Project „Migration and Us: Mobility, Refugees, and Borders from the Perspective of the Humanities (MyGRACE)“, registration number CZ.02.01.01/00/23_025/0008741, funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports within Programme Johannes Amos Comenius and co-financed by the EU, brings interdisciplinary synergy to research on migration and refugees in the Czech Republic. In five closely linked and complementary research projects, it explores people on the move from the perspectives of literary studies and cultural studies, ethnology and anthropology, history and using digital methods. It critically and in new ways studies exile, race and language among contemporary migrants, the influence of states on transnational migration, the history of labor migration and borders.
We are looking for a researcher to join our team. In close cooperation with the research leader of the project subgroup entitled "The State and Transnational Migration" and other team members, the researcher will carry out independent research, publication and other scholarly organizational and coordination activities.
A prerequisite for working on this research project is the ability to examine the factors and actors influencing managed migration in the socialist bloc and the subsequent adjustments to migration policy in Czechoslovakia (or the Czech and Slovak Republics), Poland and Hungary in the context of post-communist transformation.
Using existing and newly recorded oral history interviews with representatives of state institutions and humanitarian organizations, the researcher will analyze the establishment of the new legal basis (including accession to the 1951 Refugee Convention), the new state bodies implementing the asylum procedure, and the interaction with aid organizations. The aim will be to look not only at the declarative move towards democratic values but also at the persistence of ethnic priorities, as well as the change in the European refugee regime after the end of the Cold War. The ability to view the topic in the context of the long-term transformations of refugee policies in the countries of East-Central Europe will be welcomed. Thus, the continuities and discontinuities of these policies as a result of further political transformations during the twentieth century, especially in the aftermath of the two world wars, can be explored in parallel.
work in an interdisciplinary team of researchers working in educational and research institutions across the Czech Republic
the opportunity to contribute to the development of a new perspective on migration and refugee research in the Czech context with an international outreach
pleasant working environment and team, flexible working hours
gross salary 23 000 - 27 000 CZK (0,5 FTE, depending on experience)
benefits: 5 weeks of vacation, sick days, meal vouchers, pension contribution
ability to carry out independent scientific and publishing activities
interdisciplinary teamwork and organizational skills
interest in intersectionality and oral history
active ability to communicate in English in written and spoken form, the knowledge of Czech is an advantage
a PhD in humanities or shortly before its completion
The start date of the position is 1 April 2025, with a maximum duration until the end of the project (31 December 2028). Please send a CV, an overview of previous publications, and a motivation letter (in Czech, Slovak, or English) electronically by 28 February 2025 to sekretariat@mua.cas.cz, subject: OP JAK Refugee Policy.
