Two PhDs in the History of Migrant Women's Labour in Postwar Europe
Department of History, Maastricht University
Start date: March or April 2026
Application deadline: November 30, 2025
Are you interested in joining a collaborative team to study women’s migration from Southern Europe and Turkey to France and Germany in the post-World War II era, and the role of work in their trajectories? Passionate about archival research and oral history? Self-motivated and ready to learn new research skills?
The Department of History is looking for two PhD candidates to undertake archival and oral history research on women’s migration and work. You will be part of a new European Research Council-funded project entitled FeMMiWork: Women Migrants from the Northern Mediterranean and Work in Postwar Northwestern Europe.
Using a transnational lens that takes migrants’ countries both of origin and residence into account, FeMMiWork investigates the experiences of women who migrated from Italy, Yugoslavia, and Turkey to France and Germany in the 1950s-1970s and who engaged in paid work. In spite of their large numbers, their labour has been largely erased by policymakers and forgotten by researchers who focused on male labour migration. Drawing on archival sources and oral history, the project aims to understand what role paid work played in migrant women’s life trajectories, and in shaping relations with their communities of origin and destination. The project also aims to make the histories of these women visible by creating a ‘counter-archive’ using documents, oral histories, and creative writing.
Two PhDs are sought, one to document the trajectories of women from Italy, and one to do so for women from Turkey. Each PhD will be researching women who moved to Germany and to France. There is room, within this framework, to shape the PhD project in line with your own interests. You will be part of a collaborative and interdisciplinary team examining commonalities and differences across countries of origin (Italy, Turkey, and Yugoslavia) and destination countries (France and Germany). The team consists of the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Brigitte Le Normand, one postdoctoral researcher, a project manager, an ICT consultant, and two PhDs. The PI will research the case of women from Yugoslavia. The PI and post-doctoral researcher will additionally support the PhDs by carrying out research in French and German archives. The team will jointly address the project’s larger conceptual questions through reading groups, workshops, and collaborative writing projects.
The tasks include:
- Developing a research plan, taking into consideration ethics and data management procedures of the Faculty;
- Literature review of published sources including Italian or Turkish language, as relevant;
- Archival research and oral history focused on the experiences of women migrants;
- Participating in the development of a counter-archive of migrant working women;
- Writing a doctoral dissertation and (co)authoring publications (e.g. peer-reviewed journal articles);
- Participating in group meetings and contributing to the organization of events and workshops;
- Presenting work-in-progress at international workshops, conference panels and to colleagues within the Faculty.
In this role you will learn to synthesize archival research and oral history while developing your writing and teamwork skills. Further trainings will be provided through the university Graduate School.
The position also includes 0.2 FTE teaching, which will allow you to develop your teaching skills and credentials.
Requirements
We are looking for someone who is excited and motivated to do a PhD project based on archival research and oral history, and in a team context. The position requires residence in Maastricht or the surrounding region (except for the fieldwork periods). Specifically, we are looking for someone who has:
- A completed Master’s degree in History, Anthropology, Geography, Sociology or related interdisciplinary fields such as migration studies;
- Demonstrable experience with and passion for qualitative research methods, particularly archival research or oral history;
- Strong analytical and writing skills;
- Advanced English language competency (speaking and writing for academic contexts);
- Excellent organizational skills and motivation to meet project milestones/deadlines;
- Enthusiasm to contribute to a collaborative team environment and to shared goals;
- Working knowledge of Italian or Turkish. If applying for the Turkish case study, knowledge of other languages spoken in Turkey is an asset;
- (desirable, not required) Working knowledge of German and/or French. Please indicate clearly level on CV, using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR): https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale