Research Position - Vietnam

• 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 (doctoral candidate) Social Anthropology – Vietnam

ID: Wiss25288

• starting: 01.11.2025
• part-time 75 %
• 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 PhD research position will conduct an ethnographic study of the financial activities of working households in Vietnam.

Your Tasks

• carry out ethnographic field research in Vietnam, 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
• fixed-term 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)
• part-time 75 %
• 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(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 Vietnam and ability to navigate its social and cultural settings
• excellent command ofspoken and written Vietnamese
• 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

• experiences with 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 detailedapplication in English with the following content:

• letter of motivation
• short research proposal of 3-5 pages outlining how you will proceed with the study if selected
• CV (including academic skills and research experience)
• Degree certificates and summary of MA thesis; a sample of your work (thesis chapter, working paper, journal article, etc.)

sekretariat.nguyen[ at ]uni-bielefeld.de

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