PhD Studentship

UCD School of History, College of Arts and Humanities, University College Dublin, Ireland, is pleased to announce a generously funded Ph.D. studentship specialising in:

Rural and tribal history of the modern Middle East (c.1870-c.1945)

which will be supervised by Dr M. Talha Çiçek, Associate Professor in History of the Modern Middle East (people.ucd.ie/m.cicek) and the Principal Investigator of ERC funded Project, CAPITALEAST: Global Capitalism and Rurality: Agency, Commodification and the Socio-Ecological Transformation of the Middle Eastern Countryside, 1870-1945. The successful candidate will work on the non-Arab tribal groups of Syria and/or Iraq (e.g. Kurds, Turcomans) as part of CAPITALEAST. A reading knowledge of Ottoman Turkish is required.

CAPITALEAST compares tribes of diverse origins, examining the 'capitalization' of their agriculture and the commercialization of their livestock. It adopts a translocal and global approach to reveal the connectedness of the diverse social entities to the wider world like the nomadic, semi-settled and settled tribes living in cultivable, desert, and mountainous ecologies. The project proposes an ambitious longitudinal enquiry, combining an analysis of digitized and published sources with extensive work in regional and central archives. The successful applicant will join a team of researchers working on different aspects of this project.

This is a research-focused role, where you will conduct a specified programme of research supported by research training and development under the supervision and direction of a Principal Investigator.

The primary purpose of the studentship is to further develop your research skills and competences, including the processes of publication in peer-reviewed academic publications.

Deadline: 15th May 2025 by email to m.cicek@ucd.ie

The studentship is open to EU and non-EU candidates and is for a maximum of four years, renewable each year, subject to satisfactory progress. The award includes full tuition fee waiver, and a Ph.D. stipend of €25,000 per annum. There will also be funding to compensate research costs of the Ph.D. in the relevant archives. We anticipate that the successful candidate will start in September 2025.

Please submit the following application materials by email:

• Personal statement and CV as one document
• Writing sample (e.g. an essay or section of MA dissertation)
• Two academic references (to be submitted separately)
• A proposal (1000-1500 words + indicative bibliography).

The Selection Panel will shortlist candidates for interview, which is likely to take place shortly after the deadline. Successful applicants will be informed by email.

The outcome of this competition will be communicated directly to all applicants.

Specialisation: The Modern Middle East History (c. 1870-c.1945)

In addition to a competitive stipend, the successful candidate also will have access to an annual research budget for archival research in relevant collections abroad or related research expenses.

The UCD School of History stands as one of Europe's premier centers for historical research, offering a vibrant research community. The School of History is well-connected through its active engagement with international partners and a broad array of UCD research centres and institutes. The successful candidate will join a robust graduate community of early career modern history scholars, from MA students in the School of History, to postgraduates and postdoctoral fellows in connected schools.

As such, interdisciplinary work is welcomed, and candidates from all relevant areas of the Middle East studies are encouraged to apply.