Applications are invited for two three-year PhD fellowships in the context of ForSEAdiscovery (see http://forseadiscovery.eu). The project focuses on the construction of ocean-going ships of the Iberian Empires during the Age of Discovery and European Expansion. It addresses questions of commerce, trade and globalization.
Organisation
The Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the city of Groningen. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members, who are working at the frontiers of knowledge every day. The Faculty offers a wide range of degree programmes: 15 Bachelor's programmes and over 35 Master's specializations. Our research, which is internationally widely acclaimed, covers the following fields: Archaeology, Cultural Studies, History, International Relations, Journalism, Language and Literary Studies, and Linguistics.
Job description
Specialty areas: Early Modern History of Commerce, Transport and Globalization
Applications are invited for two three-year fellowships (36 months) to undertake doctorates in the context of ForSEAdiscovery, a large research project funded by the European Union (Call identifier: FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN) with fourteen participating academic institutions from nine countries (see http://forseadiscovery.eu). Two PhD candidates will be based at the University of Groningen.
ForSEAdiscovery (in full: Forest Resources for Iberian Empires: Ecology and Globalization in the Age of Discovery) focusses on the construction of ocean-going ships of the Iberian Empires during the Age of Discovery and European Expansion. Large-scale shipbuilding made unprecedented demands on Iberian forests for the supply of construction timber. Forestry and sea power became inextricably linked, creating new geopolitical tensions, alliances and forest regulations. Key questions in this context are: could Iberian forest resources sustain the increasing demand of sound timber, or was the wood imported from elsewhere? If so, how were the trade networks organized? And did the lack of raw material force the technological changes that occurred in shipbuilding in the 16th century, or were they a result of exchange between Mediterranean and Atlantic shipbuilding traditions?
The candidates will work in an international and interdisciplinary environment involving regular participation in workshops and courses abroad.
In the course of the fellowship the candidates will be seconded for a few weeks at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal, and at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Madrid, Spain.
The candidates will use the Danish Sound Toll Registers and Dutch sources such as the Amsterdam notarial archives. Alternatively, we welcome the study of similar sources kept in archives in other countries, for instance in the Baltic and North Sea regions, depending on the applicant’s language skills.
Applicants are requested to briefly outline their specific research proposals. For further details see below under ‘application.’
One PhD candidate will:
- collect in the historiography, existing databases and archival sources quantitative information concerning the timber trade and transport between Northern Europe and Atlantic Iberia (1500-1800) and analyze and explain that information
- produce (1) a database containing information about the volume of timber trade and transport between Northern Europe and Atlantic Iberia (1500-1800) and about Northern European areas supplying timber for shipbuilding in Atlantic Iberia (1500-1800) and (2) a dissertation in which this information is studied.
The other PhD candidate will:
- collect in the historiography, existing databases and archival sources information about networks of merchants involved in the timber trade and transport between Northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula serving the Atlantic Iberian shipbuilding industry (1500-1800) and analyze and explain the mechanisms of these networks
- produce (1) a database containing information about the merchant networks in the timber trade and transport between Northern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula serving the Atlantic Iberian shipbuilding industry (1500-1800) and about Northern European areas supplying shipbuilding timber to Atlantic Iberia (1500-1800) and (2) a dissertation in which this information is studied.
Qualifications
- MA degree in Early Modern (Economic or Social) History, History of the European Expansion, Global History or World History
- languages: English is indispensable, Dutch an asset, a basic working knowledge of Spanish and/or Portuguese useful, any other language necessary depending on the sources you propose to use
- basic ability to read early modern handwriting
- ability to work independently and as part of a team.
In accordance with the criteria set out by Marie Curie Innovative Doctoral Program, the candidates must not have resided or carried out main activity (work, study, etc.) in The Netherlands for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to taking up the fellowship. At the time of recruitment the candidates must not yet have been awarded the doctoral degree and must not have worked for longer than four years in scientific research.
Conditions of employment
The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2,083 gross per month in the first year to € 2,542 gross per month in the third year (figures based on full employment). The 1.0 fte appointment is temporary for a specified period of three years. The PhD candidate will first be appointed for 18 months. After the first year, an assessment of the candidate's results and the progress of the project will take place to decide whether the employment will be continued.
The appointment will preferably be effective from 1 December 2014.
Affiliation
The PhD candidate will be enrolled in the Graduate School for the Humanities, affiliated with the Research Institute for the Study of Culture Groningen (ICOG), and based at the Department of History.
Application
Applications should be in English and should contain the following:
- a curriculum vitae which includes email and addresses, copies of your MA degree and grades, the languages you master and - if applicable – the titles of your publications
- a copy of the MA thesis
- if the MA-thesis was not written in English, a synopsis of the thesis (1.000 words)
- a brief research plan (c. 1000 words) which includes an explanation of your preference for one of the vacancies and an indication of which archival sources you propose to use, by which archival institutions they are kept, and in what language they are written
- a list of (maximum) two referees (with full postal and email addresses and telephone numbers). Referees will be contacted directly by the search committee.
Please send your entire application in just two pdf-files (one for the MA thesis, and one for all other documents).
You may apply for this position before 3 October 2014 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).
Late applications will normally not be taken into consideration.
Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.
For further details see: http://www.rug.nl/about-us/work-with-us/job-opportunities/overview?details=00347-02S00047TP