Research Position - China

• Wann 21.08.2025 to 27.08.2025 (Europe/Berlin / UTC200)

The Faculty of Sociology, working group 6 \“Sociology of Transnationalisation and Social Anthropology\“, Prof. Dr. Minh Nguyen has the following job opening in the ERC funded project “FinancialLives”:

Research Position (Postdoc) Social Anthropology – China

ID: Wiss25289

• starting: 01.11.2025
• salary according to Remuneration level E13 TV-L
• fixed-term

FinancialLives is an anthropological research project focusing on the expanding range of financial activities by working households to understand how they use financial instruments to manage risk, ensure social protection and fulfil their aspirations. Funded by the European Research Council’s Consolidator Grant scheme, FinancialLives is an anthropological enquiry into the expanding range of financial activities by working households in China, Vietnam and Laos
(http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/financiallives/ ). Through another empirical focus on commercial banks, it also seeks to understand how financial institutions interact with working households in the promotion of financial products and services, and the social transformations thereby generated.

The project includes five component ethnographic studies by two post-doctoral researchers and three doctoral researchers. The holder of this post-doctoral research fellow position will conduct an ethnographic study of commercial banks\‘ practices in China.

Your Tasks

• Carry out ethnographic field research in China, studying practices and rationalities of commercial banks in promoting financial products to and maintaining relationships with working households, and how they are embedded in the financial system (25 %)
• writing a joint monograph with the project\’s other postdoctoral researchers working in Vietnam and Laos and at least three journal articles based on the study (25%)
• contribute to the events and publications of the project in the form of presentations, book chapters and articles in edited volumes or special issues; co-edit project publications (20 %)
• work with the PI and the team to organise and prepare project events and publications, produce policy briefs as part of the project\’s Policy Brief Series, as well as its podcast series (20 %)
• diverse research tasks within the context of the project and project management duties, including inputs in the document review in the first project year (10 %)

Employment is conductive to scientific qualification.

We offer

• salary according to Remuneration level E13 TV-L
• fixed-term (4 years) (§ 2 (1) sentence 2 of the WissZeitVG; in accordance with the provisions of the WissZeitVG and the Agreement on Satisfactory Conditions of Employment, the length of contract may differ in individual cases)
• internal and external training opportunities
• amount of health, consulting and prevention services
• reconcilability of family and working life
• collegial working environment
• open and pleasant working atmosphere
• modern work environment with digital processes

Your Profile

• completed relevant academic university degree (e.g. Master’s or Diploma or equivalent) in anthropology, sociology or related disciplines from an internationally recognised university
  (Master\’s thesis should be in English or German)
• completed PhD in anthropology, sociology, or other related disciplines
• advanced ability to conceptualise, design and implement research projects
• strong ability and experiences with ethnographic research and fluency in anthropological literature on economy and society
• track record of international publications
• research experiences on the social and political lives of finance or ordinary people\’s financial activities in China
• familiarity with the political economic contexts of China and ability to navigate the local social and cultural settings
• Gender and diversity competence
• excellent command of spoken and written English
• excellent command of spoken and written Chinese
• ability to work independently and as part of a team
• good organisational and communication skills

Preferred experience and skills

• topic of PhD dissertation or recent postdoctoral research in close relation to the field of research
• experiences in comparative research
• experiences in working with working people

Application Procedure

We are looking forward to receiving your application with the following content:

• letter of motivation
• a short research proposal of 3-5 pages in which you explain how you will proceed with the study if selected
• final transcripts and summary of the doctoral thesis; two writing samples (chapter of the doctoral thesis, working paper, journal article, etc.).

sekretariat.nguyen[ at ]uni-bielefeld.de

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