Research Position - Laos

• Wann 04.08.2025 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 (doctoral candidate) Social Anthropology – China

ID: Wiss25272

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

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 PhD research position will conduct an ethnographic study of the financial activities of working households in China.

Your Tasks

• carry out ethnographic field research in China, studying working household\’s strategies, motivations and negotiations around financial activities as well as household relationships to the financial system and labour market (33 %)
• write up the analysis and prepare a book proposal based on the ethnographic study for submission to an international journal (27%)
• contribute to the events and publications of the project in the form of presentations, book chapters and articles in edited volumes (27%)
• participate in project activities and work together with the research team on the common goals of the project (13 %)

Employment is conductive to scientific qualification.

We offer

• salary according to Remuneration level E13 TV-L
• befristet (4 years) (§ 2 (1) sentence 1 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 relevantacademic university degree (e. g. Master’s or Diploma or equivalent) in anthropology, sociology or related disciplines (Master\’s thesis should be in English or German)
• ability to conceptualise and design empirical research
• genuine interest in and readiness to undertake ethnographic field research with working households
• familiarity with the political economic contexts of China and ability to navigate its social and cultural settings
• excellent command of spoken and written Chinese
• excellent command of spoken and written English
• ability to work independently and as part of a team
• good organisational and communication skills

Preferred experience and skills

• experiencewith ethnographic research
• determination to submit the doctoral dissertation within four years
• interest in academic discussions of finance and/or labour
• awareness and experiences with ethical matters of social research
• experiences in working with factory workers

Application Procedure

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

• cover letter explaining why you are interested in the post and what makes you suitable for it
• short research proposal of 3-5 pages spelling out how you are going to proceed with the study if selected
• CV (including scientific skills and research experience)
• degree certificates and summary of MA thesis; one writing sample (thesis chapter, working paper, journal article, etc.)

sekretariat.nguyen[ at ]uni-bielefeld.de

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