- in the first year, increasing to € 3.539,-- gross per month in the final year, in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities.

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3%), training and career development and sabbatical leave. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. For more information: Job application procedure and employment conditions .

All our PhD students are embedded in the Graduate School of Governance and Global Affairs . Our graduate school offers several PhD training courses at three levels: professional courses, skills training and personal effectiveness.

Diversity
Diversity and inclusion are core values of Leiden University. Leiden University is committed to becoming an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected and to develop their full potential. Diversity in experiences and perspectives enriches our teaching and strengthens our research. High quality teaching and research is inclusive.

Selection process

Applications
Please submit online your application no later than April 1 2024 via the blue button in our application system. The position is envisaged to commence in August or September 2024.

Please ensure that you upload the following documents in PDF format, quoting the vacancy number:

• Motivation letter, including your relevant interest and experience in the subject matter and in doing advanced research (max 1 page)
• Curriculum vitae (if applicable list any publications, statistical program skills, and/or other programming/coding skills)
• A writing sample (postgraduate thesis or publication)
• A research statement, where you will pitch your specific ideas on how you would approach the project. This should include: your research question(s); how you would approach answering these questions (i.e. a preliminary research design, appropriate data, and analysis methodologies); and what you consider to be the academic (empirical and/or conceptual) contributions and relevance of the research (max 1000 words);
• The names and addresses of two referees (no recommendation letters required at this stage).

Shortlisted candidates may be interviewed in April or May. Interviews could be held through an online platform.

Enquiries from agencies are not appreciated.

Additional comments

Information
Enquiries can be made to Dr. Graig Klein, email [email protected]

Website for additional job details

https://www.academictransfer.com/337211/

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available

1

Company/Institute

Universiteit Leiden

Country

Netherlands

City

Den Haag

Postal Code

2526HZ

Street

The Hague

Where to apply

Website

https://www.academictransfer.com/en/337211/phd-candidate-in-the-field-of-terror…

Contact

City

Leiden

Website

http://www.universiteitleiden.nl/

Street

Rapenburg 70

Postal Code

2311 EZ

STATUS: EXPIRED