Grounded in ethnographic research in Finland and Germany, this doctoral project examines conviviality in post-industrial cities where migrants and non-migrants live together. Precisely, it investigates temporal dislocations caused by, e.g., restrictive migration policies, economic restructuring, and neoliberal policies, looking at how temporal insecurity and inequality influence people's ability to form material, social, and digital connectivities. In doing so, it looks into the links between temporal insecurities and people's ability to build and maintain long-term connections. The research project will make use of an intersectional approach to flesh out how affordances of connectivity are influenced by various categories, such as migration status, racialized position, gender, class, age, and ability. Methodologically, the project relies on ethnography, making it necessary to possess knowledge of qualitative methods, initial experiences in conducting field research, and adequate language skills to interact with (some of the) local communities.  Two secondments are planned, (1) at the co-supervisor's institution, University of Bochum, for training in sociological and transnational approaches to work on cities and borders; (2) at the City of Oulu’s migration arm, focusing on practical integration and anti-racist work.

Further information: In addition to language proficiency in English, fluency in German and/or Finnish and/or in one of the local migrant communities to be studied is a plus, not a requirement. Familiarity with qualitative methods and initial experiences in conducting field research are a strong asset.

This doctoral project examines how remote work reshapes mobility, inequality, and control in post-industrial urban contexts. Focusing on the perspectives of employers, employees, and policymakers, it investigates the transnational configurations of remote work. The research explores how connectivity to workplaces is maintained through digital and non-digital infrastructures, and how both migrant and non-migrant remote workers engage with city spaces as sites of work and belonging. It further examines how these practices intersect with questions of mobility, citizenship, gender, race, and other axes of inequality. Special attention may be given to the monitoring and governance of remote work. The project aims to generate new insights into emerging inequalities in remote work, global divisions of labor, and strategies to promote inclusion in digitalized workplaces.  Methodologically, the project welcomes (but not mandates) mixed-methods research design (quantitative and qualitative) combining survey methods, participatory approaches, interviews with skilled and non-skilled migrants, employees, managers, employers, and (local) government officials. These insights will be triangulated with (participant) observation in remote work settings in urban spaces and the analysis of policy documents, as authorities, at the national and local level, are (re)considering different forms of digital nomad visas to attract global workforce.  The field sites are cities in Türkiye and Spain with possibility for flexibility in case selection. The anticipated secondments are University of Deusto and GERNIKA in Bilbao (optional for those interested in digital transformation and spatial justice.)

Further information: Fluency in Turkish and / or Spanish is a plus, not a requirement.  Applicants proposing to study particular migrant communities are expected to evidence the additional language competence needed to conduct interviews and engage in community settings. The successful candidate is required to meet the minimum admission criteria and to commit to complete degree requirements in one of the following PhD programs at Koç University.  https://gsssh.ku.edu.tr/en/departments/sociology/phd/ https://gsssh.ku.edu.tr/en/departments/political-science-and-international-relations/phd/. At the end of the MSCA scholarship, the selected candidate may receive an additional year of funding from Koç University to complete their PhD studies (at the university's standard bursary rate). Mobility allowances and other benefits are not available during this additional period.

 This thesis examines how residents of post-industrial cities create and engage with various forms of sociality through online and offline interactions, and how cities facilitate this.  It looks at the everyday practices of migrants and non-migrants living in post-industrial cities, with a focus on the creation of community and the forging of solidarity and conviviality across time and space. Particular attention is given to how people’s interactions with ICTs can produce new modes of achieving this. Research will analyze the various forms of connectivity between local and global spaces that have emerged throughout the city’s history. Such forms may align with or diverge from the cultural practices of different communities, enabling residents to envision alternative futures. Research may pay attention to defining aspects of urban experience and imagination, such as local ecologies, community superdiversity, historical memory and the urban-rural divide. It will also examine how cities, through the revitalization processes of local institutions, associations, and other organizations, do or do not create spaces for intercultural encounters and online and offline interpersonal connection, potentially leading to new polarizations and inequalities. The thesis critically considers everyday practices, policies and discourses of conviviality, sociality, coexistence, and cosmopolitanism in post-industrial cities. This thesis is grounded in multi-sited ethnographic research conducted in Oulu, Finland and Liège, Belgium. The qualitative methods developed in this thesis will involve researching the cities’ renovation processes and planning, focusing on projects that develop intercultural encounters via online and offline tools. An important aspect of the thesis is engaged participatory research via a City Lab in Liège, organised to involve local community stakeholders in the production of knowledge regarding inclusive online and offline urban spaces. Two three-month secondments are anticipated within the framework of this thesis:  (1) to the University of Liège (Belgium) to work with the co-supervisor and organize the City Lab event; and (2) with the City of Oulu’s migration arm to learn about city planning initiatives that employ ICTs to support social cohesion and safe city spaces.

Further information: Knowledge of French is an asset for activities planned in Liège.

Research on migrant labour has paid little attention to the contemporary transformations of urban labour markets and the temporal rhythms they impose on the conditions of work, together with the increasingly restrictive migration regimes. Thus, as part of the MiTIME theme “Labour” the PhD project “Navigating Frictions: How Migrants Respond to Time Regimes of Urban Labour Markets” analyses how precarious work is related to temporal precarity, together with the resilience practices and contestation migrants develop in response. It specifically focuses on migrants’ workplace and everyday practices of resilience and contestation that respond to the temporal restrictions imposed on them and on their (voluntary and forced) spatial mobilities required by work and employment strategies. The research design uses biographical-narrative interviews as well as visual methods, preferably in co-creation with migrant research participants (e.g. photovoices or mental maps). Geographically the research investigates one or serval different urban labour markets or branches in one or more post-industrial cities, preferably in cities that are part of the MiTIME consortium. The research may also concentrate on one specific migrant group (according to legal status and/or country of origin). In addition, secondments to the second supervisor’s institution Koç University (Istanbul) and to the regional labour administration are anticipated. The place of work is Ruhr University Bochum.

In addition to language proficiency in English, fluency in languages relevant to the research sites and h and/or in one of the local migrant communities to be studied is a plus, not a requirement. Familiarity with qualitative methods and initial experiences in conducting field research are a strong asset. Selected candidates must present their MA certificate by 15 April 2026 at latest. The position is salaried according to the collective agreement of the Länder (TV-L). If the personal and collective agreement requirements are met, the employee will receive pay grade TVL E-13 TV-L. Further information can be found at https://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/ (in German).

Research on migrant labour has paid little attention to the contemporary transformations of urban labour markets and the temporal rhythms they impose on the conditions of work, together with the increasingly restrictive migration regimes. Thus, as part of the MiTIME theme “Labour” this PhD project DC 5 “Labour Market Agents and the Temporal Order of Migrant Labour in Post-Industrial Cities” is concerned with local labour immigration governance (rather than labour market integration policies) and investigates institutional agents’ policies and practices in this realm. It analyses the ways in which institutional agents such as city administration, municipal business development, as well as employers, and intermediaries together shape local labour markets and establish a local temporal order of migrant labour in post-industrial cities. This research should cover a mix of high and low-skill labour market segments, various economic sectors and/or different categories of migrant/foreign workers (by legal status, ethnicity, gender, etc.). Its methodology relies on comparative urbanism, potentially studying Bochum and Rotterdam, and will use expert interviews, document analysis, as well as engaged workshops with local stakeholders. In addition, secondments to the second supervisor’s institution, the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and to the regional labour administration are planned. The place of work is Ruhr University Bochum.

Further information: The candidate is expected to have proficiency in the languages relevant to the research project.  Selected candidates must present their MA certificate by 15 April 2026 at latest. The position is salaried according to the collective agreement of the Länder (TV-L). If the personal and collective agreement requirements are met, the employee will receive pay grade TVL E-13 TV-L. Further information can be found at https://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/ (in German).

This doctoral project examines how the imagination of post-industrial urban futures in Europe are shaped by narratives of contemporary and historical industrial migration. The project analyses the cases of post-industrial cities in Finland and Germany to consider the role of past and present labour migration in urban (re-)development and branding. Alongside the diverse trajectories of labour migration, it considers ongoing socio-economic transformations that influence future planning and image-making, including local ecologies and the so-called urban-rural divide. Research will think through possible tools for translating migrant histories into urban and peri-urban development processes. Methodologically, this thesis is grounded in multi-modal ethnographic research conducted across Finland and Germany. It also employs critical discourse analysis of city branding and policy materials. Two three-month secondments are planned as part of the position: (1) to Ruhr University Bochum to work with the co-supervisor on policy analysis and on visual walking methods for documenting eligibilities of migration and labour; (2) with the City of Oulu migration department for learning about urban policies and city branding initiatives related to labour migration and recruitment of international labour.

Further information: German language skills are desirable but not required.

This project aims to focus on the concept of placemaking, paying particular attention to the challenges that may arise in cases of radically conflicting temporalities of settlement for different groups of migrants, where restrictive regimes of migration (such as asylum systems, visa regulations, time limit permits) restrict the possibilities of inclusive placemaking for many. The project’s objective is to understand how and under such conditions, making a home is possible (or not). The project compares the ways in which different categories of migrants find housing in urban areas, settle, and move out and into different places they call ‘home’. It will explore similarities and differences in homemaking in domestic spaces and contextualize such settlements in cities where they live with a focus on the temporal dimensions of these practices. The candidate will study and contribute towards understanding the strategies and dynamics of everyday placemaking exploring homemaking practices and narratives by different groups of migrants in Cork and Rotterdam using multi-stage participatory, mobile, complexity theory, and creative ethnography in public spaces (neighborhood and city spaces) including physical housing conditions, different demographic information, and different migrant groups. Two secondments are planned: one with Cork Migrant Centre Organization (Cork, Ireland) and one at Erasmus University Rotterdam (Rotterdam, The Netherlands). It is expected that the student undertakes training in quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Further information: Candidates with a background in Sociology of Migration, Human Geography, Policy Studies are encouraged. In addition to the requirements outlined in the general MITIME call, applicants must have an honors primary degree (NFQ level 8) with a minimum of a 2H1 (second class honors, grade 1) to apply. Check here for international qualifications comparisons: https://www.ucc.ie/en/study/comparison/ And check here for English language requirements for pursuing a PhD degree in UCC: https://www.ucc.ie/en/study/comparison/english/postgraduate/

This project explores the “relational, non-linear, and fluid nature of social processes” characterized by re-thinking the interstices between temporal, spatial, and experiential dimensions of borderscapes and their potential to create new innovative practices including shared imagined spaces and novel political vocabularies in response to migrant lives and placemaking. The project aims to move beyond mechanistic framings of migration and draw attention to the unfolding dynamics of spatial connectivity, convoluted journeys, migrant resistance and life trajectories, and the temporal, spatial, social, and institutional conditions that underpin them. Through active exploration, the project will investigate how migrant struggles and resistance have the potential to shape new knowledge through a better understanding of migrant mobility across time and space, and a recasting of borders in terms of liminality and porosity. This perspective unsettles defined political and institutional boundaries as fixed and unchanging and opens dialogue on spaces of reciprocity, mutual exchange, co-operation, and new urban transformations. The candidate will study the experiences of forced and irregular migration, and contribute towards: 1) Novel understandings of migrant im/mobility across time and space; 2) New insights into transnational processes as sites of convergence and divergence in shaping place, belonging, and the lived experience of migrants; 3) Enhance the theoretical landscape on the re-casting of borders as sites of liminality, porosity, and transformation. Two secondments are anticipated: 1) UOULU involving fieldwork and training on understanding the nexus of temporality, borderscapes, and everyday insecurity; 2) INTERSOS, Greece involving learning about innovative bottom-up solutions to migration issues across borders and conduct participatory research with migrants.

Further information: In addition to the requirements outlined in the general MITIME call, applicants must have an honors primary degree (NFQ level 8) with a minimum of a 2H1 (second class honors, grade 1) in either the primary or Masters degree to apply. Check here for international qualifications comparisons: https://www.ucc.ie/en/study/comparison/ And check here for English language requirements for pursuing a PhD degree in UCC: https://www.ucc.ie/en/study/comparison/english/postgraduate/.

Diaspora groups are key actors in shaping the cultural, social, and political life of post-industrial cities. They connect “here” (settlement societies) and “there” (places of origin), actively negotiating belonging and identity through community building, everyday encounters and transnational networks. These processes of placemaking create spaces for diasporic cultural expression, political participation, and visions of shared futures—but they can also reproduce exclusionary, e.g., racialized or gendered, boundaries. This PhD project examines how diasporas mobilize politically toward both origin-country and settlement-country issues, e.g., formal orgs/associations, community centers, digital networks, protest, remittances/aid, cultural politics, voting/advocacy) and how such mobilizations are rooted in urban contexts marked by diversity and post-industrial transformation. It analyses the mechanisms through which origin-state diaspora policies (consular programs party outreach, funding) intersect with local right-to-the-city struggles (housing, participation, use of public space), and how inter-diaspora and diaspora–host encounters generate cooperation, dialogue, or tension with the origin country. A temporal lens foregrounds memories of migration and conflict, intergenerational trajectories, and imagined futures as drivers of diasporic mobilization. The project is primarily based in Bilbao, Spain, where long-established diaspora communities, including but not limited to those from Latin America (such as Colombian and Venezuelan), coexist with newer and more precarious migrant presences from Maghreb, Eastern Europe. The successful candidate will contribute to mapping the spaces of encounter among diaspora groups and between diasporas and host societies, analyzing the dialogues and tensions that shape diasporic mobilization towards their country of origin. The candidate will engage with cutting-edge debates on diaspora studies, placemaking, and post-industrial urban change. The position anticipates secondment at University College Cork, the co-supervisor's institution. Comparative extensions (e.g., to a second post-industrial city and other diasporic communities) are welcome where they sharpen the analysis of governance, placemaking, and participation in rapidly changing urban landscapes.

Further information: We seek applicants with training in political science or sociology (with special focus on migration/diaspora studies encouraged), strong qualitative/ethnographic skills and proven proficiency in English and Spanish. Applicants proposing to study particular diaspora communities are expected to evidence the additional language competence needed to conduct interviews and engage in community settings.  

The official start date of the PhD program is October 1st, 2026. As a general rule, in order to access a doctoral programme, students shall be required to hold an official undergraduate degree or equivalent, and a university Master’s degree or equivalent, provided that they have gained at least 300 ECTS credits in total. For further information on doctoral studies in Spain, you may consult the Royal Decree 99/2011

Cities witness evolutions and transformations linked with their dwellers and the changes in dynamics of interaction and exposure to groups and changing narratives. These happenings take place across time and different types of transformative phenomena are linked with specific temporalities and experience of time and evolution. With this project, we aim at examining temporally and spatially displaced urban dwellers’ narratives regarding their place and role in the city, as expressed through different creative forms and representations, appropriation of urban spaces, and narrated solidarities and frictions between different groups. This will be accomplished by looking at contemporary and historical forms of displacement and interpretation of space and time. The project studies 1) how displaced people narrate and understand their experiences of displacement and re-placement in the city, and 2) how the experience of displacement and re-placement influences their everyday encoun, and knowledge of creative and engaged methods for crafting and disseminating inclusive narratives about ters in the city, in particular, their sense of trust and mistrust, roles, interactions, as displacement is regarded a process that may reshape social ties and cohesion.  With this project, the candidate will gain theoretical understanding of displacement as a temporal, spatial, social, and cultural process. Understanding of how displacement influences trust and mistrust, social capital, and interethnic cohesion and knowledge of creative and engaged methods of crafting and disseminating inclusive narratives regarding the city. Two secondments are planned: 1) at the co-supervisor's institution, University of Oulu, for training in geographical approaches to mobility, including environmental and ecological aspects of displacement; and 2) with UNESCO Etxea for studying interethnic interactions and inclusive narratives within the host society.

Further information: The official start date of the PhD program is October 1st, 2026. As a general rule, in order to access a doctoral programme, students shall be required to hold an official undergraduate degree or equivalent, and a university Master’s degree or equivalent, provided that they have gained at least 300 ECTS credits in total. For further information on doctoral studies in Spain, you may consult the Royal Decree 99/2011

This doctoral project explores migration through the lens of time, focusing on the interplay between migrant lived experiences and the discourses and practices of local (urban) institutions. Using a range of qualitative methods, including discourse analysis, participant observation and in-depth interviews, it investigates how different narratives and practices of time are constructed both by local institutions and by migrants striving to build meaningful lives in their new environments. By comparing institutional imaginations of temporalities as embedded in policy and practice with migrants’ own temporal aspirations and rhythms, the project seeks to understand how divergent understandings of time shape dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the city. Specifically, it examines how these temporal discourses: (1) facilitate or obstruct formal and informal support systems that enable spaces of inclusion and opportunity; (2) reveal underlying inequalities, power relations, and bordering practices that marginalize migrant populations; and (3) illuminate how institutions, individuals, and civil society actors mobilize competing notions of time to sustain or contest systems of control and exclusion in the urban context. Fieldwork with migrant communities, civil society organisations and city stakeholders is planned to take place in Cork and Oulu. Two secondments are anticipated (i) at the co-supervisor’s institution, UCC and (ii) at the City of Oulu.

Further information: Candidates with a background in anthropology, sociology, human (and/or urban) geography and social policy are encouraged to apply. Knowledge of qualitative methods, including initial experience in conducting field research, is required. Proficiency in English is a requirement; proficiency in Finnish and/or in a language of local migrant communities is a strong asset.

Taking the city of Liège as the primary case study, this thesis aims to highlight the multiple forms that migration narratives can take in urban environments and how they influence identity formation, social inclusion, and future-making among migrant communities. It investigates how these narratives shape a sense of belonging and representations of otherness. The thesis also aims to mobilize and produce knowledge on the use of innovative, participatory and engaged research methods.  The research is based on the premise that collective and personal narratives, including untold stories and imagination, shape collective memories that influence group membership and processes of othering, generating bordering processes between insiders and outsiders. These dynamics impact migrants’ future-making in the city, i.e. how they envision their future while navigating various identity formation processes and related inclusion/exclusion dynamics. The thesis will investigate how oral, written, visual, and artistic narratives reflect the migration experience, including future aspirations. It will also explore the factors in urban environments that enhance or hinder the expression of these narratives. Particular attention will be paid to the various challenges faced by members of immigrant communities. These may include racialisation, sexism and other power inequalities within host societies, including but not limited to forms of domination related to histories of colonisation and economic disparities. They may also include experiences of domination and intersectional inequalities within immigrant communities themselves. The thesis will explore and make visible the narratives and strategies individuals develop to deal with these challenges and examine their implications for broader processes of identity making, mechanisms of inclusion/exclusion, and the emergence of layered experiences of belonging.  Ethnographic, co-creative and participatory research methods will be employed, involving researchers, migrants and artists, to address the constraints and opportunities for migrants’ expression in the post-industrial city. The aim is to create safe spaces for stories to be told and heard, and to inform inclusive policies and practices that combat racializing and othering discourse. Two secondments are anticipated: one at the Théâtre de Liège to develop and implement innovative, art-based, co-constructive research methodologies; and another in Istanbul to conduct fieldwork and provide a comparative perspective on the Liège case study.

Further information: To conduct fieldwork in Liège, knowledge of qualitative research methods and proficiency in French are required. Familiarity with art-based research tools would be an advantage.To be eligible for a PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Liège, applicants must have obtained a master's degree with a minimum grade of distinction. The successful candidate is required to meet the minimum admission criteria and to commit to complete degree requirements of the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences, following the instructions provided on this page: https://www.fass.uliege.be/cms/c_3738665/en/fass-doctorate. Completion of a doctorate in Political and Social Sciences also includes 60 credits of doctoral training. At the end of the MSCA scholarship, the selected candidate may receive an additional year of funding from ULiège to complete their PhD studies (at the university's standard bursary rate). Mobility allowances are not available during this additional period.

The project examines how borders are created and negotiated when individuals are granted or denied access, not only to physical places, but also to rights and welfare. Examining two different urban setting — Liège and Rotterdam— this project looks at how the different temporalities of accessing rights at the city level affects migrants’ everyday lives. Building on the temporal turn in migration studies, this project examines in details the experience of migrants, civil servants and service providers with temporarily in accessing rights in diverse area such as the right to establish  register one’s residence in a city, the right to public housing, education, language classes etc… Evidence suggests that important variation exists between cities and between different groups in terms of timely delivery of services to residents. Similarly, it has also been documented that time may be a strategy used by certain municipalities to discourage migrants to establish residence there. This project looks at two postindustrial cities marked by significant social-economic inequalities, which provides a revelatory setting for finding out how differences in class and legal status matter to how access to social rights and welfare is bordered. Taking a street-level bureaucracy approach, the project goes beyond existing literature on the role of time in visa delivery and regularization procedures and aims to highlight how different temporalities in access to these multiple rights affect not only the migrants themselves but also the attitudes of civil servant and the general public towards migrants. Overall, the project enables to seeks to 1) identify bordering practices at the local level as tools of migration governance; 2) produce empirical knowledge about migration temporalities in post-industrial cities, 3) analyse variation in bordering and implications for different social groups and 4) generate In-depth understanding of bordering practices’ impact on everyday lives. Two secondments are anticipated: one at CRIPEL to gain a practical understanding of migrants' experiences of discrimination and borders; and one at EUR to collaborate with Prof. Scholten on the conceptual understanding of social protection in Europe.

Further information: Proficiency in French is a plus, though not mandatory. To be eligible for a PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Liège, applicants must have obtained a master's degree with a minimum grade of distinction. The successful candidate is required to meet the minimum admission criteria and to commit to complete degree requirements of the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences, following the instructions provided on this page: https://www.fass.uliege.be/cms/c_3738665/en/fass-doctorate. Completion of a doctorate in Political and Social Sciences also includes 60 credits of doctoral training. At the end of the MSCA scholarship, the selected candidate may receive an additional year of funding from ULiège to complete their PhD studies (at the university's standard bursary rate). Mobility allowances are not available during this additional period.

This PhD position aims to investigate how complex temporalities of migration and mobility in urban contexts interact with policies aimed at migration and migration-related diversities. As migration in the cities such as Rotterdam and Bilbao becomes more complex (liquid/fluid), with growing variation in temporalities of stay of different types of migrants, national and local policies are challenged by this (increased) international as well as internal mobility. Migration and inclusion policies are often based on explicit and implicit assumptions about how long migrants intend to stay, whether they are temporary or permanent, oriented on settlement or not. Policies (i.e. public services, social protection, civic integration and participation measures) do not always consider migrant’s changing intentions, potentially mobile nature of their occupation, etc. This research strives to explore which temporality considerations with regards to various migrant categories are taken into account in both local and national policies; how they affect specific migrant categories (i.e. intra-EU migrants, asylum seekers, highly-skilled professionals  or expats, digital nomads and students), and how lived realities of these migrant categories interact with policies, and hence, the access to rights and services in Rotterdam and Bilbao. The PhD project speaks to the broader literature on complex migration, the mobility turn in migration studies and governance studies.

Further information: This comparative research requires a solid background knowledge of public policy and governance approaches, an advanced academic proficiency in English and some proficiency in both Dutch and Spanish, and experience with comparative and qualitative research methods. The disciplinary backgrounds of the PhD candidates can be in governance studies, migration studies, public administration, political sociology, policy studies . The position will be funded for 4 years and last year’s funding will be covered by EUR and benefits will vary based on institutional regulations.

The project is on the impact of varying legal statuses (undocumented, refugees/asylum seekers, temporary, permanent, naturalized) on migrants’ short-, medium- and long-term place-making practices and visions of the future. This research will examine how legal (and citizenship) statuses—undocumented, refugee/asylum seeker, temporary, permanent, and naturalized—shape migrants’ short-, medium- and long-term place-making, spatial attachments, risk management, mobility and temporal imaginaries. It explores effects on settlement trajectories and future aspirations across institutional and socio-spatial contexts, and associated policy implications for rights, inclusion and durable solutions. The project will conduct fieldwork within selected country case studies, applying mixed method data collection, and/or from a comparative-historical perspective.

Further information: Fluency in Turkish is a plus, not a requirement.  Applicants proposing to study particular migrant communities are expected to evidence the additional language competence needed to conduct interviews and engage in community settings. Successful candidate is required to meet the minimum admission criteria and expected to commit to complete degree requirements in one of the following PhD programs at Koç University.  https://gsssh.ku.edu.tr/en/departments/sociology/phd/ https://gsssh.ku.edu.tr/en/departments/political-science-and-international-relations/phd/ At the end of the MSCA scholarship, the selected candidate may receive an additional year of funding from Koç University to complete their PhD studies (at the university's standard bursary rate). Mobility allowances and other benefits are not available during this additional period.