PhD Position in Anthropology: JUST ART, Performing Multispecies Justice

Are you curious about artistic research and multispecies justice? Are you interested in exploring more-than-human rights in the Dutch Caribbean using theatre and performance as primary research tools? We invite applications for a PhD position within the JUST ART project, focusing on the role of theatre and performance practices in shaping transformative approaches to climate justice. This PhD position offers an interdisciplinary research environment at the intersection of ethnography, theatre and performance studies, and environmental justice.

JUST ART: Performing multispecies justice in the Dutch Caribbean
The Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam is seeking a PhD candidate to investigate visions of multi-species justice in and through theatre and performance practices. In recent years, numerous theatre projects have explored social and more-than-human justice by staging alternative realities or imagined futures. ‘Performing multi-species justice’ seeks to ethnographically examine practices in and of decolonial, multispecies theatre in the Dutch Caribbean, where islands are severely affected by rising sea levels and, consequently, by coastal land and biodiversity loss. The aim is to identify and articulate artistic research avenues that respond to and reflect on the islands’ ecological urgencies, for the critical reimagination of other-than-human subjectivities. This can include applied, or community theatre, or other devised performance-based methodologies.

Together with our cooperation partners, the project seeks to examine artistic and cultural performance practices with a decolonial approach to multi-species justice in the DC. This will involve examining the politics of production and representation and expanding the performance space into a playground for critical engagement with multispecies imaginaries.

The project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and led by the University of Groningen. It offers 10 fully funded PhD Positions at six universities in collaboration with Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and four universities of applied sciences.

What are you going to do

• Your primary responsibility will be to develop your own artistic research PhD project that explores artistic propositions for envisioning multispecies justice and collaborates with partners to create a theatre and/or performance work as a methodological intervention within your research context.
• You will follow mandatory and optional coursework as part of the PhD programme of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and participate in pre- and post-fieldwork PhD groups at the Department of Anthropology.
• Take an active part in the wider JUST ART community and contribute to collaborative knowledge exchange and dissemination activities with JUST ART partners.
• Conduct 12-months of fieldwork in the country of your case study.
• Submit a PhD thesis (ca. 70.000 words) within the period of appointment.
• Teaching (up to 10% of your time) and organisational support for the project leader will be part of your job responsibilities. These tasks will help you gain valuable professional experience while working toward your PhD.

What do you have to offer

• You have completed a master’s degree or equivalent with a relevant specialisation within the social sciences or humanities, preferably anthropology and/or theatre and performance studies.
• Affinity with artistic and co-creative methodological approaches.
• The skills needed to finish a PhD thesis in four years, i.e., an independent and proactive work attitude, excellent planning and academic writing and research skills.
• Cultural sensitivity in conducting research that is respectful and ethically sound
• Good command of English (Dutch and/or Papiamentu is desirable).

Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere, you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA.

This is what we offer you
The position concerns temporary employment of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of four years. Initial employment is for one year and will in principle start on 15 August 2026. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances, this term will be extended by a maximum of three years, which should result in the conferral of a doctorate.

For this position the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” applies.

Your salary will be €3.059 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €3.881 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week and in keeping with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities. We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.

We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events. The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

What else do we offer

• A position in which initiative and input are highly valued;
• an enthusiastic and warm team that is open to new colleagues;
• an inspiring academic and international community in the heart of Amsterdam.

You will work in this team
You will join an inspiring academic environment at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG) and the wider JUST ART team, including a cohort of 10 doctoral researchers exploring diverse perspectives on artistic research and climate justice with academic, cultural, and societal partners across the Netherlands. For this project, you will join Martha-Cecilia Dietrich (Anthropology), Sruti Bala (Theatre Studies), and Margo Groenewoud (Historian) at the Department of Anthropology, where you will become an affiliated researcher with the Exploring Diversity – Critical Ethnographies of Exclusion and Belonging research programme group and benefit from teaching opportunities in the Anthropology department.

Working at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam means being part of a perceptive, independent, creative, innovative, and international environment, marked by an open atmosphere and genuine engagement with academic peers and the communities we research.

If you recognize yourself in this profile and are interested in the role, we look forward to receiving

• Your motivation letter (max 1 page), explaining why you are interested in the position and how your experience and profile meet the expectations of the role.
• A research proposal of no more than 500 words outlining how you would approach the theme of “Performing Multispecies Justice” in the Dutch Caribbean.
• A full academic CV including links to any creative and/or non-textual works.
• One writing sample, either in the form of a publication or graduate thesis chapter.
• The names and contact details of two references who may be approached by the selection committee (please note we do not require reference letters with the application).

In light of our department’s commitment to a diverse and inclusive working environment, we strongly encourage applications from qualified candidates who come from groups historically disenfranchised by and underrepresented in Dutch academia.

You may apply online by using the link below. Applications in one .pdf should be submitted no later than 8 March 2026, and should include:

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview. Interviews will be held online on the 7th and 8th of April 2026.

Questions
For questions about the vacancy, you can contact Dr Martha-Cecilia Dietrich, m.c.dietrich@uva.nl

No agencies please.