Multilateralism and transnational democracy are under threat on many fronts, most recently from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The very nature of global problem solving is being called into question.

Your PhD research project aims to contribute to re-mobilizing a transnational collective spirit that addresses global problems, specifically through technology. Firstly, because of technology’s effect on economic competitiveness. Secondly, tech is important to national security including threats to democratic principles. Thirdly, technology is crucial to the solutions for global challenges.

This PhD-position is part of a recently granted € 3M Horizon Europe project consisting of 9 partner institutions with some 20+ researchers, which will be led by Maastricht University. The project will create knowledge that generates policy recommendations that support the EU in re-conceptualizing multilateral governance in four crucial technology policy areas: digital, health bio, security and defense, and financial technologies.

This PhD-position will focus on the security and defense portion of the research that will be conducted, within the work package Geopolitics and Technology Governance.  You will take part in an examination of the national debates on strategic thinking in one of the major players; namely, the US, China, and the EU for the four policy areas. You will conduct a state-of-the-art review that employs quantitative content analysis and social network analysis for empirical case studies. By knowing the status quo, you will contribute to our intent to extrapolate ideas and to suggest pathways forward for relevant officials.  The consortium intends to produce knowledge via several methods but predominantly by employing the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) to specific policy subsystems.

• You are self-motivated, curious, and interested in research;
• You have a strong academic background and a goal to publish in high-ranking academic journals;
• You have excellent quantitative and analytical skills, as well as oral communication and writing skills in English;
• You have a Research Master's degree in International Relations, security policy, tech governance and/or EU external relations.

• We offer a rewarding career at a young university in the heart of Europe, with a distinct global perspective and a strong focus on innovative research and education;
• We offer a full-time employment contract as a PhD candidate. The employment contract will be for a period of 1 year and will be extended for another 3 years after positive evaluation.
• The salary will be set in the PhD-candidate salary scale (€ 2.541 gross per month in the first year up to € 3.247 gross per month in the fourth year). On top of this, there is an 8% holiday allowance and a 8.3% year-end allowance;
• We offer an attractive package of fringe benefits such as reduction on collective health insurance, substantial leave arrangements, optional model for designing a personalised benefits package and application for attractive fiscal arrangements for employees from abroad.

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > About UM > Working at UM.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 22,000 students and about 5,000 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience. For more information, visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.

University College Maastricht

University College Maastricht (UCM) is an honors Liberal Arts and Science Program. Research at UCM is clustered in four research themes: Liberal Arts Education in Europe in the 21st century, Politics from Below with a focus on social movements, The EU as a Foreign Policy Actor, and Psychology and Society. See the webpages at: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/research/university-college-maastricht   The Horizon Europe project will be managed by a team at FSE and within the UCM research theme The EU as a Foreign Policy Actor.

Faculty of Science and Engineering
The Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) is home to several outstanding departments and institutions covering education and research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as the liberal arts and sciences.