I'm looking for a good and motivated PhD candidate for a project on Research-Policy Dialogues on Migration and Diversity. It is involves a 4 year position, connected to the recently acquired H2020 project CROSS-MIGRATION on the systematic accumulation of knowledge on migration. For more information on the position, Erasmus University and on how to apply, see link, or read further below. 

The PhD project will focus on the relationship between migration/diversity policymaking and the development of migration/diversity studies as a research field. How has the field evolved over the last decades at the national and European level in terms of knowledge producers and systematic knowledge accumulation? What infrastructures have evolved for dialogues between research and policy? How have these dialogues impacted policymaking, either in an instrumental or a symbolic way? How have these dialogues been impacted by politicization and public contestation around migration and diversity? And what strategies are there to enhance research-policy infrastructures and dialogues for the future?

The research will focus on research-policy dialogues on migration and (migration-related) diversity at the European level as well as in several selected countries and cities (to be determined in the starting phase of the project). This involves a.o. an in depth analysis of the development of the field, in terms of substance (key knowledge claims) as well as in terms of structure (key actors, infrastructures, knowledge brokers, funding schemes, journals, etc.). This includes topics questions such as how research-policy dialogues correlate with contextual factors such as political structures, welfare state regimes, generic science policies, etc. It also involves an in-depth analysis of dialogues and the utilization of knowledge on specific policy topics. This includes the topics of labour market integration, integration governance, welfare state integration, and various other topics to be selected together with the PhD candidate.

On a theoretical level, the project speaks to literatures on research-policy dialogues on migration and diversity specifically (including work on boundary configurations, knowledge utilization, knowledge brokers, etc.), as well as more generic literatures on the relationship between knowledge and policy. This brings together insights from literatures including policy sciences, public administration, sociology of scientific knowledge, science and technology studies and various others.

There is significant space for the candidate to co-develop the PhD project further in consultation with the project coordinators, which include Dr. Peter Scholten (project coordinator) and Prof.dr. Menno Fenger and Prof.dr. Godfried Engbersen.

The position is at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology. The project is embedded in a broader H2020 project: CROSS-MIGRATION. This project is aimed at the development of systematic knowledge accumulation in the field of migration specifically. The PhD candidate will be able to develop research based on this project, to contribute to research in the project, and also to contribute to the management of this project together with the project coordinator and one other postdoctoral research.