Two fully funded 4-year PhD positions on SNF Project on 'moral economies of racial reckoning' (m/w/d)
Universität St. Gallen
St.Gallen
Key information
- Publication date:10 November 2025
- Workload:5 – 100%
- Place of work:St.Gallen
Application process:
Please submit your applications by January 9th, 2026 including;
- A letter of motivation (max. 1 page)
- A CV
- A research proposal (max. 2 pages) indicating your interest in either work package 2 or 3 (or both), and some suggestions for a doctoral project within that
- A writing sample (e.g. BA thesis chapter, published paper)
- Names and contact details of two academic referees
- Transcripts of any certificates and degrees
If your application was successful in the first round, you will be notified and invited for an interview by January 30th, 2026. Interviews will take place on zoom from the 16th February 2026.
Please also note that should your application have been successful, you will still need to submit your PhD application through the formal channels to the University of St. Gallen before May 2026.
For any questions, feel free to reach out to Insa Lee Koch at E-Mail schreiben.
Your tasks
Project description:
In 2020, the police murder of George Floyd sparked a significant moment of racial reckoning. Under the banner of Black Lives Matter, activists around the globe highlighted how contemporary racial injustices are deeply tied to histories of imperialism and transatlantic slavery. In the United Kingdom, once the world's largest empire and a key actor in the transatlantic slave trade, this reckoning extended far beyond activist circles. This ethnographic project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, investigates these emerging 'moral economies of racial reckoning', focusing on how different groups engage with Britain's imperial past and its present racial realities, and against the backdrop of increasing political and legal backlash. The project consists of three interconnected work packages, examining: (1) Elite actors (e.g. corporations, government institutions) who engage with their imperial legacies through discourses of responsibility and reparations, (2) Cultural and educational institutions (e.g. museums, trusts, schools, media outlets) working to educate the broader public, and (3) social movements and grassroots actors advancing systemic change through abolitionist or legal reformist strategies.
We are inviting applications for two fully funded PhD positions linked to Work Package 2 and Work Package 3:
- Work Package 2 explores representational practices among cultural and educational actors, including how they reckon with historical complicity in slavery, engage in reform, and frame, disseminate or contest understandings of responsibility.
- Work Package 3 explores how grassroots groups, activists and social movements advocate for systemic and anti-racist changes in relation to policing, criminal justice, or other dominant political, institutional and legal structures.
- PhD students will design and carry out an original doctoral project with 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork.
- PhD students will contribute to the broader research project, led by Prof. Insa Lee Koch (University of St. Gallen), alongside postdoctoral researcher Dr. Victoria Klinkert and project partner Dr. Farhan Samanani (King's College London).
Your profile
We are looking for candidates who meet the following criteria:
- A completed Master's degree (MA/MSc) in anthropology, ethnology, sociology, criminology, human geography, or a closely related discipline
- Applicants without formal social science training should demonstrate a clear research background related to the project themes. These applicants still need to have an MA/MSc degree to be admitted to the doctoral studies programme at the University of St. Gallen
- Experience with qualitative research, especially ethnographic fieldwork
- Familiarity with debates around racial justice, state racism and social inequalities within anthropology and other social science disciplines
- Willingness to take up residence in St. Gallen, Switzerland (apart from fieldwork)
- A high motivation to work as part of a dynamic research team at the Department of British Cultures
"A place where knowledge is created" - As one of Europe's leading universities of economics and business administration, the University of St.Gallen (HSG), Switzerland, is committed to the education of over 10'000 students. The HSG is one of the largest employers in the region and provides an attractive and innovative environment for more than 3'500 researchers, educators and professional staff.
