Deadline: November 21, 2024
University College Dublin/ European Research Council
Applications are invited for three 33-month posts of UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1 or 2 within the University College Dublin School of History, Ireland.
These Post-Doctoral Fellowships are part of the ERC Starting Grant project ‘Land Limits: Towards a connected history of population, environment, capital and conflict in Russian Eurasia, 1860s-1920s’, led by Dr Jennifer Keating. Land Limits explores the environmental impact of population increase across rural northern Eurasia during the last decades of the Russian empire and the early years of the Soviet state. These impacts include but are not limited to, deforestation, shifts in land and water management, mining, new agricultural technologies, enclosure, irrigation and drainage, and species modifications and eradications. The research team of three Post-Doctoral Fellows, a Research Assistant and the Principal Investigator aims to analyse the multiscalar economic and political implications of these ecological changes, working from local and regional to imperial and trans-imperial. At heart, the project aims to critically analyse the ways in which ecological shifts were integral components of evolving socio-political relations and tensions, by considering local communities and their relationships with the state and with private enterprise within and beyond imperial borders. Ultimately, we aim to deepen the understanding of the connections between environmental change, economic growth and political violence in northern Eurasia, and to contribute to broader conversations about the breakdown of states and the birth of new political entities.
The research undertaken during the fellowship will focus on one of the three specified regions from the 1860s until the 1920s: The Governate of Kuopio (Kuopioskaia guberniia – present day Finland), the Governorate of Kutaisi (Kutaisskaia guberniia – present day Georgia), the Governorate of Kielce (Keletskaia guberniia – present day Poland).
Applicants must clearly state which case study site they are applying to work on in their cover letter (the Governate of Kuopio, the Governorate of Kutaisi, or the Governorate of Kielce), and include a 200-300 word overview of a research project situated within this region that would address (some of) the project’s key objectives and aims above. If shortlisted for interview, candidates will be expected to provide in advance a 1500-word overview of this proposed research and to present this idea at the beginning of the interview. It is expected that candidates will have linguistic competency in the languages most relevant to their chosen case study.
The closing date for all submissions is Thursday 21 November, 12pm (UTC).
For more information regarding the posts and selection criteria please follow the link below.