Are you looking for a challenging position in a dynamic setting? The Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES) currently has a vacant PhD position as part of the critical infrastructure lab, led by main researcher Niels ten Oever, PhD. ARTES is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR).

What are you going to do?

You will write a PhD thesis under the supervision of Dr. Niels ten Oever. You will use advanced qualitative and quantitative research methods to interrogate the geopolitics that play out in the reordering of material communication infrastructures of China, Russia, and the European Union.

Transnational communication networks have existed since 1865, but at the beginning of inter-state conflicts submarine cables would be cut. Currently, internet cables circle the globe and China, Russia, and the European Union are interconnected through the internet. Neither the war in Ukraine nor tensions between the US and China have changed that. This research will examine how the EU, China, and Russia seek to inscribe their norms and values by shaping informational flows and controls in their respective communication networks while maintaining interconnectivity with other networks. The research analyses the target countries’ policy-industry-research-implementation pipeline, to understand how their information networks take shape.

The PhD researcher will engage in the qualitative and quantitative analysis of policy documents, technical documents, mailing lists, and network measurements and validate their findings through elite interviews.

Please find the full description of the vacancy here

We will accept applications until May 10th, 2024.