Postdoctoral Fellow in International Law

Ghent University

Last application date:
Mar 15, 2026 23:59

Department:
RE22 - Department of European, Public and International Law

Degree:
MA, MSc or LLM in law, social sciences, anthropology, or another relevant field, preferably with a focus on human rights and/or transitional justice

Occupancy rate:
100%

Vacancy type:
Research staff

ABOUT GHENT UNIVERSITY

Ghent University

Ghent University is a top 100 university and one of the major universities in Belgium. Our 11 faculties offer a wide range of courses and conduct in-depth research within a wide range of scientific domains. Ghent University occupies a specific position among the Flemish universities. We are a socially committed and pluralistic university that is open to all students, regardless of their ideological, political, cultural, or social background.

In its mission statement, Ghent University identifies itself as a socially committed university. This implies that the institution reflects about the positive impact that its activities can have upon society, and that it attempts to optimize that impact. It also implies the reflection about the potential negative impact of activities upon society, and the attempt of minimizing such impact.

Over the course of its 200-year history, Ghent University has built up a strong scientific reputation. Ghent University invests both in fundamental, high-risk science as well as in applied research. The university is known for its scientific expertise in life sciences and medicine, materials and agricultural science, veterinary medicine, psychology, history, and many more.

Faculty of Law and Criminology

The Faculty provides academic teaching and services based on innovative scientific research. The education within these programmes is supported by the innovative scientific research performed within the 3 faculty departments encompassing all possible disciplines within the fields of law and criminological sciences.

Human Rights Centre

The Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law and Criminology at Ghent University is an academic centre specialized in human rights law. Its members include senior experts as well as many young researchers, covering a broad research and teaching expertise, including international, regional, national, and comparative law of human rights. Human Rights Centre members work on a range of thematic issues, including legal pluralism, freedom of expression, gender, indigenous peoples’ rights, and the European Court of Human Rights. Members also actively engage with human rights practice by supervising clinical projects and submitting third-party interventions to the European Court of Human Rights.

Diversity

We ensure equal opportunities, equal treatment, and equal access to the vacancies for all who apply. We ensure an objective and non-biased assessment procedure. Origin, ethnicity, gender, age, employment disability, sexual orientation, and other identity factors will not be a factor in assessing competences. Candidates who self-identify as belonging to vulnerable or minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Additional information:

  • For more information about the project, please click here.

  • For more information about the position, please contact: justicevisions@ugent.be

YOUR TASKS

We are seeking to hire one fully funded PhD researcher as part of the ERC project: “Innovation and documentation. Reconstructing the paradigm of transitional justice from the ground up”.

The PhD project focuses on initiatives documenting violations of IHRL and IHL in the Palestinian context.

The ideal candidate has an interdisciplinary profile, covering at least social & legal studies related to human rights and transitional justice. They are open to using, or have experience with, various relevant empirical research methods (quantitative or qualitative) and have sound working knowledge of the context and the various topics studied as part of this research project.

The researcher will be based at the Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of Ghent University. On-site presence is crucial given the highly collaborative nature of the project. Longer periods of empirical data collection in the Philippines are equally crucial.

The selected candidate will be offered a position of limited duration as PhD researcher (12 months initially, with 36 months extension upon passing the first-year PhD requirements).

We encourage candidates who self-identify as belonging to a minority group to apply, and our recruitment process is aimed at ensuring inclusion and diversity.

Description of the broader research project

The candidate will be part of a broader research project on the role of documentation in contemporary transitional justice processes – including ones developed in contexts where no peace agreement was signed or no political transition took place (like contexts of ongoing conflict).

The context is one of settler colonialism, prolonged occupation, and genocide. In the Palestinian context, the absence of a political transition and the inadequacy of state-centered models of transitional justice has left the academic field of TJ to struggle with the Palestinian question.

However, truth-telling and documentation initiatives have emerged as crucial practices to record international crimes, trace patterns of historical and ongoing violence, and expose international complicity. Palestinian grassroots initiatives and justice actors have traditionally played a central role in resisting the erasure of crimes and knowledge and preserving collective memory.

In the context of genocide, documentation efforts acquire particular urgency. Documentation provides evidence for accountability while simultaneously advancing resistance against erasure and denialism. Palestinian documentation practices can be situated within transnational justice networks connecting local efforts to international actors. These networks adopt an ecosystemic approach, combining open-source intelligence, survivor testimony, oral history, and fictional narratives.

The overall research project is a multi-disciplinary and multi-method study that seeks to theorize the role documentation processes play in the design of transitional justice initiatives. Documentation is crucial to almost every (institutional or grassroots) transitional justice initiative, but it is rarely the focus of transitional justice scholarship.

The ambition is to move away from a pillar-based understanding of transitional justice and to consciously start from the practices of those most affected by various forms of violence to rethink transitional justice as an ecosystem in which documentation connects most initiatives.

Overarching research question:
How can recentering the everyday justice efforts of grassroots justice actors help us rethink the transitional justice paradigm in ways that are more reflective of and responsive to realities on the ground, more future-oriented, and that navigate some of the most pressing problems identified by critical transitional justice scholars and practitioners?

A mixed-method actor-oriented approach will be used, requiring close collaboration between the new PhD researcher, other PhD researchers, and the three senior researchers already working on the project.

Description of your specific research

There is substantial room for PhD researchers to bring in their own topical and methodological expertise, provided their work centers on grassroots documentation efforts that can be meaningfully connected to the notion of transitional justice.

The PhD researcher will take the lead on their selected case while working closely with one of the three senior researchers to ensure alignment with the overall agenda. The framework is defined, but fine-tuning research design, questions, methods, and deliverables is done collectively.

The selected candidate will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Tine Destrooper and/or Dr. Brigitte Herremans, and collaborate with the Justice Visions team, the Human Rights Centre, and the Human Rights Research Network at UGent.

Within the first year, the candidate will:

  • Fine-tune the final research design of their case study

  • Develop ethics and data management plans

  • Read suggested and additional relevant literature

  • Join team meetings

  • Write initial drafts of methodology, theory, and conceptual chapters

  • Participate in doctoral school training, courses, and summer schools

  • Participate in activities of Justice Visions, the HRC, and Faculty

In following years, the candidate will:

  • Carry out empirical data collection and analysis

  • Write a PhD (article-based)

  • Present at conferences and scientific meetings

  • Assist with teaching and outreach (limited)

Note: This is not an individual PhD project; it requires a collaborative approach.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Eligibility:

  • Hold a MA, MSc, or LLM degree in social and political sciences, law, anthropology, or related discipline

  • Degree obtained at the time of application or will have it by Sept 1, 2026

  • Fluent in English and in the language spoken by actors in the case study

Applicants will rank higher if they:

  • Have familiarity with transitional justice practice and/or research

  • Have in-depth knowledge of the Palestinian context and pre-existing networks

  • Have multidisciplinary training and/or track record in multidisciplinary research

  • Have experience with legal, quantitative, or qualitative socio-legal research methods

  • Have expertise in actor-oriented perspectives on human rights and transitional justice

Additional expectations:

  • Work independently and proactively within a multidisciplinary, international team

  • Experience in complex research projects requiring collaboration

  • Good academic writing/presentation skills

  • Contribute to the general functioning of the team/project

  • Social media experience or interest

  • Meticulous and able to manage deadlines

  • Relocate to Belgium

WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU

  • Full-time doctoral fellow position, initial period 12 months, extendable to 48 months

  • Contract start: 09/01/2026 at the earliest

  • Fellowship: 100% of net salary of an AAP member, tax-free if conditions met

  • Staff benefits: training and education opportunities, 36 days holiday, bicycle allowance, eco vouchers

INTERESTED?

Submit all documents as one PDF via email: justicevisions@ugent.be before Mar 15, 2026 (23:59 CET)

Required documents:

  1. Cover letter (max 500 words)

  2. Detailed CV (publications, presentations, relevant experience)

  3. Research statement (max 1,000 words) covering:

    • Documentation initiatives for your PhD

    • Relevance to innovative documentation and transitional justice

    • Relationship to Palestinian context

    • Methodological skills and experience

    • Optional alternative cases

  4. Transcript of required degree (with translation if necessary)

  5. One academic letter of recommendation

  6. Writing sample (max 10,000 words, e.g., MA thesis, academic paper)

File naming: LASTNAME_FirstName_Palestine.pdf

Late applications, multiple PDFs, or submissions to other addresses will not be accepted

Foreseen start date: Sept 1, 2026
Contact: justicevisions@ugent.be

Evaluation procedure

  • Longlist based on submitted dossier → home-based written assignment

  • Longlisted candidates informed by Apr 3, assignment between Apr 3–19, 2026

  • Shortlist → interview in Ghent or via video conference, likely May 4–5, 2026

  • Evaluation by principal investigator and two senior researchers

  • Offer expected in second half of May 2026 for start on Sept 1, 2026 (negotiable)

Apply