Department

Faculty of Economics and Business

Organisation

University of Groningen

Job description

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities of Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

Faculty of Economics and Business
The Faculty of Economics and Business offers an inspiring study and working environment for students and employees. International accreditation enables the Faculty to assess performance against the highest international standards. It also creates an exciting environment of continuous improvement. FEB's programmes, academic staff and research do well on various excellence ranking lists.

FEBRI, the graduate school and research institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business has one PhD position in the field of Institutions and comparative long-term development of pre-1914 Europe available.

Project description
Today's richest societies possess both sophisticated market economies and well-developed institutional structures. Why some countries are rich and others are poor lies at the heart of economic history. A prominent literature argues that the development of institutional structures play a prominent role in explaining patterns of development. What determines why some regimes are better able to build up their institutional capacity and promote economic growth and development, than others? Historical experiences of early European states can be used to identify the long-term relationship between economic development and (political) institutions.

The Economic History group at the Faculty of Economics and Business is an international research team which studies these and associated issues to inform the debates in history, economics, and related disciplines. We specialise in the quantitative empirical investigation of long-term trends (for example, within the Groningen Growth and Development Centre GGDC and the Maddison Project).

Specifically, the group works on:

- Economic growth and development
- Inequality
- Political culture and institutions
- Structural transformation
- Market development
- Innovation and technological adaptation

Successful candidates are welcome to develop their own projects within these parameters.

The PhD position is embedded in the research programme Economics, Econometrics, and Finance of FEB’s Research Institute. The project will be supervised by Mikolaj Malinowski, Giampaolo Lecce, and Jutta Bolt.

Requirements

The ideal candidate is ambitious, highly motivated and wishes to make a career in research. You have a thorough training in research skills, speaks and writes English fluently and has obtained excellent results in the Master phase.

The PhD candidate should have a background (MSc, research master) in quantitative Economic History, Economics, Political Economy, or History. The successful candidate is comfortable with the use of quantitative methods to study historical processes by applying relevant theory. Own research interests and independent work are valued.

Conditions of employment

Contract length: 48 months.

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

- a gross monthly starting salary of € 2,541 which increases yearly to a maximum of € 3,247. Based on the gross salary you will receive an additional 8% holiday allowance each year in May, and an additional 8.3 % end of year bonus in December
- a temporary full-time appointment for a period of four years, under the condition of a positive assessment at the end of the first year. PhD candidates contribute 20% of their time to teaching.

Starting date: Preferably per September 1, 2023

An assessment may be part of the procedure, consisting of psychological tests and an interview.

Job Application

The application package consists of the following separate documents:

1. a motivation letter (one A4 max)
2. your cv
3. a short proposal of a research topic and design for the PhD project (two A4 max) and a writing sample (e.g., a MSc Thesis)
4. a scan of your diploma including transcripts and a proof of English proficiency if the Master/Bachelor’s degree was not completed in English
5. other relevant documents.

The documents 1-4 are compulsory and please note that incomplete application packages will not be taken into account.

If you are interested, you can apply until 29 June 11:59pm / 30 June 2023 Dutch local time (European Central Time) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy webpage: https://www.rug.nl/[…]/

Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Additional information

For additional information, please contact:

For more general information
febphdvacancies@rug.nl

Mr Malinowski (for more information on this specific project)
m.malinowski@rug.nl

In your application, please always include the job opening ID V23.0402

Digital application form