ERC-Funded PhD position on Justice and the Family
We invite applications for a funded, full-time 3 year PhD position in political philosophy
at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, in the context of an ERC Consolidator
Grant (648610) project led by Serena Olsaretti on “Justice and the Family: An
Analysis of the Normative Significance of Procreation and Parenthood in a
Just Society”.
1. Further details about the PhD topic area
The successful applicant will undertake a PhD in any of the three main areas of
research identified by the project, which are as follows:
1) Parental Justice - Does justice require that parents and non-parents share, and
share equally, the costs and benefits of having children, and how do different answers
to this question bear on our theory of distributive justice?
2) Childhood Justice - What are the claims of justice that we have as children, how do
they relate to those we have as adults, and who bears the correlative duties?
3) Intergenerational Justice - Do all contemporaries, regardless of whether they are
parents or non-parents, have the same obligations of justice towards future
generations, and how, if at all, are the justification and the content of those obligations
affected by considerations about what parents owe their children and parents and nonparents owe to each other?
2. Key responsibilities
The successful candidate will be expected to:
- Complete a successful PhD thesis at the end of the three years;
- Attend a few seminars during the first year, which are part of the doctoral
programme at the Department of Humanities at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where
the ERC grant is based;
- Partake in the seminars and conferences organised around the ERC project.
Candidates will also be encouraged, during their PhD, to participate in other relevant
events at UPF, to participate in relevant academic conferences in Spain and/or
elsewhere, to spend a term at another university particularly suited for their research
during their second or third year, and to publish one or two articles.
3. Profile of candidates
Candidates must have:
1. An undergraduate degree and/or a Master’s degree in philosophy;
2. An excellent record at both undergraduate and at Master’s level (minimum a 2:1
level or equivalent at both);
3. Excellent oral and written English;
Women and minority candidates are especially encouraged to apply.
4. Terms and Conditions
The PhD bursary is regulated by a pre-doctoral labour contract for research staff at the
Universitat Pompeu Fabra. It is a fixed-term, full-time contract. The gross annual value
of the bursary would be of approximately €21,000, or €1400 per month gross.
The doctoral programme fees will be covered by the grant. The successful candidate
will also have access to some conference or research stay fundings in the 2nd and 3rd
year of the PhD.
Knowledge of Spanish or Catalan is not a requirement, but the successful candidate
will be encouraged to acquire at least a minimal competence in one of these languages
so as to be able to participate in some locally organised events.
The successful candidate will have a working space at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, in
the Mercé Rodoreda building, Campus de la Ciutadella, in a shared office with other
members of the group.
Starting date: Between 1 June 2016 and 1 October 2016.
5. Applications
Applicants must submit:
1. An academic curriculum vitae;
2. A transcript of the grades obtained in the undergraduate degree and in the MA
degree;
3. A PhD thesis proposal (maximum 1000 words);
4. The names and addresses of two academic referees;
5. All applications must be submitted by email ([email protected]) before 12:00
noon (GMT time) of 1 April 2016;
6. It is possible that shortlisted candidates will be asked to have a Skype interview.
This would be held 14 days after the application deadline, at a time to be
agreed, between 10:00 and 17:00.
7. Candidates will be notified of the result of the selection process 1 month at the
latest after the application deadline.
6. Institutional context
The successful candidate will be based at the Department of Humanities at the
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, which hosts Serena Olsaretti’s ERC-funded project on
Family Justice. Besides Serena Olsaretti, current participants to the projects are
Isabella Trifan and, as of February 2016, Anca Gheaus (a Ramon y Cajal postdoctoral
fellow co-funded by the ERC project). During the next two years, the group will include
two new post-doctoral researchers and a visiting fellow.
There are several political philosophers in various departments at UPF, many of whom
are members of the Philosophy of Law research group (http://portal.upf.edu/web/lphi).
During the 2015-6 academic year, the permanent members of staff who are political
philosophers, including three ICREA Research Professors (Paula Casal, Serena
Olsaretti, Andrew Williams), have been joined by a Marie Curie Fellow (Paul BouHabib), who is working on issues concerning justice and demographic change.
UPF hosts a graduate community of political philosophers, which include students from
the MA in Political Philosophy, and various PhD students based in the Department of
Law but working in analytical political philosophy.
7. Information
For academic questions about the project and the position, please contact Serena
Olsaretti ([email protected]). For practical information about the position and
the application process, please contact Marta Perelló ([email protected]).