Looking for full-time Ph.D. student for our ERC-funded project!

Join our research team at the Peace Research Center Prague and contribute to a prestigious European Research Council (ERC)-funded project. The "Microfoundations of Collective Defence" (MICROCODE) project explores how public opinion shapes decision-making in military alliances and collective defence, with a focus on NATO countries. We are offering an exciting Ph.D. opportunity with competitive pay, flexible working conditions, and the chance to make meaningful contributions to groundbreaking research in a friendly and supportive team of excellent scholars .

job description

Type of position: Full-time Ph.D. student/Junior Researcher (m/f/d) (1,0) 

Start date: September 1, 2025

Duration: 42 months full-time employment with salary + 6 months stipend for finalizing the dissertation thesis

Institution: Peace Research Center Prague / Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic)

Salary: 2,500 EUR / month (plus social and health insurance)

Location: Prague, Czech Republic

Application requirements: 1) CV; 2) writing sample; 3) 1-page motivation letter

Deadline for applications: January 6, 2025

The Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague has an opening for a Full-time Ph.D. student/Junior Researcher position (m/f/d) (1,0) for 42 months + 6 moths stipend starting from 1 September 2025.

Your duties and responsibilities

If we select you for the position, you will join the Peace Research Center Prague (PRCP) at the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University as a first-year Ph.D. student with a dissertation project closely aligned with the focus of the MICROCODE project. You will be working as a member of the MICROCODE project for three and half years (42 months) while simultaneously working on your dissertation thesis (either a monograph or a collection of academic articles). The aim is to complete the Ph.D. study in the International Area Studies program over four years, with the last six months being fully dedicated to finalizing your dissertation thesis. 

As a member of the MICROCODE research team, your main task will be to assist with collecting and analyzing empirical data for the project. Furthermore, you will be tasked with creating and regularly updating the MICROCODE online database. You will also have a chance to actively participate in the process of designing and fielding mixed-media experiments and in the organization of project workshops, conferences, and other dissemination activities.

You will be given sufficient time, guidance, and resources to develop your own independent research based on your Ph.D. dissertation project. We expect that the project will be closely aligned with the aims of the overall MICROCODE project, with a more narrow investigation of the role public opinion and elite preferences play in military alliances and collective defence commitments. We welcome both qualitative (elite interviews, focus groups, comparative case studies, archival work…) and quantitative (surveys and survey experiments,  statistical analyses of time series/cross-sectional data, NLP/machine learning…) approaches in your dissertation research. Note that you will also be required to fulfill the usual study obligations of full-time doctoral students at our institution. 

Team and collaboration

At the Peace Research Center Prague (PRCP), you will be an integral part of the Experimental Lab for International Security Studies (ELISS), a research team led by Michal Smetana, the Principal Investigator of the MICROCODE project, who will also serve as your Ph.D. dissertation thesis supervisor. Other team members include Marek Vranka, Ondrej Rosendorf, Lauren Sukin, Giang Mi (Michaela) Nguyenová, and Zakir Rzazade, who will be collaborating closely with you during this project. You will also become a member of the broader PRCP family, a young, dynamic collective that organizes regular research seminars, workshops, public conferences, and social gatherings. 

We offer you

  • a full-time employment contract for a period of 42 months;

  • € 2,500 salary per month plus social and health insurance;

  • financial bonuses for peer-reviewed publications;

  • additional six-month stipend to complete the dissertation thesis;

  • flexible working hours;

  • five weeks paid vacation;

  • access to various job benefits;

  • travel funds for academic conferences abroad;

  • intensive Ph.D. supervision and guidance;

  • work in a group of excellent researchers with a friendly and supportive attitude.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for an outstanding, ambitious Ph.D. candidate with a deep passion for academic research and the study of international security. The candidate should have:

  • a completed Master’s degree in political science, international relations, area studies, political psychology, sociology, or a similar field before September 1, 2025;

  • excellent critical thinking and analytical skills;

  • experience with independent scholarly research and the ability to effectively employ at least some quantitative or qualitative method(s);

  • fluency in English, both written and spoken;

  • willingness to learn new things on the go.

How to apply

Please send your CV, one writing sample (e.g., a BA/MA thesis or a published or unpublished research paper), and a 1-page motivation letter to erc.microcode@fsv.cuni.cz by January 6, 2025. Selected candidates will be contacted in January 2025 with an invitation to the second round of the selection procedure consisting of an online interview with the selection committee. 

By responding to this announcement, you consent to the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, with its registered office at Smetanovo nábřeží 6, Prague 1, Postal Code 110 01, processing your personal data for the purpose of job placement. The processing of personal data is governed by Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46 / EC (General Data Protection Regulation) and Act No. 110 / 2019 Sb. on the processing of personal data.

Find out more information here: https://www.prcprague.cz/microcode-erc