Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), vacancy 14-250

The Faculty of Humanities hosts a wealth of expertise in fields including art history, film, religion, literature, media, linguistics, philosophy, history and area studies, covering practically the entire world. The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS), one of six research institutes within the Faculty of Humanities, focuses on the study of art, literature, culture and media.

LUCAS invites applicants for:

Four PhD Positions ‘Arts in Society’

Vacancy number: 14- 250

The PhD students will work within a research programme funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO Graduate Programme 2014), entitled: Arts in Society . The supervisor of this research programme is the Director of LUCAS, Professor Anthonya Visser.

Description of the research programme Arts in Society

LUCAS pools expertise in the fields of literary history and theory, book, film and media studies, and art history. Exploring cultural production in Europe, Latin America and Africa, the institute’s research programme focuses on the continuous interconnectedness of the Arts and Society in both the textual culture of literature, learning and public debate and the visual culture of art, architecture, film, photography and the digital media. The institute hosts a variety of academic disciplines, covering the period from classical antiquity to contemporary culture. LUCAS is therefore uniquely placed to study the broad concept of the Arts, with its rapidly changing ideas and theories of cultural production, as a response to societal challenges.

LUCAS aims to develop its research programme further in four domains which are of particular interest for the interaction of the Arts and/in Society: (1) religion, (2) science & technology, (3) law & justice and (4) politics. Cultural production and cultural practices shape and are shaped by the debates, ideologies and beliefs in these fields of human agency – no matter what period or art form. New PhD projects in these four domains will further enhance LUCAS’s research in the Arts:

Through the ages texts, images and objects of all kinds have been instruments of religious self-formation, vehicles for confronting, commenting on and confirming theological doctrine or artistic expressions of piety.

Although, after centuries of collaboration, the humanities and the sciences seem to have gone their separate ways as academic disciplines, art interacts continuously with new technologies and fields of learning in social and cultural practices.

Literature and law, both being language based, are mutually inspiring and also mutually critical sister disciplines with regard to issues of justice. Fundamental concepts, such as personhood, are shared by the domains of law and literature. Literature and art, in general, have been – and still are – keen to dwell within and beyond the limits of the law.

For this domain politics should be understood in a broad sense: as the collective process of practices, choices and acts that determine the realisation of one world or another. Possible focus areas for research could be strategies of power, institutions, aesthetics, etc.

LUCAS invites candidates to submit a research proposal in the field of arts in society. The proposal should address a concrete research question concerning one of the domains mentioned above. Projects will be highly significant for further positioning LUCAS for future research. For a description of the research programme: http://www.nwo.nl/financiering/onze-financieringsinstrumenten/nwo/graduate-programme/graduate-programme.html and http://www.hum.leiden.edu/lucas/research/research-projects/research-projects2.html#nwo-graduate-programme.

Activities

The candidates are expected to carry out the following activities:

• writing a PhD thesis;
• submitting research results for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals;
• presenting papers at (international) conferences;
• some teaching in the second and third year of the appointment;
• co-organising workshops and an international conference, together with the supervisor of the programme;
• participating in the PhD training programme of a national research school, e.g. OSK, OSL, NICA, OIKOS, NOG, OSZMED, RMeS or WTMC;
• participating in reading and discussion groups, seminars and workshops within the GP grant group and the LUCAS Research Institute, as well as the wider Faculty of Humanities.

Requirements

• The successful candidate will have a Master’s or Research Master’s degree and will have obtained this degree no longer than four years ago. The MA thesis must be of a high quality, with a grade of at least 8.0 on a ten-point scale, or comparable assessment (revised);
• The applicant’s MA thesis will testify to well-developed research skills, including the ability to formulate relevant and creative research questions and hypotheses, descriptive and analytical skills, and a clear and persuasive style of writing;
• The applicant’s CV will illustrate familiarity with and experience in research on the study of one of the LUCAS disciplines;
• The applicant will have a good reading competence in the language of the object of study, in addition to an excellent command of English in reading, writing and speaking;
• The applicant will be able to work both independently and as part of a team;
• The applicant should already have a LUCAS supervisor;
• The applicant undertakes to finish the proposed PhD research within 4 years (1.0 FTE or within 5 years (0.8 FTE);

The PhD research should result in a doctor’s degree from the Faculty of the Humanities of Leiden University under the supervision of two LUCAS supervisors.

Terms of employment

The successful applicant will be appointed initially for a period of 12 months, with the preferred starting date of 1 December 1 2014. After positive evaluation of capabilities and compatibility and providing progress is satisfactory, the appointment will be extended by a further 3 years. The appointment must lead to the completion of a PhD thesis. Appointment will be under the terms of the CAO (collective labour agreement) of Dutch Universities.

The gross monthly salary is set at € 2.083 in the first year, increasing to € 2.664 gross per month in year four. This is based upon a full-time employment and in conformity with current salary scales under the collective employment agreement (CAO) for Dutch Universities.

An appointment with Leiden University includes pension accrual and other benefits such as an annual holiday premium of 8% and an end-of-year premium of 8.3%. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break.

Information

For more information, please contact Professor Anthonya Visser (e-mail: a.visser@hum.leidenuniv.nl) or Dr Korrie Korevaart (LUCAS manager; e-mail: kjj.korevaart@hum.leidenuniv.nl)

For information about LUCAS see http://hum.leiden.edu/lucas/

Applications

Please submit your application letter via e-mail (indicating the vacancy number mentioned in your motivation letter and in the subject line of your e-mail) and Curriculum Vitae before 20 October 2014, to vacaturesLUCAS@hum.leidenuniv.nl and kjj.korevaart@hum.leidenuniv.nl. You are also requested to add two reference letters from two scholars familiar with your work. We may contact these referees directly if we need further information.

Please add to your application the following appendices: a) your MA thesis, b) a copy of relevant course assessments and c) your MA degree certificate, and other relevant documentation such as certificates of relevant language courses, plus d) a short research proposal concerning the topic of one of the PhD positions (max. 3000 words, incl. bibliography and summary (max. 500 words).

Please note that the procedure will include interviews. Selected candidates will be invited for an interview in Leiden. Interviews are scheduled to take place 27-29 October 2014.

Source de l’information : Universiteit Leiden