At the Vrije Universiteit Brussel there is a vacancy for a Four-Year PhD Fellowship (Full-Time)
Project description : the forging of a pre-modern urban elite. Political networks and social change in sixteenth-century Ghent
This project is dedicated to elite formation in the city of Ghent, one of the largest cities of the Habsburg Low Countries. It aspires to understand how urban elites were shaped and reshaped in light of a wide range of far-reaching transformations within urban society, from socio-economic trends over the dawning of religious dissent to the shifting balance of power between the Ghent community and princely government. Taking the political elite of Ghent as a point of departure, this research project is concerned with questions concerning the definition and organization of elite families, processes of social mobility between elites and the milieu of the Ghent craft guilds, the socio-economic basis of the urban power elite and the interactions and overlaps between that power elite and those of the surrounding countryside, neighboring towns and the Habsburg state. This project will contribute to the international debates on pre-modern urban elites by the application of qualitative and quantitative approaches within a comparative framework in which the case study of Ghent is measured against research for other late medieval and early modern cities.
The PhD fellow is expected to publish and disseminate research results to an academic audience and to complete a PhD within four years.
This PhD-project is funded by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles (IAP) of Belgian Science Policy Office and is part of the project City and Society in the Low Countries (ca. 1200-ca. 1850) – Work package 3: Urban Community Building: Inclusion and Exclusion. Prof. dr. Frederik Buylaert (VUB) will act as supervisor; prof. dr. Anne-Laure Van Bruaene (Ghent University) as co-supervisor.
Candidate profile
- Master’s degree in History or other relevant Master’s degree with demonstrable interest in historical research (students who will graduate in September 2013 can apply). Research experience related to the project’s subject matter is a plus.
- Good knowledge of Dutch, French, and English
- Good writing and presentation skills
- An enthusiastic and dynamic team player
- Willing to travel abroad for research, conferences, meetings etc.
Offer
- A 4-year contract (via yearly renewals) as a full-time scientific staff member of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (scholarship starting from around 1800 euros net./month)
- Contact with national and international research groups
- A friendly, dynamic environment for research
- Opportunity to follow an individualized PhD program at the VUB Doctoral School of Human Sciences, including language courses
- Start of project: between 1 October 2013 and 1 January 2014
How to apply
To apply, please send a letter of motivation together with a recent CV, transcript of grades and pdf version of your Master’s thesis to Frederik.Buylaert@vub.ac.be before August 15th. Selected candidates will be invited for an interview in late August, and notified about the results before September 15th.
For further details, please contact Frederik.Buylaert@vub.ac.be
Source de l’information : Vlaamse Werkgroep Medievistiek
L'Agenda des Médiévistes 