Call for Applications: 17 Fully-Funded PhD Positions within the MSCA Doctoral Network
Lund University, in collaboration with a consortium of fourteen main higher-education establishments from Europe and Canada, at this time broadcasts the recruitment of 17 absolutely funded doctoral candidates for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network (MSCA DN) undertaking titled Sociology of Authoritarian Law: Insights from Central Asia (SOCIAL). This four-year doctoral coaching programme is scheduled to start in September 2026 and goals to supply an interdisciplinary, worldwide platform for doctoral analysis into legislation, governance and society in authoritarian settings.
Project Rationale
Authoritarian governance presents advanced challenges to established authorized, institutional and societal frameworks. This Doctoral Network addresses considered one of the most urgent analysis frontiers in socio-legal research: how authorized techniques, normative orders and governance constructions evolve, adapt and persist within authoritarian environments. With a geographic give attention to Central Asia, the SOCIAL community will generate novel empirical and theoretical contributions regarding law-society–governance dynamics, whereas coaching a brand new technology of students able to bridging tutorial analysis and coverage apply.
Consortium and Institutional Framework
The SOCIAL community is coordinated by the Department of Sociology of Law at Lund University and contains 14 accomplice organisations throughout Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Switzerland, Turkey and Canada. The collaborating establishments signify world-class centres in legislation, sociology, political science and associated fields. Together, they decide to providing doctoral candidates a structured programme of analysis coaching, worldwide mobility, inter-sectoral secondments and joint supervision.
Programme Objectives
The SOCIAL Doctoral Network pursues three major aims:
- Empirical and theoretical innovation – to advance information about how authoritarian authorized orders operate, adapt and work together with world authorized norms and frameworks.
- Interdisciplinary doctoral coaching – to develop students geared up with superior analysis strategies and transferable expertise, in a position to function throughout disciplinary boundaries.
- Policy outreach and information switch – to make sure that analysis outcomes are translated into actionable intelligence for governance, civil society and worldwide stakeholders.
Training Model and Candidate Responsibilities
Each of the 17 doctoral candidates might be hosted by considered one of the consortium establishments and work underneath the joint supervision of not less than two students from completely different accomplice establishments. The coaching mannequin contains:
- Two mandated secondments (one tutorial, one non-academic) of between two and 6 months every.
- Fieldwork and analysis actions in Central Asia as an integral part of every undertaking.
- A complete coaching curriculum overlaying analysis strategies, ethics, Open Science practices, transferable expertise, and thematic seminars on legislation, governance and corruption.
- Mobility and collaboration throughout consortium establishments, worldwide conferences, community workshops and peer-review publication alternatives.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants should fulfill the following standards, in accordance with MSCA situations:
- Possess a Master’s diploma (or equal) entitling them to start doctoral research in the nation of recruitment.
- Have not been awarded a doctoral diploma at the time of recruitment.
- Have a most of 4 years’ full-time equal analysis expertise after their Master’s diploma by the recruitment date.
- Must not have resided or undertaken their principal exercise (work, research, and so on.) in the host nation for greater than 12 months throughout the 36 months instantly previous to recruitment (MSCA mobility rule).
- Demonstrate sturdy command of English; maintain related disciplinary background (legislation, sociology, political science, economics, growth research, anthropology, human rights or associated fields); present motivation for inter-disciplinary analysis and fieldwork in Central Asia.
Employment and Benefits
Successful candidates might be appointed underneath a full-time, fixed-term employment contract (usually 36 months) funded via the MSCA programme. The contract supplies a aggressive month-to-month residing allowance, mobility allowance and, the place relevant, household allowance, consistent with MSCA laws. Candidates will profit from full social safety protection, entry to the worldwide consortium community, structured coaching and profession growth assist.
Doctoral Project Descriptions
A broad overview of the doctoral initiatives is supplied under:
PhD Position Details
DC1 – Authoritarian Legal Harmonization
- Host: Södertörn University (Sweden)
- Focus: Explore how worldwide frameworks form authorized harmonization in authoritarian regimes.
- Description: This DC undertaking investigates how authorized norms are subtle and harmonized throughout authoritarian regimes in Central Asia. It focuses on the rising affect of regional organizations like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC), and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in shaping authorized convergence via non-democratic pathways. The doctoral candidate will discover how these regional actors problem Western liberal-democratic authorized norms, contributing to a contested and evolving authorized panorama in the area. The undertaking goals to focus on the tensions between authoritarian authorized fashions and Western governance agendas.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here: https://www.sh.se/english/sodertorn-university/meet-sodertorn-university/this-is-sodertorn-university/vacant-positions
DC2 – Myths vs Realities in Legal Reforms
- Host: University of Birmingham (UK)
- Focus: Contrast public reform narratives with precise authorized outcomes underneath authoritarian elites.
- Description: This DC undertaking examines the contradictory nature of authorized reforms in Central Asia. Some reforms intention to entrench authoritarian rule via constitutional engineering, whereas others introduce mechanisms aligned with worldwide requirements—equivalent to administrative courts and accountability constructions. The PhD candidate will analyze these dual-track reforms, assessing how they’re perceived by residents, how they’re enforced by establishments, and evaluating their implications for governance and rule of legislation.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC3 – Corporate Transparency & Corruption
- Host: University of Toronto (Canada)
- Focus: Link company disclosure norms to patterns of grand corruption.
- Description: This DC undertaking explores the relationship between company disclosure, transparency, and grand corruption in Central Asia. It examines how authorized frameworks and institutional practices form company accountability, and the way transparency norms are interpreted or subverted underneath authoritarian governance. The analysis will generate a comparative database and case research, analyzing how corporations and regulators navigate disclosure obligations in environments marked by systemic corruption.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here (please click on on “Doctoral student opportunity”): https://www.crimsl.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/matthew-light
DC4 – Politics of Anti-Corruption
- Host: Turiba University (Latvia)
- Focus: Examine native adoption and manipulation of worldwide anti-corruption requirements.
- Description: This DC undertaking investigates how worldwide anti-corruption frameworks are interpreted and utilized in Central Asia’s authoritarian authorized techniques. The analysis will unpack how world norms—rooted in Western authorized traditions—are tailored, contested, or resisted by home establishments formed by collectivist values and authorized nihilism. The doctoral candidate will have interaction in fieldwork analyzing the implementation and native that means of anti-corruption practices and businesses.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC5 – Corruption in Public Procurement
- Host: Marmara University (Turkey)
- Focus: Identify casual procurement practices in nationwide and donor-funded contracts.
- Description: Focusing on corruption in public procurement processes in Central Asia, this DC undertaking investigates the gaps and tensions between nationwide and worldwide compliance cultures. It will analyze how casual practices intersect with official procurement insurance policies, significantly these tied to worldwide monetary establishments. The candidate will study case examples together with pandemic-related procurement to determine vulnerabilities and coverage reform alternatives.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC6 – Executive By-Laws & Authoritarian Governance in Central Asia
- Host: Lund University (Sweden)
- Focus: Analyze how decrees and by-laws centralize authoritarian energy.
- Description: This DC undertaking explores how by-laws and normative acts—typically past the scope of parliamentary oversight—are utilized in authoritarian regimes to manage public life. The analysis will examine authorized fragmentation, governance mechanisms, and casual hierarchies within Central Asia’s authorized techniques.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC7 – Traditional Courts & State Law
- Host: Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (Germany)
- Focus: Study interactions between aksakal and formal courtroom techniques.
- Description: This DC undertaking examines the interplay between conventional courts (e.g., aksakal) and state authorized techniques in Central Asia, previous or current. The undertaking will assess the political use of jurisdictional pluralism and discover how casual justice mechanisms function in contested or hybrid authorized environments.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC8 – Political Connections & Access to Economic Resources
- Host: University of the West of England (UK)
- Focus: Trace how networks and corruption affect entry to scarce financial sources.
- Description: Investigating how corruption and political networks affect entry to scarce financial sources (e.g. financial institution credit score) in authoritarian economies, this DC undertaking will use fieldwork and survey strategies to research stakeholder experiences, institutional practices, and the equity and effectivity of useful resource allocation in key financial sectors.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here: Doctoral Researcher
DC9 – Administrative Law & Regime Legitimacy
- Host: Malmö University (Sweden)
- Focus: Investigate administrative legislation reforms as devices of authoritarian legitimacy.
- Description: This DC undertaking research administrative legislation reform as a mechanism of authoritarian legitimation. It will look at the position of authorized frameworks, judicial practices, and institutional cultures in shaping public perceptions of authorized accountability and legitimacy in Central Asia.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC10 – Anti-Money Laundering Compliance in Authoritarian States
- Host: Estonian Business School (Estonia)
- Focus: Assess anti‑cash‑laundering frameworks and enforcement pathways.
- Description: This DC undertaking focuses on anti-money laundering (AML) frameworks in Central Asia. It will consider compliance mechanisms, enforcement ranges, and the alignment of AML norms with worldwide expectations in environments marked by political centralization and opacity.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC11 – Security Narratives & Legal Change
- Host: University of Birmingham (UK)
- Focus: Study how securitization drives constitutional/authorized reforms.
- Description: This DC undertaking explores how safety discourses—equivalent to counterterrorism and digital surveillance—drive constitutional and authorized reforms in authoritarian regimes. The analysis will study how legislation is instrumentalized to increase government energy and suppress dissent.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC12 – “Outside the Law” Legal Mobilization in Central Asia
- Host: Lund University (Sweden)
- Focus: Examine how civil society actors use non-state means to assert rights and justice.
- Description: This DC undertaking analyzes how people and communities mobilize for rights and justice via non-state and extra-institutional channels. It will give attention to native activism, digital advocacy, and casual justice initiatives in authoritarian contexts.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here: https://lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:869875/
DC13 – Legal Pluralism & Anti-Corruption
- Host: University of Groningen (Netherlands)
- Focus: Understand dynamics throughout plural authorized techniques in corruption management.
- Description: This DC undertaking investigates how actors navigate competing authorized techniques to fight corruption in Central Asia. The undertaking will assess whether or not authorized pluralism enhances or obstructs anti-corruption effectiveness in hybrid governance settings.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC14 – Legal Nihilism & Distrust
- Host: Charles University Prague (Czechia)
- Focus: Probe causes and penalties of societal distrust in formal legislation.
- Description: This DC undertaking examines why authorized nihilism persists in post-socialist authoritarian societies. It will discover public perceptions of legislation, casual authorized practices, and the way authorized distrust impacts social order and compliance.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/386400
DC15 – Legal Education Reform
- Host: Vilnius University, Institute of International Relations and Political Science (Lithuania)
- Focus: Critique post-socialist authorized schooling and promote vital/sociological approaches.
- Description: This DC undertaking focuses on authorized schooling in Central Asia, investigating its position in selling vital considering and socio-legal inquiry. The candidate will analyse the nature and types of authorized schooling in the context of authoritarian regimes assessing curricula, pedagogy, and institutional resistance to reform.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here: https://www.tspmi.vu.lt/en/projektas/sociology-of-authoritarian-law-insights-from-central-asia-social/
https://is.vu.lt/pls/dokt/isas.login?p_kalba=en
DC16 – Rural Governance in Central Asia
- Host: University of Zurich (Switzerland)
- Focus: Explore native democracy, governance, and rural political cultures.
- Description: This DC undertaking will discover native governance practices and democratization from a bottom-up perspective in Kazakhstan. It will use ethnographic fieldwork to research how villagers have interaction with and resist formal political constructions.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
DC17 – Governance in Mongolia
- Host: University of Zurich (Switzerland)
- Focus: Study put up‑socialist native political transformations in Mongolia.
- Description: This DC undertaking investigates native democratic practices in Mongolia, specializing in evolving governance fashions in rural and peri-urban areas. It will study civic participation, conventional authority, and institutional adaptation.
Application particulars and procedures will be discovered right here:
Who Should Apply?
- Hold a Master’s in legislation, political science, , economics, growth research, sociology, human rights, anthropology, or associated fields
- Hold no PhD at recruitment
- MSCA mobility rule applies: unspent >12 months in host nation throughout earlier 36 months
- Have sturdy analysis and language (English) talents, and motivation to have interaction in interdisciplinary analysis and coverage outreach
What We Offer
- 36‑month full-time EU MSCA employment contract (observe that the period of employment might differ relying on the host establishment)
- Competitive month-to-month residing, mobility, and household allowances
- Joint supervision and inter‑sectoral placements
- Comprehensive coaching: strategies, ethics, Open Science, transferable expertise
- Career steerage and enhanced employability
Application Procedure
Applicants ought to seek the advice of the related recruitment hyperlink for every doctoral place to acquire full directions. Generally, an entire application contains:
- A canopy letter explaining motivation and match with the undertaking;
- A analysis proposal (really helpful 2–3 pages) aligned with the thematic undertaking description;
- Curriculum vitae detailing tutorial and employment historical past;
- Degree certificates and tutorial transcripts;
- Two tutorial referees with full contact info;
- A writing pattern (e.g., a broadcast article, Master’s thesis chapter, working paper).
All paperwork are to be submitted as a single PDF file through the host establishment’s on-line portal by the deadline of 31 January 2026.
Contact Information
For additional info concerning the SOCIAL Doctoral Network and application queries please contact:
Dr Rustamjon Urinboyev
Coordinator, SOCIAL-DN
Department of Sociology of Law, Lund University
E-mail: rustamjon.urinboyev@soclaw.lu.se
About Lund University
Lund University, based in 1666, is considered one of Scandinavia’s oldest and most distinguished analysis establishments. With 46 000 college students and eight 600 workers, the University is predicated throughout Lund, Malmö, Helsingborg and Ljungbyhed, and maintains a status for glorious worldwide analysis.
As coordinating establishment for the SOCIAL community, the Department of Sociology of Law continues its dedication to advancing high-quality socio-legal scholarship and interesting with modern questions of governance, legislation and society.
For extra alternatives, go to:opportunitiesforyouth.org
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Call for Applications: 17 Fully-Funded PhD Positions within the MSCA Doctoral Network
