PhD Postion DIViNE Doctoral Network

Department of Social and Political Sciences

Organisation/Company University of Milan Department Department of Social and Political Sciences Research Field Political sciences » Other Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 15 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Rome) Country Italy Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Horizon Europe - MSCA Marie Curie Grant Agreement Number 101312379 Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

The DIViNE Doctoral Network (Democratic Institutions and Violence Network in Europe) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network funded under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101312379, call HORIZON-MSCA-2025-DN-01). The network brings together five leading European universities - Università degli Studi di Milano (UMIL, coordinator), University of Essex (UESSEX), Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), and Uppsala Universitet (UU) - alongside non-academic partners across Europe.

DIViNE trains a new generation of researchers capable of rigorously analysing political violence in democratic contexts. The network combines large-scale data collection and computational methods with qualitative fieldwork, historical analysis, and theory-building. Its four thematic work packages cover: WP1 - Conflict inheritance and legacies in democracies; WP2 - Democratization and conflict resolution; WP3 - Dynamics of support for violent movements and responses; WP4 - Democratic resilience and violent stress.

The Università degli Studi di Milano (Department of Social and Political Sciences) invites applications for two fully-funded doctoral positions within the DIViNE network: DC1 - Historical Legacies of Violence and Democratic Institutions, WP1 – Conflict Inheritance and Legacies in Democracies.

Host institution: Università degli Studi di Milano, PhD programme in Intersectoral Innovation, with periods of training and mobility at the partner institutions of the network, in accordance with the individual plan of each project.

Duration: 36 months.

Start of activities: January – February 2027

Position DC1 — Historical Legacies of Violence and Democratic Institutions

Project Description

This doctoral project investigates how past political violence shapes the functioning of contemporary democratic institutions. Using a comparative framework focused on Spain, Italy, and potentially an additional Cold War case, the project examines the mechanisms through which historical legacies — including memory transmission, institutional continuity, and elite adaptation — impact present political behaviour and institutional performance.

The research integrates archival analysis, qualitative process tracing, and quantitative event-data methods, contributing to debates on democratic resilience, the long-term imprint of political violence, and the conditions under which democracies successfully manage conflict inherited from authoritarian or violent pasts.

Supervisory Team

• Co-supervisor based at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M)

Hosting and Mobility

• Non-academic secondment: International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) and or Fondazione Feltrinelli Milano

Research Training Requirements

• Research design for social scientists
• Qualitative methods
• Quantitative methods for social scientists

Research Training

DC1 will receive interdisciplinary training spanning:

• Advanced qualitative methods (archival research, process tracing)
• Quantitative event-data analysis and causal identification
• Comparative historical analysis of democratic institutions
• Participation in DIViNE network-wide workshops, schools, and seminars
• Policy-oriented activities through the non-academic secondment

Employment Conditions and Financial Package

The position is governed by the MSCA Doctoral Networks rules and the applicable laws of Italy (for the period hosted at UMIL). Doctoral Candidate is recruited as early-stage researchers at the beginning of their doctoral training and must not yet hold a doctoral degree at the time of recruitment.

Living Allowance: 3.821,53 €|Gross monthly allowance.

Mobility Allowance: 710,00 €|Additional flat-rate mobility contribution per month, covering household, relocation, and travel expenses.

Family Allowance: 495,00 € |Additional monthly contribution for DCs with dependent family members (subject to eligibility conditions).<