Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Ancient Near Eastern Studies 2019, Netherlands

Faculty of Humanities and the Netherlands Institute for the Near East are searching for a fixed-term Postdoctoral Researcher in Ancient Near Eastern Studies

Project description

The Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO) is pleased to offer a two-year postdoctoral fellowship hosted at Leiden University. The fellowship is aimed at candidates of any nationality who completed their doctorate (PhD) within the last four years and who have proven their potential to conduct and publish research at an international level. Applications are invited from all relevant fields within NINO’s focus areas, including the archaeology, history, languages, and cultures of Egypt, the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Persia from the Neolithic to c. 600 CE. The fellowship comes with full-time employment at the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University and with access to facilities at NINO (private office space, computer, libraries and collections). The fellow is expected to reside in or near Leiden during the appointment and to participate in the intellectual life of the Institute. All applicants are expected to seek additional affiliation to relevant researchers or research groups in the Netherlands (Leiden or elsewhere).

Key responsibilities

• Conduct original research on a topic relating to the ancient Near East; the planned research should result in a major publication or another significant contribution to the field;
• Design and teach a graduate course on “Methods and Concepts in Ancient Near Eastern Studies”, which is offered at a national level to advanced students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History, Assyriology, Classics, Egyptology, Hittitology and Coptic Studies. A budget of € 1,000 is available for the course;
• Convene an international academic conference on a topic relevant to the candidate’s own research, typically in the second year of the fellowship. A conference budget of € 12,000 is available. The proceedings of this conference will be published after peer-review in one of NINO’s book series;
• Disseminate research results to (non-)academic parties through appropriate channels.

Selection criteria

• A PhD degree in a relevant field of study, completed between January 2015 and February 2019;
• A research and publication record that is commensurate with career stage;
• Commitment to high-quality research, publication, and dissemination;
• Excellent communication and organization skills;
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team.

Our organisation

The Faculty of Humanities is rich in expertise in fields such as philosophy, religious studies, history, art history, literature, linguistics and area studies covering nearly every region of the world. With its staff of 995, the faculty provides 27 master’s and 25 bachelor’s programmes for over 7,000 students.

The Netherlands Institute for the Near East is a research centre located at the Faculty of Humanities. NINO aims to advance knowledge of the history of the ancient Near East (incl. Egypt), its archaeological remains and its cultural heritage. Its research community consists of researchers based in Leiden as well as in other Dutch universities. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to engage with this community while in residence. The fellowship grants privileged access to NINO’s specialist library and its various collections. 
The postdoctoral researcher will hold a position in the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. LIAS is committed to the integration of disciplinary and regional-historical perspectives, on a solid foundation of excellent language skills, and comprises a School of Asian Studies and a School of Middle-Eastern Studies. 

Terms and conditions

We offer a fixed-term position from September 2019 through August 2021. Salary range for a postdoctoral researcher from € 3.637,- to € 4.978,- gross per month (pay scale 11) based on a fulltime employment, commensurate with qualifications. Depending on qualifications, the researcher may start at the appropriate step in scale 10 until the candidate fully meets the requirements for scale 11 as specified by the Faculty of Humanities, particularly with regard to the number of years of relevant work experience. 

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development and sabbatical leave. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break. 

For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.