Employment as a doctoral student in International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) within the ERC Starting Grant project Give Rights

Malmo

Reference number P 2025/2917

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We are looking for
One (1) doctoral student in International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) at The Faculty of Culture and Society, the Department of Global Political Studies.

Work duties
Those appointed to an employment as av doctoral student shall primarily devote themselves to their studies. Those appointed to an employment as a doctoral student may, however, work to a limited extent with educational tasks, research, artistic research and administration, however, duties of this kind may not comprise more than 20 per cent of a full-time post (Chapter 5, Section 2 of the Higher Education Ordinance).

The doctoral education concludes with a doctoral degree and comprises 240 credits, which corresponds to four years of full-time study. The programme consists of courses and an independent research project that is presented in a doctoral thesis. As a doctoral student, you will be expected to play an active part in the research and educational environment, the research centre MIM and seminars, common activities and project meetings.

Qualifications
To be admitted to doctoral studies, the applicant must meet the general and specific entry requirements of the subject in question. Moreover, the applicant must be deemed capable of assimilating the education.

General entry requirements for doctoral studies and study programmes (HEO Chapter 7 Section 39) have those who have:

• been awarded a second-cycle qualification
• satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or
• acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

Specific entry requirements for doctoral studies and study programmes have those who have acquired the knowledge and skills equivalent to a second-cycle degree in IMER or in another subject relevant to IMER, or has the equivalent knowledge acquired within or outside the country.

Selection criteria
Selection among applicants who meet the general and specific entry requirements shall be made with regard to their capacity to assimilate the education (HEO Chapter 7 Section 41).

In addition, the following selection criteria applies:

• independent analysis and approach in previous work.
• problem formulation and precision in previous work and research plans.
• methodological and scholarly maturity.

Project specific criteria:

• Demonstrable knowledge within one or several of the following topics of relevance for the Give Rights project: undocumented migration, sanctuary cities, migrant rights, welfare/social rights, activism, human rights, unions or other social movements.
• Ability to conduct research interviews.

Proficiency in Dutch is an advantage.

Faculty, Department and Research environment
Faculty of Culture and Society
The Faculty of Culture and Society is a multidisciplinary faculty that includes three departments: the Department of Global Political Studies (GPS) the School of Arts and Communication (K3) and the Department of Urban Studies (US). The Faculty conducts doctoral studies in the following subjects: Global Politics, Interaction Design, International Migration and Ethnic Relations, Media and Communication Studies, Organisation Studies, and Urban Studies. The Faculty hosts four of the university’s nine research centres. Read more about the Faculty of Culture and Society here.

Department of Global Political Studies
The Department of Global Political Studies (GPS) is an interdisciplinary department, which incorporates approaches from both the social sciences and the humanities, and that undertakes research on politics, power relations and the construction of identity in local, national, international, and global contexts. Its focus is on organisations, governance, political instruments, and decision-making processes, as well as studies of international migration and migration-related social issues. GPS offers two doctoral programmes: Global Politics and International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER). The current position is in IMER. Read more about the Department of Global Political Studies here.

Doctoral programme in International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER)
Scholars within IMER study, among other subjects, the national, regional, international, and global causes and effects of migration in both the society of origin and destination on a structural, institutional, collective, and individual level. IMER is an inherently multi- and interdisciplinary subject, in which for instance sociology, political science, cultural geography, anthropology, economic history, economics, social work, history, ethnology, religious studies, gender studies, and cultural studies are represented.

The goal of the programme is to develop the knowledge and skills required for the doctoral student to conduct research independently and contribute to the development of knowledge within the chosen subject area. The doctoral programme comprises 240 higher education credits (equivalent to four years of full-time studies), of which 60 credits are from courses. It is completed when the doctoral student publicly defends his/her printed doctoral dissertation (180 credits).

Malmö Institute for Migration Studies (MIM)
MIM was established in January 2007 with the goal of strengthening Malmö University’s migration research profile. Further to this, MIM was also envisaged as a platform to expand Malmö University’s international networks and build bridges between the university and non-academic actors. MIM consists of a core of senior and junior researchers and a large international network of affiliated researchers. MIM regularly hosts prominent professors in IMER from around the world.

The project GIVE RIGHTS
The project is funded through an ERC Starting Grant. It focusses on how the rights claims of undocumented migrants and the collective contestations of welfare professionals are related as migration control is increasingly deputized across different societal actors. Across Europe, welfare professionals have resisted proposals that they should have a duty to report undocumented migrants to the police. This resistance has been pivotal for protecting migrants’ rights. Consequently, GIVE RIGHTS will develop new conceptual tools for an interdisciplinary understanding of undocumented migrants’ rights as rooted in an interplay between migrants’ rights-claims and welfare professionals’ attitudes, practices, and collective contestations – highlighting the underexamined relational character of rights. The project investigates the politics of undocumented migrants’ rights as an interplay between different actors with converging interests: Undocumented migrants want access to their human rights – in Hannah Arendt’s words they want to have a “right to have rights” – and welfare professionals do not want to act as extended border guards but have a “right to give rights”. The project compares experiences in Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK where the protection of undocumented migrants’ access to rights are, or have recently been, undergoing intense negotiations. It will combine survey data with policy mapping, qualitative media analysis, participant observation, focus groups and expert interviews. In this way GIVE RIGHTS aims to provide a new research agenda for theoretical and political debates on the future of human rights in Europe.

The doctoral student will be based in Malmö but is expected to conduct research in the Netherlands for a limited time among welfare professionals and organizations about their approach to undocumented migrants’ rights. The doctoral student is also expected to collaborate with the other researchers in the GIVE RIGHTS project and contribute to the fulfilment of the project’s overall aims. This includes conducting a media study of Dutch news outlets and supporting colleagues in the distribution of a survey in the Netherlands.

The GIVE RIGHTS project plan is available here: https://giverights.uni.mau.se/give_rights_project_plan/

Further information
For questions regarding the GIVE RIGHTS project, contact Principal Investigator Jacob Lind, [email protected]

Information about doctoral studies at Malmö University is available here: https://mau.se/en/research/doctoral-studies/.

For questions regarding the doctoral education, please contact Professor Maja Povrzanovic Frykman, Deputy Responsible for Doctoral Education at GPS, [email protected]

For other questions, please contact the Head of Department Mona Lilja, [email protected]

For practical questions regarding employment and the recruitment process, contact Victoria Kockum, HR specialist, [email protected]

In our recruitment work, Malmö University has taken a stand regarding recruitment channels and marketing. We therefore decline all offers of advertising and recruitment assistance in connection with this advertisement.

You can read more about the benefits of working in Sweden here: https://sweden.se/collection/working-in-sweden/

Application
You apply for this position via Malmö University's recruitment system by clicking on the "Apply" button. As an applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that your application is completed in accordance with the job advertisement, and that it is submitted to the University no later than 18 January 2026. The application must be written in Swedish, English or any of the Nordic languages. As an applicant, you are responsible for the application and its appendices being translated.

The application must include:

• Curriculum Vitae with up to three professional references (including title, affiliation, email address, phone number, and the relationship to the applicant)
• Certified diplomas, transcripts of records and other certificates relevant for the position
• A research statement of up to 2000 words excluding references. The research statement must show how the candidate will contribute to the GIVE RIGHTS research project and its Dutch country case. It should include a brief potential outline for the applicants’ future PhD thesis, including its overall purpose, questions it intends to answer, an account of its theoretical framework and the methodological approach (including a reflection on potential methodological challenges and how these will be addressed) and a description of research material. The research statement should also include a personal reflection focusing on previous research experience and interest in the subject matter.
• Independent work at an advanced level (including master’s thesis or equivalent) and any other relevant published work.

Miscellaneous
Preparation of admission to postgraduate education and employment as a doctoral student take place in parallel. Only those who are or have been admitted to doctoral level courses and study programmes at a higher education may be appointed to doctoral studentships (HEO Chapter 5, section 3).

The doctoral studentship is a fixed-term position comprising four years of full-time studies, in accordance with the HEO Chapter 5, section 7. A doctoral student shall be employed for an indefinite period but for no longer than until a specified date, and never for longer than a year after the doctoral degree or artistic doctoral degree has been completed. The first appointment must be limited to one year at the most. The appointment can be extended by a maximum of two years at a time.

Malmö University actively promotes gender equality and equal opportunities in order to offer a workplace and a university characterised by an open and inclusive approach.

As part of this:

• Applicants of an underrepresented gender are given priority for admission, if they are equally able to benefit from the programme.
• Doctoral students with permanent disabilities are given the opportunity to receive support and adaptations during their studies, so that everyone can study on equal terms in a good study environment.

Malmö University is a workplace and higher education institution that is characterised by an open and inclusive approach, where gender equality and equal terms add value to our activities.

Employees who do not speak Swedish should learn Swedish in the long term so that they can participate in the daily and ongoing work of the institution or department.

Malmö University applies salary setting for doctoral students in accordance with a local agreement on salary setting for doctoral students.

If the admitted person requires a residence permit to live in Sweden and pursue their studies, the University reserves the right to revoke the admission decision if the admitted person cannot present a valid residence permit as required on the date they are due to commence their education.

Start date
1 September 2026

Union representatives
SACO-S, Rebecka Johansson, [email protected]

OFR/ST, Martin Reissner, [email protected]

PhD Student Union representative
Joel Agbesinyale, [email protected]

We are looking forward to receiving your application!
You apply no later than 18/01/2026 by clicking the apply button.