MSCA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS AT VU FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY, INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH, ROMANCE AND CLASSICAL STUDIES, DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH PHILOLOGY (Gender studies, motherhood, mobility/migration, comparative literature, French studies)

Vilnius University (VU) invites motivated researchers with a strong track record to prepare joint applications for 2024 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA PF) call with a deadline on September 11, 2024. MSCA PF are among the flagship, most prestigious research fellowships in Europe, with the objective of supporting researchers’ careers, enhancing their creative and innovative potential, and fostering excellence in research.

• European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers of any nationality who wish to engage in R&I projects by either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe (12-24 months).
• Global Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to European nationals or long-term residents who wish to engage in R&I projects with organisations outside EU Member States and Horizon Europe Associated Countries (12-24 months outgoing phase in a non-associated Third Country & 12 months mandatory return phase to a host organisation in Europe).
• Extra funding opportunity! If you apply for the European Postdoctoral Fellowship with the host institution located in a widening country (Lithuania), and in case your proposal is not funded under the MSCA PF call due to a lack of budget, it will be automatically resubmitted to ERA Fellowships call and will have one more opportunity to get funding.

HOST INSTITUTION AND RESEARCH GROUP

VU is one of the oldest higher education institutions in Eastern and Central Europe. It tops the ranking as the number one university in Lithuania and leads the country in education, a broad spectrum of fundamental and applied research, training and retraining programs, and consultancy services and provides research and development services to a wide range of businesses. VU offers dynamic research and training environment and is well integrated into a collaborative network of international universities.

Dr. Eglė Kačkutė is heading an interdisciplinary research group “Thinking Motherhood“ at VU Faculty of Philology that brings together scholars in cultural, literary, and gender studies, sociology as well as medicine and who are all part of the H2020 project MotherNet, a network of the most prominent motherhood scholars in Europe across three universities: Vilnius, Uppsala and Maynooth. Thus, the candidate would avail of rich library resources in motherhood studies at VU as well as a stimulating intellectual environment in terms of interdisciplinary motherhood and gender studies.

SUPERVISOR

Dr. Eglė Kačkutė is currently coordinating the H2020 project MotherNet, was the co-investigator on the AHRC funded project Salt Babies that set up the Slavic and East European Maternal Studies scholars network and worked as a researcher at the ERASMUS+ project Need to Connect. She has held two postdoctoral positions in gender and literary studies and has published widely on motherhood in relation to migration in journals that include Women’s Studies International Forum and Women: A Cultural Review. Her chapters have appeared in books published by Brill-Rodopi, Palgrave Macmillan, and Routledge. She has co-edited a book and two special issues in contemporary women’s writing, co-authored a book and a series of exhibitions "Portrait of a (Working) Mother" with the photographer Marina Cavazza and collaborated with community workers in Switzerland and in Ireland.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE AND PERSONAL SKILLS

• Interest in interdisciplinary research, gender theory and/or feminist motherhood studies, as well as ambition for research excellence in those areas;
• Interest in mobility, migration, and transnational studies;
• Flexible, creative, and adaptable;
• Working in the area of French and francophone studies and openness to providing some teaching would be a bonus.   

ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

• Supported fellows must be in possession of PhD at the call deadline (September 11, 2024).
• Have up to 8 years full-time equivalent experience in research from the date of award of the doctoral degree at the call deadline.
• Fellows must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the beneficiary (for European Postdoctoral Fellowships), or the host organisation for the outgoing phase (for Global Postdoctoral Fellowships) for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the call deadline

Detailed information on the eligibility can be found on p. 91-94 of the MSCA Work Programme 2023-2024.

HOW TO APPLY?

• Contact the supervisor Dr. Eglė Kačkutė (egle.kackute-hagan@flf.vu.lt) directly to express your interest in making a joint application based on your research interests. Do not forget to provide the following documents (cc to research@cr.vu.lt):
  - curriculum vitae
  - list of publications 
  - proposal summary
• Request a letter from your supervisor endorsing you as a candidate, and send it to the Research Projects Office (research@cr.vu.lt). The candidates who wish to participate in VU MSCA PF Webinar are kindly requested to submit their endorsement letters by May 31, 2024.
• After receiving your supervisor’s endorsement, you can start preparing your MSCA PF project proposal. Please note that in order to prepare and submit your application on time (by September 11, 2024), you can seek support from VU Research Projects Office (research@cr.vu.lt).

For more information follow the link.