Call for Applications: Two Full Time Post-Doctoral Researcher Positions

Event venue: OSCE Academy

The OSCE Academy in cooperation with the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) invites applications for two full-time Post-Doctoral Researcher positions. The OSCE Academy in Bishkek is a public foundation, established in 2002 by the Kyrgyz Government and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE Academy promotes the principles and values of the OSCE through higher education, professional trainings, research and intellectual exchange. The Academy offers MA programmes in «Economic Governance and Development», «Politics and Security» and «Human Rights and Sustainability», as well as a BA programme in «Economics», and enrols total of up to 30 young professionals per programme annually on a highly competitive basis, from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan and other countries. The Academy also hosts several Associate Research Fellows, publishes articles, policy briefs, and research papers on questions relevant to the Academy’s mission, and continuously seeks to strengthen its research capacity.

The aim of the fellowships is to boost the OSCE Academy’s output of high quality research in high-impact academic journals. The duration of the fellowships is 2 years, from January 2025 to December 2026 inclusive. The fellowships may be further extended, depending on performance and the availability of funding. The Fellows must live in Bishkek during this period and have the OSCE Academy as their workplace but will be supervised by and work closely with the OSCE Academy’s partner institution NUPI. The contact person at NUPI is Prof. Indra Overland. The post-docs will publish articles on energy, natural resource management, climate change, geopolitics, the Belt and Road Initiative, or similar topics, global or Central Asian topics.

Main tasks and duties:

• Publication of 3 articles per year in peer-reviewed academic journals.
• Supervision of up to 2 theses for the OSCE Academy’s MA programmes by each Fellow;
• Teaching of up to courses worth 4 credits within the MA programmes / preparatory Summer School at the Academy per year;
• Carrying out peer review and mentoring for the Academy’s publications (research paper, policy brief series).

Candidates should meet the following requirements:

• PhD degree in economics, environmental studies, political science, or a related field
• The PhD dissertation must have been submitted by the time of application for the fellowships.
• Excellent level of written English.
• Willingness to cooperate with colleagues at the Academy and NUPI is required.
• A track record of producing academic publications is an advantage but not a requirement, especially articles in high-level journals.
• Strong methodological skills, including quantitative methods, can be an advantage but are not a requirement.

The OSCE Academy will provide:

• Scholarship of 3800 EUR per month per fellow, paid in national currency (gross sum subject to tax and social fee deduction).
• Visa and work permit support (if necessary).
• Office space and computer, as well as access to the related facilities of the OSCE Academy.
• Funds to cover open access fees for most publications.
• Additional funds for a mobility and equipment, 5800 EUR per post-doc per year.

Note: The Academy will not cover any expenses related to the applicants’ family members.

Interested and qualified applicants should signify their interest in writing by submitting the following documents:
• A cover letter of no more than 500 words.
• CV including list of publications.
• 4-6 titles of possible articles to write during the post-doc period (these are only tentative and will be further developed or changed in consultation with the supervisors later on).
• Contact information of two referees.
• Copies of educational documents.

Further details will be requested from selected applicants at a later stage of the application process.

The whole application should be submitted as a single file in PDF format attached to an email vacancies@osce-academy.net with the subject line “Post-Doc Researcher” by September 30th (extended), 2024, 6:00 pm Bishkek time.

Only successfully selected candidates will be notified of further selection procedures.

The OSCE Academy in Bishkek is an equal-opportunity institution and operates on the principle of non-discrimination. All recruitment decisions are taken on the basis of best qualification of the candidates, taking into consideration regional and gender balance.