Dear Colleagues, The Centre of Migration Research <https://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/en/> (CMR) is seeking candidates for a 14.5-month position at the post-doctoral level to be employed full-time starting from December 2025-January 2026 (at the latest) within the framework of the DemEx research project. *Institution:* Centre of Migration Research (CMR), University of Warsaw *Position:* Postdoc (Assistant Professor) *Job type:* research *Employment duration:* 14.5 months *Expected start date:* December, 2025 *Number of positions:* 1 *Workplace:* Pasteur 7, 02-093 Warsaw *Remuneration:* up to 10 200 PLN gross/month as part of full-time employment plus the so-called 13th remuneration (the final salary depends, among other things, on the candidate’s length of work experience) *Application deadline:* November 1, 2025, 9 am (CET) “Democracy in Exile: A Comparative Study of Russian Migrant Communities following the Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine” (DemEx) is an international project co-funded by the National Science Centre (NCN), Poland, as part of the Trans-Atlantic Platform for Social Sciences and Humanities programme (T-AP DGT Call 2023, Trans-Atlantic Platform: Democracy, Governance and Trust). DemEx is run by the transatlantic consortium, including, apart from the University of Warsaw, George Washington University (coordinator) and Carleton University, and will involve collaboration with researchers from University of Helsinki and European University Institute. The project focuses on defining the political impact of new émigré communities from Russia on host countries and their potential to affect political change in their country of origin. In particular, the project aims to address the following research questions: 1) How might Russian political migrants impact their countries of destination and vice versa? 2) How do exile communities affect domestic politics back in Russia? 3) How does Russian state propaganda capitalize on political emigration domestically and affect the perceptions of Russian émigrés? The project is located at the intersection of democratization studies, transnationalism and migration studies, and media and propaganda studies. It utilizes various methods – both quantitative and qualitative, combining a worldwide online survey among post-February 24th emigrants from Russia, including those who already returned, with semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in 8 countries with varying state of democracy and in Russia, focus groups, and automatic text analysis of Russian media. The researcher will be engaged in the qualitative part of the project, based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with emigrants from Russia in different receiving countries, including Serbia, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Israel and the US (for details, see below). *Candidate profile* The competition is open to persons who meet the conditions set out *in Article 113 of the Law on Higher Education and Science (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 1571, consolidated text)*. Other requirements: - a PhD degree in social sciences or outside of social sciences as long as the curriculum included a rigorous training in qualitative social science research methods; According to NCN guidelines, to be eligible for the call, one: - must have been awarded a PhD degree “in the year of employment in the project or within 7 years before 1 January of the year of employment in the project (...) For researchers with multiple PhD [degree]s, the date of the first PhD award is deemed the reference date.”; - must have been awarded their PhD degree by an institution other than University of Warsaw or must have completed at least 10-month (continuous) postdoctoral fellowship in another institution abroad; - “will not be receiving any other remuneration paid from the funds granted to research projects under NCN calls under the heading of direct costs”; - in the period of receiving the remuneration from the project, will not be receiving any remuneration from another employer (including a one from abroad) under an employment contract. - awareness of the ethical aspects of ethnographic research - excellent knowledge of social science methodology in particular qualitative research methods and computer-assisted analysis - experience in performing qualitative research, including conducting and analyzing data from in-depth interviews - excellent command of English, written and spoken for the purpose of publication in international scientific journals and interaction with project partners and a wider academic community - proficiency in Russian for the purpose of conducting, transcribing, pseudonymizing and analyzing qualitative interviews - academic excellence with a track record of peer-reviewed publications appropriate to the career stage - experience in participation in social science research projects - interest in the topic of migration, democratization and transnationalism (research experience and theoretical expertise in the field will be an asset) - project management experience - independent thinking and excellent communication and organizational skills - ability to work independently and collaboratively, in an international team *Job description and responsibilities* - conducting the remaining in-depth interviews with Russians residing in Georgia (max. 1), Armenia (max. 2) and Turkey (max. 1) (remotely via one of the internet communicators, e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, Viber or Zoom) - preparation of the qualitative material for analysis (transcription, pseudonymization) - storage and sharing of data – preparation of interview data for archiving - coding and further analysis of primary qualitative data derived from fieldwork - (co-)preparation of reports, op-eds and papers for high-profile peer-reviewed scientific journals - co-authorship of presentations of the project’s results at conferences and seminars - scientific collaboration and participation in meetings with other DemEx team members - carrying out dissemination and promotion activities for the project results, including on social media - supporting the PI in project management and administrative tasks if needed *Application:* Obligatory: 1) a cover letter in English describing your background, fit to the project and motivation (please include a brief description of your experience in conducting fieldwork) 2) a current academic CV in English with a list of publications 3) an article-length scientific writing sample in English (single-authored) 4) a copy of the PhD diploma or other document confirming the award of the degree 5) a signed and completed form for an applicant for employment 6) a scan of a signed declaration of consent to the processing of personal data, attached to this announcement 7) the names and contact details of academic referees (minimum two) Optional: · links to the applicant’s Google Scholar, ORCID, etc. · sample transcript of a qualitative interview conducted by the candidate in Russian *How to apply:* e-mail your application to the following address: konkursy.obm@uw.edu.pl with the subject line *DemEx postdoc II*. The documents should be combined into a *single PDF file* (in the order indicated above) named using the convention ‘Applicant’s Last Name_DemEx postdoc’ The competition is the first stage of the recruitment procedure for the position of an academic teacher, as specified in the Statute of the University of Warsaw, and its positive outcome is the basis for further proceedings. Selected applicants will be invited to a scheduled interview. All candidates will be informed about the results via email. The University of Warsaw reserves the right to close the competition without stating the reason. If you have any further questions, please contact Dr Zuzanna Brunarska ( zuzanna.brunarska@uw.edu.pl), PI of the project on the part of the CMR. We are looking forward to receiving your applications. Link to the call: https://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ogloszenie-o-konkursie_DemExII_OBM_ENG-JL-1.pdf Best regards, Zuzanna Brunarska ................................ Centre of Migration Research University of Warsaw Pasteura 7, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland CMR website <http://www.migracje.uw.edu.pl/zespol/zuzanna-brunarska-2> | Google Scholar <https://scholar.google.pl/citations?user=-ZVsLiAAAAAJ&hl=pl> | ResearchGate <http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zuzanna_Brunarska> | Web of Science <https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/642179> X: @ZBrunarska <https://x.com/ZBrunarska> | zbrunarska.bsky.social