1 - Working at the VUB
For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for freedom, equality and solidarity, and this is very much alive on our campuses among students and staff alike.
At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators pur sang, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves. With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels; an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located.
Add to this our principle of free research - in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central - and you have a university that is fundamentally groundbreaking and pioneering in education and research. In short: the VUB all over again.
Moreover, the VUB is a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.
2 - Position description
The Faculty of Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Research Group ECHO: Media, Culture & Politics, and the Faculty of Languages and Humanities, Research Group CLIC: Centre for Literary & Intermedial Crossings are looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant.
As part of a newly created Brussels Centre for Interdisciplinary Resistance Studies (Inter-RESIST), you conduct research with a view to obtaining a doctoral thesis.
Research theme: The research focuses on how resistance is enacted and mediated across time and media. Through cross-historical and cross-media analyses of archival, textual, visual, and digital sources, itstudies how repertoires of resistance evolve and travel. This includes the study of ‘everyday resistance’, ‘constructive resistance’, ‘reverse discourse’ and ‘networked dissent’ (see, i.a., James C. Scott, Mona Lilja). Inter-RESIST focuses on civilian resistance against dehumanization in Belgium as well as transnationally throughout the twentieth century, and specifically resistance to the Holocaust; resistance to post-war racism targeting migrants and their descendants; and resistance to the genocide against Palestinians and its historical antecedents.
Research topic: The PhD project integrates computational content analysis, discourse analysis, and cultural transfer methodologies to examine the discursive and performative dimensions of diverse forms of resistance, ranging from clandestine pamphlets and poetry to film and social media campaigns. Drawing on digital humanities approaches, it analyses both textual and visual data.
Using digital humanities methodologies, the successful candidate will explore how repertoires of resistance travel across time, places and media by analysing historical and contemporary cultural artefacts. Possible corpora include (but are not limited to):
- underground literature and clandestine publications;
- diaries, memoirs and other ego-documents;
- graffiti, wall writings and street poetry;
- documentary film and visual testimony;
- social media activism and digital campaigns;
- literary and artistic responses to oppression, displacement and political violence.
The project adopts an explicitly interdisciplinary perspective, combining approaches from literary studies, media studies and digital humanities. It seeks to understand how resistance is narrated, visualised, translated, archived and remediated, and how cultural forms shape collective memory, solidarity and political imagination.
As part of Inter-RESIST, you are expected to, (1) actively contribute to research funding acquisition (e.g., FWO grants or European funding), (2) play a proactive role in the interdisciplinary exchanges between the different teams (History, Sociology, Literary Studies, Communication Studies, Political Science).
You have a joint affiliation with the research groups ECHO and CLIC and contribute to the daily functioning of those groups. You will be jointly supervised by Prof. Arvi Sepp and Prof. Kevin Smets, in close collaboration with Prof. Yazan Badran and the Inter-RESIST team.
You will prepare a PhD in Media and Communication Studies, Literary Studies, Translation Studies, or Interdisciplinary Studies.
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.
3 - Profile
What do we expect from you?
- You hold a Master degree in the fields of (digital) humanities or social sciences, including: Master Digital Humanities, Communication Studies, Literary Studies, Translation Studies, Cultural Studies, or related fields;
- You have an excellent active professional command of at least two of the following languages: English, Dutch, and French. Passive knowledge of other languages relevant to the research project (such as e.g. German, Arabic, Hebrew, or Russian) will be considered an advantage;
- You have experience with digital humanities approaches and tools and are willing to develop your knowledge in this area;
- Affinity and/or research experience with at least one of the core research topics of Inter-RESIST is recommended (see above);
- You can work independently but contribute to the collective project of Inter-RESIST.
- You have not performed any works in the execution of a mandate as an assistant, paid from operating resources, over a total (cumulated) period of more than 12 months.
- As a (non-)EEA national, meet the conditions for obtaining a valid permit for VUB and comply with the VUB residence requirements. More info here.
The VUB wants to be a reflection of the society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, age, religion, skin color, migration background, disability and neurodiversity.
4 - Offer
Are you going to be our new colleague?
You’ll be offered a full-time PhD-scholarship, for 12 months (extendable up to max. 48 months, on condition of the positive evaluation of the PhD activities), with planned starting date 01/11/2026.
You’ll receive a grant linked to one of the scales set by the government.
IMPORTANT: The effective result of the doctorate scholarship is subject to the condition precedent of your enrolment as a doctorate student at the university.
At the VUB, you’re guaranteed an open, involved and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities to (further) build on your career.
As well as this, you will also enjoy various other benefits:
- Extensive homeworking options, a telework allowance of 50 euros per month OR an internet fee of 20 euros per month;
- An open and informal working environment where attention is paid to work-life balance, and exceptional holiday arrangements with 35 days of leave (based on a fulltime contract), closure between Christmas and New Year and 3 extra leave days;
- Cost-free hospitalisation insurance;
- Full reimbursement of your home-to-work commute with public transport according to VUB-policy, and/or compensation if you come by bike;
- A wide selection of meals in our campus restaurants at attractive prices;
- Excellent and affordable facilities for sport and exercise, a range of discounts via Benefits@Work (in all kinds of shops, on flights, in petrol stations, amusement parks...) and Ecocheques;
- Nursery near campus, discount on holiday camps;
- The space to form your job content and to continuously learn through our VUB learning platforms and training courses;
- And finally: great colleagues with a healthy drive.
5 - Interested?
Is this the job you’ve been dreaming of?
Then apply, at the latest on 21/09/2026, via jobs.vub.be, and upload the following documents:
- your CV;
- your motivation letter;
- a writing sample (e.g., an article or paper you wrote);
- your diploma (not applicable for VUB alumni).
Our application process is as follows (subject to change):
- step 1: an initial selection based on your application file;
- step 2: a job interview.
Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Kevin Smets / Arvi Sepp at [email protected] / [email protected] or on +32 (0)2/614 86 00.
Would you like to know what it’s like to work at the VUB? Go to jobs.vub.be, and find all there is to know about our campuses, benefits, strategic goals and your future colleagues.
Would you like more information about EUTOPIA? Go to eutopia-university.eu, and read more about the role of the VUB in the development of the EUTOPIA alliance.
