Phd Position

©Helena Gerbe
PhD position (M/F/d) as part of the research project ‘Mining frontiers in the Kingdom of Hungary (16th-18th century).
The position is limited to 36 months.
The PhD position at Bochum contributes to the larger project “Commodity Frontiers in Eastern Europe: Environment and Societies at Global Risk (16th-21st Centuries)”, in collaboration with the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) and Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO). This collaborative research project situates Eastern Europe within the emerging framework of commodity frontiers, which is essential for understanding capitalism as a global phenomenon with profound social and environmental implications. Amid growing concerns over capitalism’s impact on the environment, societies, and geopolitics, the focus on commodity frontiersdynamic processes that incorporate land, labor, and resources into global economic cyclesoffers a powerful tool to analyze how these frontiers facilitate appropriation, exploitation, dispossession, and ecological degradation.
The Project
Key Responsibilities
- Conduct independent historical research aligned with project objectives
- Analyze historical sources and archival materials
- Collaborate with project partners across disciplines
- Contribute to publications, conferences, and project events

Professional and personal requirements for employment
- University degree (Master or equivalent) in history or a related field
- Demonstrated very good command of both written and spoken English and German, knowledge of Slovak, Hungarian, or any eastern European language is an advantage
- Experience with archival research and historical analysis

Tasks
- Individual research within the framework of the research project, resulting in a PhD
- Willingness to engage in interdisciplinary research
- Participation in, and support of, research, publication and outreach activities of the research group
- Obtaining your doctorate at the Ruhr University of Bochum
- Fulfilling mandatory attendance requirements in Bochum

What we offer
- Promotion of your personal development as well as your professional qualification through regular further education programs
- Flexible work time models that ensure a good work-life balance
- Social benefits: 13th salary, vacation pay, capital formation benefits
- IGBCE as tariff partner
- Extensive additional benefits: PME family service, health days, participation in company runs, very good collegial work environment, close cooperation with the works council

Application
- Cover letter to explain your motivation, experience in the field early modern mining history and resource cultures and/or early modern economic history and/or environmental history, title and content of the degree/master thesis (max. 2 pages)
- CV (max. 2 pages)
- Average grade of the student record (undergraduate and postgraduate
- Outline of a possible doctoral project to be conducted in the context of the project (in English or German, max. 3 pages)
- Writing sample (MA Thesis, publication, or anything similar)
- Copies of certificates

Timeline
- Deadline for Applications: January 15, 2025
- Applicants will be notified about whether they will be interviewed by January 20, 2025
- Interviews will take place via zoom on January 27-28, 2025
- The accepted applicant will be expected to start work in Bochum by March 1, 2025

We, the DMT-LB, are a regionally, nationally and internationally active company in science, education and culture. We operate with two well-known and recognized institutions - the DBM and the TH Georg Agricola - to the outside world.