The UvA department of political science is looking for two junior researchers to conduct qualitative fieldwork - in particular, interviews- in the RIGHTS project led by Dr. Evelyn Ersanilli.The RIGHTS project examines how the rights of low-skilled migrant workers are shaped by origin and destination states, interstate dialogues, and the involvement of civil society and international organisations. The aim is to understand why and how origin states intervene on behalf of their low-skilled migrant workers and the responses by destination countries to these activities.
The RIGHTS project (2018-2024) is funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). It is based in the Transnational Configurations, Conflict and Governance group of the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. More information can be found on the
project website.
What are you going to doWorking closely together with the PI and the other RIGHTS team members, each junior researcher will be responsible for fieldwork in two of the country cases. The core of the fieldwork will be recruiting and interviewing respondents involved in the development and execution of low-skilled migration policies, most importantly policy makers (politicians and civil servants) and diplomats. The junior researchers will also contribute to the analyses of and reporting on the data collected in these cases.
Each junior researcher will work in at least one of the following countries: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Senegal, Uganda
You will:
- Work on two country cases;
- Conduct online and in-person interviews with policy makers, embassy staff, NGO representatives, and other stakeholders in low-skilled migration in the case countries;
- Obtain relevant documents (e.g. laws, transcripts of parliamentary debates, policy documents, bilateral agreements) from the cases;
- Transcribe interviews;
- Analyse interview transcripts and documents;
- Contribute to the drafting of research papers, project reports, project updates, and policy briefs;
- Contribute to the organisation of project events such as workshops.