Vacancies | 3 PhD Fellowships (EUFOG Project)
The Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) is seeking applications for three doctoral candidates positions under the MSCA-DN Contested EU Foreign Policy in an Era of Geopolitics (EUFOG). The selected candidates will be employed by IBEI and will be required to enroll in the PhD training programme at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Funded by the Horizon Europe MSCA programme, EUFOG offers an integrated three-year doctoral programme, providing world-class, interdisciplinary research and specialised training in social and political sciences, political economy, and communication, including research visits and secondments at associated partners, to bridge the gap between academic research and everyday policy practice.
The EUFOG doctoral network will train a generation of scholars to enable them to address the politics (the political conflicts and debates), policies (decisions and measures) and partners (relationships and perceptions) associated with the ways in which EU foreign policy responds to these new international realities in a broad range of issue areas, from security to trade to human rights.
EUFOG will forge an interdisciplinary, multi-sectoral network bringing together 17 industry-academia partners, including ten leading higher education institutions and seven key partners from a range of European and non-European countries. This network will provide an outstanding combination of academic and research-related competences and transferable skills that will deliver scientific excellence, occupational mobility, and training for lifelong learning.
Network members: Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), Egmont, Leiden University, Jagiellonian University Krakow, University of Oslo, Vienna School of International Studies, University of Bristol.
Associated partners: University of Canterbury, Adelphy University, Fundaçao Getulio Vargas, CIDOB, Clingendael Institute, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS), Fundação Getulio Vargas, Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy- Brussels School of Governance, Visegrad Insight-Res Publica.
Available positions at IBEI
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Fellow: R02 Host institution: IBEI – UAB (PPIR PhD Programme) Duration: 36 months Start date: September 2025 Project title: Driving contestation on climate and gender. Populism, the Commission, and the erosion of the liberal international order Supervisor: Oriol Costa (IBEI-UAB) Objectives: The European Commission has a relevant role in gender and climate policies, both externally and internally, and it has regularly aligned itself with emerging international norms on these issues. This PhD project looks at the Commission’s changing role as it faces pushback from right-wing populist parties in the European Parliament and right-wing populist governments in the European Council. It also analyses the strategies of right wing populist parties in contesting EU external relations as regards climate change and gender, two issues previously perceived as relatively consensual, and the ways in which their discourses deal with the Commission as part and parcel of the liberal international order. |
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Fellow: R06 Host institution: IBEI – UAB (PPIR PhD Programme) Duration: 36 months Start date: September 2025 Project title: Gender in EU external relations in an age of closure, community and competition Supervisor: Esther Barbé (IBEI-UAB) Objectives: An illiberal turn has taken place at the international, EU and state-level debates on gender rights. EU institutions are now confronted with a less consensual set of preferences and perspectives on this issue, which threatens policy-making and the established consensus. This project analyses the effect of this state of affairs on the international role of the EU on gender rights, including Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), torn between embracing new positions and muddling through in sustaining previous ones. It also traces the effects of international contestation of gender rights on the international role of the EU on this issue by identifying alliances with external actors and cross-border processes such as norm diffusion and norm ‘antipreneurship’. |
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Fellow: R07 Host institution: IBEI – UAB (PPIR PhD Programme) Duration: 36 months Start date: September 2025 Project title: Global climate politics beyond contractual multilateralism. Reconsidering EU as a green power Supervisor: Oriol Costa (IBEI-UAB) Objectives: Climate multilateralism changed in 2015 with the adoption of the Paris Agreement. This left contractual multilateralism behind and inaugurated a process-centered phase of climate diplomacy not dependent on consensus-based decision-making. This has challenged the EU’s self-understanding of its role in climate negotiations. This project explores the ways and the extent to which the EU is adapting to a multilateral architecture in which climate global governance does not require cooperation. It also assesses the implications of such adaptation for EU influence and for external perceptions of the EU’s role on international climate politics. |
Benefits
The MSCA Doctoral Network programme offers highly competitive and attractive working and salary conditions, including full social security benefits. Each doctoral candidate will receive a living allowance, a mobility allowance, as well as family allowance, long-term leave and special needs allowances (only if applicable). As an MSCA doctoral candidate, you will:
- be enrolled in a doctoral programme;
- work full-time on the project;
- be recruited under an employment contract or equivalent direct contract which would confer similar benefits and social security coverage for a maximum period of 36 months;
Requirements
We seek excellent and motivated researchers who fulfill all the following criteria:
- Applicants must not already be in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment;
- Applicants must comply with the physical mobility rule;
- Applicants must meet all the academic criteria for admission to the doctoral programme of the university awarding the PhD degree.
🖊️ Applications must be submitted by March 1st 2025, (17.00h, CET). Please read the Guide for Applicants carefully for more information on general and specific admission requirements, timelines and other relevant aspects of the selection proceedure.
Applications must be submitted through the Application Form and it should include (please see the Guide for Applicants for more information on the required documents):
- Completed EUFOG Application Word Doc
- Cover letter (2 pages maximum)
- Curriculum Vitae / Resume
- Scanned copy of a valid ID (national ID or passport)
- Scanned copies of your official academic transcripts
- Scanned copy of the certificate proving your English proficiency
- A sample of academic writing
- Any other specific documents required by the UAB PPIR PhD programme
- A research proposal on the project you have selected of a minimum of 5 pages
For any further information please visit https://www.eufog.network/ or contact eufog@ibei.org
Grant number: 101169280