PhD Opportunities in Anthropology in Netherlands

Radboud University is recruiting a PhD candidate for the BALANS project, a national research initiative on balancing the practical functionality of waterways with their biodiversity value. The project focuses on waterways such as ditches, where maintenance is necessary to preserve water flow but can substantially affect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The PhD research will examine how waterway management practices—including the timing, frequency and spatial scale of mowing, as well as the ma...

Eindhoven University of Technology is inviting applications for a PhD project on worker-augmenting technology implementation within the multidisciplinary NWA-project AUGMENT. The research asks how workers can shape the AI and robotic systems they use so that technology supports, rather than replaces, human work. Embedded in the Human Performance Management group of the School of Industrial Engineering, the project connects work and organizational psychology, work design, human-technology interac...

The PhD researcher will join the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society at Leiden University as part of the Minaret Project , an interdisciplinary and transnational research initiative on the links between law, religion, and governance in post-imperial Muslim-majority societies. The project brings together multiple universities and PhD researchers and is organized around comparative work packages and subprojects. This position is attached to the subproject “Neo-Imperialism and...

The Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) offers funded research stays in Rome for students and early-career researchers whose projects benefit from access to the city’s libraries, archives, museums, and broader scholarly environment. The stay is designed to support work connected to Italian culture, history, and archaeology, with accommodation inside the institute and access to its academic life. Selected participants stay in KNIR for either 7 or 10 weeks depending on the category of appli...

This PhD project at Eindhoven University of Technology focuses on using data science, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics to understand and improve how housing conditions affect children’s health and development. The research asks how inadequate insulation, heating, and ventilation during pregnancy and early childhood shape health outcomes, which housing upgrades offer the greatest benefits, and how behavioural modelling and AI can support healthier, more equitable homes. The success...

This PhD project explores how workers can shape the AI and robotic systems they use so that technology supports rather than replaces human work. The research sits within the NWA project AUGMENT , which focuses on worker-augmenting technology implementation across different organizations and job contexts. You will study how technologies are selected, introduced, and adapted in everyday work, and how decision opportunities for workers can be designed so they improve job quality, well-being, and pe...

Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam is seeking an experienced researcher to work on entrepreneurship, innovation ecosystems, and the dynamics of fast-growing firms such as startups and scaleups. The position sits at the intersection of science and practice, with a strong focus on turning research into actionable insights for organizations, policymakers, and other societal partners. The role involves taking the substantive lead in research projects: shaping r...

Leiden University’s Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology is offering a full-time PhD position on financial vulnerability and criminal fines in the Netherlands. The project examines how financial vulnerability may affect the imposition and enforcement of criminal fines, how fines impact people in practice, and how these issues relate to core legal principles. The doctoral researcher will combine social-scientific and legal research in a socio-legal project. The work includes interviews, stat...

This PhD project is part of the NWA-funded CRISP consortium, which brings together knowledge institutions and ministries to improve the connection between research and public policy. The doctoral researcher will work on the subproject Policy Lab Justice and Security: Intermediary between Knowledge and Sanction Policy at the Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Leiden University. The project asks what kinds of knowledge policymakers need in order to work evidence-based in th...