Social Movements and Transitional Justice ‘from below’: Exploring Grassroots Activism in Armed Conflicts and Post-Conflict Contexts (HHS-2026-01)

About the Project

Applications are invited for a PhD studentship exploring the relationship between social movements, victims’ activism, and transitional justice in contexts of armed conflict and post-conflict transition. Over the past decade, transitional justice scholarship has increasingly moved beyond state-centred and technocratic models focused on trials, truth commissions, and reparations programmes. Instead, growing attention has been given to justice “from below”: the ways in which victims, grassroots organisations, and social movements articulate their own visions of justice, recognition, memory, and political transformation.

This doctoral project will critically examine how bottom-up actors shape, challenge, and redefine dominant understandings of justice in divided and violence-affected societies. It seeks to understand how communities affected by conflict mobilise to demand accountability, social recognition, and structural change, and how these claims interact with formal institutions and state-led transitional justice processes. The research will also explore the tensions, possibilities, and limitations of participatory and transformative approaches to justice.

The studentship is particularly suited to applicants interested in sociology, criminology, politics, human rights, peace and conflict studies, or related disciplines. Comparative and international perspectives are especially welcome, including research focused on Latin America, Africa, Europe, or other relevant regions. Methodologically, the project may adopt a qualitative or mixed-methods design, potentially including comparative case studies, interviews, discourse analysis, digital ethnography, or participatory approaches. Candidates will be encouraged to shape the empirical focus in dialogue with the supervisory team and according to their expertise and interests.

The successful applicant will join a vibrant interdisciplinary research environment within the School of Human and Health Sciences, with links to the Social Justice Research Group and related centres. This PhD offers an opportunity to contribute original research to debates on justice, democracy, conflict transformation, and citizen-led social change, while developing advanced methodological and analytical skills relevant to academic and policy careers.

For subject specific enquiries please contact: c.a.tamayogomez@hud.ac.uk