CEE Sciences Po is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in a fixed term appointment,  for 1 year, from October 1st  2024 or soon thereafter. The post holder will join a team of researchers funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant led by Professor Federico Varese (Principal Investigator).

The project (CRIMGOV) aims to rethink the concept of organized crime (OC) and will develop a new framework that distinguishes key activities of OC groups. CRIMGOV will study a broad range of organized crime in depth: local cybercrime production hubs, the international trade of drugs, and the emergence of criminal governance inside and outside prisons. The project will produce high-quality data sets that are hard to collect and time-consuming to code, a challenging and risky yet highly rewarding contribution to knowledge. Breaking traditional disciplinary boundaries between the social sciences and adopting a global outlook, CRIMGOV will overturn long-held theoretical approaches, produce substantial new findings and data, and speak to scholars across different disciplines.

The post holder will join one of the sub-projects within the CRIMGOV research group to carry out research which examines international drug trafficking between Latin America and Europe. Their goal is to code judicial documents, conduct other forms of secondary data collection, and conduct field interviews in Brazil and Colombia. They will also be a member of and participate in the activities of the entire Project team and will be asked to contribute to those activities as required by the Principal Investigator. The post holder is expected to present a certain level of experience in original data collection and in-depth knowledge of Brazil and Colombia. 

The position is based at CEE, Sciences Po but the place of residence of the post holder is negotiable. The position is part-time, fixed at 80% (4 working days).

Responsibilities:

• Conduct coding of texts in Spanish and Portuguese.
• Conduct field interviews in Colombia and Brazil.
• Manage own academic research and administrative activities. This will involve small-scale project management, coordinating multiple aspects of work.
• Adapt existing and develop new research methodologies and materials, as required.
• Collect and analyse mainly qualitative data from a variety of sources, reviewing and refining theories as appropriate.
• Contribute to research publications.
• Contribute to CRIMGOV team activities as required.
• Represent the research group at internal and external meetings/seminars and present papers at conferences and public meetings.
• Carry out collaborative projects with colleagues in the team, partner departments and international collaborators.
• Represent the research group at external meetings/seminars, either with other members of the group or alone.
• Any other duties as required by the PI that are commensurate with the grade and responsibilities of the post.