Postdoctoral Researcher in "War and Peace" (M/F)

Job Description

Missions

CNRS Humanities & Social Sciences is issuing a call for applications for a two-year postdoctoral position on the topic “War and Peace.”
This topic has been identified by CNRS SHS in its foresight exercise as a scientific priority (https://www.inshs.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/prospective-de-cnrs-sciences-humaines-sociales).
The objective of this position is to provide a young researcher—who has held a PhD for less than three years at the time of starting the position—with meaningful experience integrating into a research unit.

Through this experience, the postdoctoral fellow will gain experience as a young researcher within a CNRS SHS research institute—in this case, the CERI at Sciences Po Paris (UMR 7050)—deepen their knowledge in the field of war, peace, and conflict studies, and develop greater scientific autonomy.
In a context marked by the proliferation of armed conflicts, the crisis of multilateralism, the persistence of structural violence, and the difficulty of transitioning to peace, the postdoctoral fellow will develop a research project focused on the contemporary dynamics of war, peace, and conflict. These issues, at the intersection of international relations, political science, history, sociology, economics, anthropology, law, and philosophy, call for a critical, transdisciplinary approach grounded in empirical realities.
The following research areas may be prioritized:
Questioning the war/peace dichotomy: Research may examine intermediate situations—neither fully at war nor at peace—through the analysis of chronic conflicts, daily or structural violence masked by formal peace agreements, or practices that straddle the internal/external security dichotomy.
Militarization, Militarism, and the Military-Industrial Complex: The increase in global military spending and the transformations in civil-military relations are giving rise to a renewed focus on research into militarization, militarism, and the military-industrial complex. We welcome research projects on these issues.
Redefining Foundational Concepts: An epistemological reflection may be conducted on the notions of war, peace, terrorism, security, and violence, in order to clarify their uses and avoid naturalizations or instrumentalizations.
Intersectionality: Intersectional approaches (gender, class, race, age) shed light on the differentiated mechanisms of violence production, particularly sexual violence as a weapon of war and the reproduction of colonial hierarchies. This approach offers another potentially fruitful avenue for the postdoctoral fellow's research.
Strategic Reflection: “Strategic reflection” refers to reasoning about the best means to achieve a given end. The postdoctoral fellow's project may follow this tradition or, from a more critical perspective, examine the production and effects of knowledge that claims to be strategic.
The postdoctoral fellow will approach these themes by examining, in a cross-cutting manner, issues of access to sources, research independence, and interdisciplinarity. They will contribute—through their research project or in parallel—to advancing the discussion on mechanisms for protecting researchers, data, and the con of their informants in sensitive field contexts, and will participate in the broader social science discourse on the methodological and ethical challenges posed by high-risk fieldwork in terms of censorship, repression, or instrumentalization.

The postdoctoral fellow will be entrusted with three main tasks:
1 Contribute to the production of a state-of-the-art review. During the first semester, they will participate in the creation of a critical synthesis of national and international research on war and peace, bringing together disciplinary approaches (history, sociology, anthropology, political science/international relations, law). A systematic review of the literature and analysis of a corpus of articles will help identify gaps and emerging trends. They will assist in organizing and facilitating seminars and conferences in collaboration with the CNRS SHS, in order to refine the research areas and hypotheses of their personal project, in collaboration with the research team.
2 Conduct an original research project. The postdoctoral researcher will conduct independent research, combining qualitative methods (interviews, case studies, documentary analysis) and, where relevant, quantitative methods (data analysis, surveys). Fieldwork may include public institutions, international organizations, citizen groups, conflict zones, or sites of memory. The objective will be to produce contextualized, pluralistic, and critical knowledge, drawing on an interdisciplinary approach and a focus on non-state actors and transnational dynamics.
3 Disseminating and promoting the results. The postdoctoral researcher will disseminate their work through academic publications and at national and international conferences. Attention may be given to outreach to institutional actors (ministries, international organizations, civil society) and participation in public debates.
This postdoctoral contract will be part of the research conducted by the CNRS in the humanities and social sciences, in collaboration with units and networks dedicated to the study of conflicts, peace processes, and transnational movements. The postdoctoral fellow will participate in the activities of their host research institute, the CERI at Sciences Po Paris. CERI's research program focuses on the study of international phenomena through a dialogue between international relations, comparative politics (including its regional studies component), and political theory. The postdoctoral fellow will work under the supervision of Mathias Delori (CNRS – CERI) and Anna Poujeau (CNRS – IFPO).

Activity

The successful candidate, who will be hired for a 24-month term beginning January 1, 2027, will carry out their work at the CERI Joint Research Unit (UMR) in collaboration with the CNRS SHS management team and under the supervision of Mathias Delori (CERI) and Anna Poujeau (IFPO).
They will present the project's findings at national and international conferences and in academic publications.
At the end of the two-year period, the postdoctoral researcher will submit a report summarizing their work and findings to CNRS Sciences humaines & sociales.
In addition to contributing to the production of a state-of-the-art review, they will develop a personal research project and work to disseminate its results.
The successful candidate will also participate in the life of the research center (CERI).

Your Profil

Skills

- Ph.D. in Humanities and Social Sciences
- The candidate is expected to have a solid understanding of the relevant research field
- Proficiency in spoken and written French and English; proficiency in other languages is a plus
- Ability to read, communicate, and write academic papers
- Ability to locate, catalog, analyze, and critically evaluate data (ability to assess the relevance of data or sources)
- Ability to write reports or outreach documents
- Ability to present results orally and in writing
- Ability to work independently and be well-organized.

Your Work Environment

The program will be held at the CERI at Sciences Po Paris, located at 28 rue des Saint-Pères, 75007 Paris.

Constraints and risks

Short-term travel within France and abroad is to be expected.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation

Monthly gross salary: €3,132 to €4,343, depending on seniority

Annual leave and RTT

44 jours

Remote Working practice and compensation

Pratique et indemnisation du TT

Transport

Prise en charge à 75% du coût et forfait mobilité durable jusqu’à 300€

About the offer

About the CNRS

The CNRS is a major player in fundamental research on a global scale. The CNRS is the only French organization active in all scientific fields. Its unique position as a multi-specialist allows it to bring together different disciplines to address the most important challenges of the contemporary world, in connection with the actors of change.

CNRS

The research professions