Postdoctoral Fellow in International Law

Ghent University

Last application date:
Mar 15, 2026 23:59

Department:
RE22 - Department of European, Public and International Law

Degree:
MA, MSc or LLM in law, social sciences, anthropology, or another relevant field, preferably with a focus on human rights and/or transitional justice

Occupancy rate:
100%

Vacancy type:
Research staff

YOUR TASKS

We are seeking to hire one fully funded PhD researcher as part of the ERC project: “Innovation and documentation. Reconstructing the paradigm of transitional justice from the ground up”.

The PhD project focuses on initiatives documenting violations of IHRL and IHL in the Palestinian context.

The ideal candidate has an interdisciplinary profile, covering at least social & legal studies related to human rights and transitional justice. They are open to using, or have experience with, various relevant empirical research methods (quantitative or qualitative) and have sound working knowledge of the context and the various topics studied as part of this research project.

The researcher will be based at the Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of Ghent University. On-site presence is crucial given the highly collaborative nature of the project. Longer periods of empirical data collection in the Philippines are equally crucial.

The selected candidate will be offered a position of limited duration as PhD researcher (12 months initially, with 36 months extension upon passing the first-year PhD requirements).

We encourage candidates who self-identify as belonging to a minority group to apply, and our recruitment process is aimed at ensuring inclusion and diversity.

Description of the broader research project

The candidate will be part of a broader research project on the role of documentation in contemporary transitional justice processes – including ones developed in contexts where no peace agreement was signed or no political transition took place (like contexts of ongoing conflict).

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Eligibility:

• Hold a MA, MSc, or LLM degree in social and political sciences, law, anthropology, or related discipline
• Degree obtained at the time of application or will have it by Sept 1, 2026
• Fluent in English and in the language spoken by actors in the case study

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

• Full-time doctoral fellow position, initial period 12 months, extendable to 48 months
• Contract start: 09/01/2026 at the earliest
• Fellowship: 100% of net salary of an AAP member, tax-free if conditions met
• Staff benefits: training and education opportunities, 36 days holiday, bicycle allowance, eco vouchers

INTERESTED?

Submit all documents as one PDF via email: justicevisions@ugent.be before Mar 15, 2026 (23:59 CET)

Evaluation procedure