The EUI has an open vacancy for a
Research Fellow in the
Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

Florence, 19 November 2024
Reference: V/RF/RSC/97/2024

Who we are


The European University Institute (EUI) at a glance:

• an international organisation set up in 1972;

• a research university focusing exclusively on postgraduate, doctoral and post-doctoral studies, and

advanced research;

• located in the hills overlooking the city of Florence, Italy.
  

The Institute also hosts the Historical Archives of the European Union.

The Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) is an inter-disciplinary research centre at the
heart of the European University Institute (EUI). It was established in 1992 to complement the four EUI
disciplinary departments (Economics, History and Civilization, Law, Political and Social Sciences) with the aim
to be involved in both basic and policy research, collaborate with other centres of excellence in Europe, provide
opportunities for young scholars and promote dialogue with the world of practice. The Centre’s goal is to maintain
an environment and support structure that fosters intellectual curiosity and excellent research.
.

Employment details
Contract type Full-time (30/30, 40 hours/week)
Length of contract 34 months. Start date: September 2025 (or earlier if possible)
This contract may be further renewed (several times and conditional to the
availability of funds), leading to an extension of the period of service up to a total of
5 years, including the first contract period.


Salary indication and Grade: CDR3 step 1
grade
The basic net monthly salary after taxes is approximately 3,750 Euro, plus

allowances if applicable.
More information about conditions of employment is available here.
Place of work Florence, Italy

About the project
Project Director Prof Daniele Caramani
GLOBAL is a macro project that investigates the dimensionality of global politics. It Project details
analyses the cleavages that structure world politics and asks whether conflicts are
shaped territorially or along functional dimensions cutting across world regions.
Global cleavages are addressed in a long-term empirical analysis from the 19th
century to the present. The goal is to establish if, and under what conditions,
international divisions opposing world regions – core periphery, North South, or
civilizational contrasts –increasingly blur giving way to conflict lines that oppose
groups functionally. This is done at the level of citizens, actors and institutions.
GLOBAL combines a comparative approach (between the largest world polities)
and supranational one (global actors, attitudes, discourse and institutions). The
project categorizes cleavages according to three types of inequality: economic,
political-military and socio-cultural. It focuses on how actors compete to politicize
different inequalities.
A multi-pronged research strategy based on statistical, scaling and network
methods is used to analyse electoral, socio-economic, roll-call, text, survey and
organizational data. The project is organized in 4 work packages based on methods
and data: (1) voting, organizational and network analysis (2) discourse and text
analysis (3) scaling techniques with roll-call data (4) survey analysis. Each post-
doctoral research fellow takes responsibility for a work package.
GLOBAL will lead to an authored book by the PI that follows work on the
nationalization and Europeanization of politics, as well as a special issue, an edited
volume, and 11 journal articles by the research team.
The position is 1 of 4 post-doctoral positions in the ERC Advanced Grant project Job description
“Global Cleavages: The Shape of Political Conflict across World Regions in
Historical Perspective” (GLOBAL, 2023–28, 2.5 million Euro) led by PI Daniele
Caramani and hosted by the Robert Schuman Centre (EUI).
The position is focused on dimensionality analysis with roll-call votes.
The Research Fellow will carry out research work in an independent manner and
collaborate on the research work of the project. Main tasks include:

• Leading the work package devoted to voting, organizational and network

analysis;

• Carrying out high-quality research toward the goals of the project, in an

independent and collaborative manner;

• Engaging in data collection, management and analysis, working

theoretically and producing literature reviews, producing graphs and
tables;

• Authoring and co-authoring papers and publications in the frame of the

project and with project members;

• Presenting research results and output at international conferences

worldwide;

• Working in a team together with PI Daniele Caramani, 3 other post-

doctoral fellow, and various research assistants, as well as members of an
international research network on the topics of the project;

• Collaborating in disseminating research results through the project’s

webpage and social media. Qualifications and experience
Essential:
Qualifications and
Experience • Ph D in political science (Ph D candidates about to defend their thesis are
eligible conditional on the successful thesis defence by the contract start
date);

• Proven strong methodological and quantitative background; excellent

command of Stata and/or R, Excel, expertise in data collection and analysis;

• Demonstrated experience with network analysis and comparative methods;

• Demonstrated knowledge of parties, party organizations, elections, with a

worldwide focus;

• Ability to collaborate within a team and to work independently taking

individual initiative, gathered through previous experience.
Desirable:

• Experience with analysis of international organizations, parliamentary roll

call votes, transnational party organizations and/or global actors;

• Ability to collaborate in disseminating research results through the

project’s webpage and social media.
To be also assessed during the interview

• Commitment to work with the ERC team and toward the goals of the ERC

project in co-authored publications;

• Willingness to engage to learn new methods;

• Readiness to travel to conferences to present research output;
• Commitment to a multi-year postdoctoral position.

Languages Excellent command of academic English, both written and spoken. Knowledge of
other major world languages (Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.)
constitutes an advantage.
How to apply
Deadline The closing date for applications is 06 January 2025 at midnight (Florence time)
Contact details For administrative queries please contact Joanna WIELGO
(joanna.wielgo@eui.eu). For queries reated to research aspects of this postion
please contact Daniele CARAMANI (daniele.caramani@eui.eu).
How to apply Fill in the online application form and upload documents as requested.

Please submit in one single pdf document:

• An application letter describing motivation and qualifications related to

the position and the project;

• CV with publication list and contact details of 3 referees;
• 2 writing samples (published or unpublished) of which at least one sole-

authored


Interviews are planned in April 2024. After the official deadline, applications will be
considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Data Protection
The purpose of processing the data submitted by candidates is to manage their application in view of a possible
pre-selection and recruitment by the EUI. The information candidates provide in their application form is collected
for the purpose of the selection procedure. The EUI will ensure that candidates’ personal data are processed as
required by its Data Protection Policy (President’s Decision No. 10/2019 of 18 February 2019 regarding Data
Protection at the EUI).


Equal opportunities
The European University Institute applies a policy of equal opportunities, which, in accordance with Article 1d of
its Staff Regulations, prohibits discrimination on any grounds such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin,
genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority,
property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation. Any reference in this notice to a person of the male sex must
be deemed also to constitute a reference to a person of the female sex.