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The Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) invites applications for two postdoctoral research fellowships (3-year contract, full-time). The positions will be based in Barcelona. Successful applicants will form part of the research project “ETHNICGOODS: States, Nationalism, and the Relationship Between Ethnic Diversity and Public Goods Provision”, funded by the ERC (European Research Council) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 864333) and led by Dr. Matthias vom Hau. The project revisits and challenges the notion that ethnic diversity is a problem for the effective provision of public goods. Spearheading an emerging research agenda on the historical construction of diversity, ETHNICGOODS instead explores the role of long-run patterns of nation-building and state development in shaping contemporary levels of ethnic diversity and public goods provision.

Qualifications and Skills: Successful candidates are expected to have:

• A PhD in political science, sociology, development studies or geography;
• Research experience in the areas of ethnic politics, nationalism, state capacity and/or public goods provision;
• A regional specialization on either Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, or the Middle East;
• Field research experience in collecting and working with primary historical documents and/or data;
• Excellent spoken and written English.

Proven expertise and experience using advanced quantitative methods is strongly desired.

Key responsibilities: The postdoctoral researchers will contribute to the construction of two new global datasets, one on historical nation-building strategies and the other on state development, and conduct quantitative analyses for ETHNICGOODS. Postdoctoral researchers will also conduct qualitative, fieldwork-based case study research on selected countries/subnational units in their region of specialization, and supervise MA and PhD students working for the project.

Applications must be submitted by 25 January 2021.

Please send the following two documents to Laia Bertran (lbertran@ibei.org):

• Document 1: a cover letter + CV + a proposal that sketches your own research plans as a postdoc (1500 words, excluding references) + names and contact information of 3 referees, all in one pdf.
• Document 2: a writing sample (either a journal article with you as the lead author or a dissertation chapter) as another pdf.