Utrecht University invites applications for a PhD research position at the Faculty of Geosciences that will investigate transnational retirement trajectories between the United Kingdom and India. The candidate will be part of the ERC-funded project ‘Retirement across countries: A tripartite analysis of the welfare state, family care networks, and the retirement industry (RETIREWEL).’ RETIREWEL is a comparative qualitative research project led by Dr. Dora Sampaio, Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning.
Your jobRETIREWEL investigates retirement experiences across countries, with a focus on the connections to the welfare state, family care networks, and the retirement industry. Today’s older adults are more likely to plan for and retire across more than one country due to factors such as health, climate amenities, socio-economic status, cultural values, and proximity to family, among others. These rapidly evolving retirement trajectories create new and uneven relationships among families, institutions, and places, with far-reaching impacts. The project will identify patterns and trends in transnational retirement and provide novel insights by exploring how older adults plan for and spend their retirement across borders within these systems.
You will study retired individuals and those approaching retirement, their families, and relevant national and local stakeholders through transnational multi-sited fieldwork (UK and India) and a combination of qualitative methodological approaches. Within this framework, there is scope to tailor the PhD project to your interests and strengths. You will be part of a team researching the complexity and inequalities of transnational (pre-)retirement trajectories across three migration corridors – Portugal-Brazil, Netherlands-Turkey, and UK-India. The team consists of the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Dora Sampaio, two PhD candidates, and one postdoctoral researcher. The team is embedded in the International Development Studies section of the department and will have access to expertise from the staff in this section. The team will work closely together (e.g., workshops, trainings, collaborative writing sessions) to jointly address the project’s overarching questions and objectives.
Your responsibilities and tasks include:
- developing a research and fieldwork plan;
- setting up and carrying out in-depth qualitative fieldwork for a period of eight months in the UK and India;
- writing a paper-based PhD dissertation within four years;
- (co-)authoring publications with other team members;
- participating in group meetings and contributing to organising project events and workshops;
- participating in conferences, workshops, seminars, and other relevant events.
In this role, you will develop strong writing, presentation, and teamwork skills. Additional training will be available through the NETHUR Graduate School. You will also have other opportunities for development through the University-wide strategic themes and platforms, such as Institutions for Open Societies (IOS) and the Migration and Societal Change Focus Area.