PhD Postion DIViNE Doctoral Network - DC1 – Historical Legacies of Violence and Democratic Institutions

Graduate School in Social, Economic and Political Sciences; Italia; On-site; EUR 55,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

The Università degli Studi di Milano invites applications for two fully-funded doctoral positions within the DIViNE network: DC1 – Historical Legacies of Violence and Democratic Institutions. The position is governed by MSCA Doctoral Networks rules and offers a 36-month contract starting January 2027.

The DC1 project will analyse how past political violence shapes contemporary democracies, with research training spanning qualitative methods, archival research, and quantitative event-data

Qualifications

• Be a doctoral candidate, not yet in possession of a doctoral degree.
• Master's degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, International Relations, Conflict/Peace Studies, Sociology or related field.
• Strong academic track record and proficiency in English.
• Eligibility requires mobility and readiness for international training.

Skills

Proficiency in English

Education

Master's degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, International Relations, Conflict/Peace Studies, Sociology or related field

Job description

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Organisation/Company University of Milan Department Department of Social and Political Sciences Research Field Political sciences » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 15 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Rome) Country Italy Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - MSCA Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number 101312379 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

The DIViNE Doctoral Network (Democratic Institutions and Violence Network in Europe) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network funded under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101312379, call HORIZON-MSCA-2025-DN-01). The network brings together five leading European universities - Università degli Studi di Milano (UMIL, coordinator), University of Essex (UESSEX), Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), and Uppsala Universitet (UU) - alongside non-academic partners across Europe.

DIViNE trains a new generation of researchers capable of rigorously analysing political violence in democratic contexts. The network combines large-scale data collection and computational methods with qualitative fieldwork, historical analysis, and theory-building. Its four thematic work packages cover: WP1 - Conflict inheritance and legacies in democracies; WP2 - Democratization and conflict resolution; WP3 - Dynamics of support for violent movements and responses; WP4 - Democratic resilience and violent stress.

The Università degli Studi di Milano (Department of Social and Political Sciences) invites applications for two fully-funded doctoral positions within the DIViNE network: DC1 - Historical Legacies of Violence and Democratic Institutions, WP1 – Conflict Inheritance and Legacies in Democracies.

Host institution: Università degli Studi di Milano, PhD programme in Intersectoral Innovation, with periods of training and mobility at the partner institutions of the network, in accordance with the individual plan of each project.

Duration: 36 months.

Start of activities: January – February 2027

Position DC1 — Historical Legacies of Violence and Democratic Institutions

Project Description

This doctoral project investigates how past political violence shapes the functioning of contemporary democratic institutions. Using a comparative framework focused on Spain, Italy, and potentially an additional Cold War case, the project examines the mechanisms through which historical legacies — including memory transmission, institutional continuity, and elite adaptation — impact present political behaviour and institutional performance.

The research integrates archival analysis, qualitative process tracing, and quantitative event-data methods, contributing to debates on democratic resilience, the long-term imprint of political violence, and the conditions under which democracies successfully manage conflict inherited from authoritarian or violent pasts.

Supervisory Team

• Co-supervisor based at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M)

Hosting and Mobility

• Non-academic secondment: International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) and or Fondazione Feltrinelli Milano

Research Training Requirements

• Research design for social scientists
• Qualitative methods
• Quantitative methods for social scientists

Research Training

DC1 will receive interdisciplinary training spanning:

• Advanced qualitative methods (archival research, process tracing)
• Quantitative event-data analysis and causal identification
• Comparative historical analysis of democratic institutions
• Participation in DIViNE network-wide workshops, schools, and seminars
• Policy-oriented activities through the non-academic secondment

Employment Conditions and Financial Package

The position is governed by the MSCA Doctoral Networks rules and the applicable laws of Italy (for the period hosted at UMIL). Doctoral Candidate is recruited as early-stage researchers at the beginning of their doctoral training and must not yet hold a doctoral degree at the time of recruitment.

Living Allowance: 3.821,53 €|Gross monthly allowance.

Mobility Allowance: 710,00 €|Additional flat-rate mobility contribution per month, covering household, relocation, and travel expenses.

Family Allowance: 495,00 € |Additional monthly contribution for DCs with dependent family members (subject to eligibility conditions).

Obligations of the Recruited Researcher

The selected candidate, once recruited as a Doctoral Candidate under the DIVINE Doctoral Network, shall:

• be employed on a full-time basis, unless part-time employment is authorised by the granting authority for personal or family reasons;
• work exclusively for the action, carrying out the research, training and other activities assigned under the DIVINE project;
• comply with the applicable mobility requirements and with the mobility arrangements foreseen under the Doctoral Network;
• participate in the research training activities, including the training, networking and other activities organised at network level;
• undertake the secondments foreseen in the individual research and training programme and comply with the related requirements;
• comply with the applicable obligations concerning ethics, confidentiality and security, data protection, intellectual property rights and visibility of EU funding;
• comply with the terms and conditions applicable to recruited researchers under the MSCA Doctoral Network action and with the relevant provisions of the Grant Agreement.

The above conditions derive from the specific eligibility and recruitment requirements applicable to recruited researchers under the MSCA Doctoral Network action, as set out in the MSCA-DN Grant Agreement.

Eligibility Criteria

General MSCA Eligibility Conditions

Applicants must fulfil the following conditions at the time of recruitment:

• Be a doctoral candidate, i.e., not already in possession of a doctoral degree.
• Mobility rule: must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Italy for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately preceding the recruitment date. Short stays such as holidays and compulsory national service are not counted. This mobility requirement applies to the host country for the period of residence at UMIL.

Specific Requirements

• Master's degree (or equivalent) in Political Science, International Relations, Conflict/Peace Studies, Sociology or a closely related field, obtained by the start date.
• Strong academic track record and demonstrable interest in the relevant research area
• Proficiency in English (written and spoken) at a level sufficient for doctoral study and international collaboration
• Commitment to an internationally mobile training trajectory as required by the DIViNE programme

Desirable Qualifications

DC1: Experience with archival research, historical methods, or comparative political analysis; knowledge of Spanish and/or Italian political history is an asset.

Selection Process

The selection process consists of the following steps:

• Administrative check of eligibility and completeness of application
• Scientific evaluation of applications by the supervisory team and the DIViNE selection committee
• Online interview with shortlisted candidates

Final selection and offer

The evaluation criteria include scientific merit of the research statement, relevance of the academic background, potential for excellence in doctoral research, and motivation for international and interdisciplinary training. DIViNE is committed to an open, transparent, and merit-based recruitment process fully aligned with the MSCA Green Charter and the European Charter for Researchers.

Diversity and Inclusion

The DIViNE Doctoral Network and Università degli Studi di Milano are equal-opportunity employers. We actively encourage applications from candidates of all genders, nationalities, and backgrounds. Applications from members of groups that are underrepresented in academia are particularly welcome. All selection decisions are based solely on merit and eligibility.

This call is issued under the DIViNE Doctoral Network (Grant Agreement No. 101312379), funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme. Views and opinions expressed are those of the Università degli Studi di Milano and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA).