Assistants to support research (100 %)
Department of European Studies and Slavic Studies, University of Fribourg
Starting date: January 1, 2026
Application deadline: October 31, 2025
The Department of European Studies and Slavic Studies at University of Fribourg is looking for student research assistants to support research on nationalist movements around the world, as part of the SNSF Ambizione project "Subnational tyrannies of the majority".
The main goal of the project is to collect information on the nationalist ideology and nation-building projects of separatist movements around the world since World War II. For instance, this includes nationalist movements in Catalonia, Scotland, Aceh, Tibet, and Western Sahara, among many others. Using this data, this research project will study the causes and consequences of subnational nation-building policies in regions claimed and ruled by separatist movements around the world. The project and data collection is overseen by Dr. Andreas Juon.
Domaine d'activité
The tasks include the following: 1. Country-wise research: reading country-wise historical overviews, identifying additional secondary sources, and conducting brief web research on specific separatist movements and ethnic groups in their claimed territory. 2. On the basis of these sources, coding variables that measure these movements' ideology and their relations to the various ethnic groups settling in their claimed territory (e.g., patterns of recruitment and support). 3. Documenting the coding decisions by writing short narratives (usually ~2 pages) for each movement.
Exigences
- We are looking for proactive, motivated, and well-organized persons, who are studying political science or a related discipline at either the Master or advanced Bachelor level. We cannot consider applications from unrelated disciplines.
- Interest and previous studies or work on nationalism, populism, or ethnic conflict are an advantage.
- You should be able to speak and write clearly in English.
- You should be based in Switzerland and ideally be able to participate in a monthly meeting with other researchers in the project.