Postdoctoral Researcher in Critical Border Studies

The Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, Karelian Institute

The Karelian Institute of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies invites applications for one Postdoctoral Researcher position in Critical Border Studies on the Joensuu Campus. The position will begin on 1 September 2026. Read more below and submit your application no later than 30 June 2026.

This four-year position is intended for a scholar who obtained their PhD no more than five years ago and who seeks to develop their expertise in critical border studies (broadly defined), while demonstrating the potential to advance the field both thematically and in terms of methodology and theory.

Position

The Postdoctoral Researcher will join a research team focusing on critical border studies, which is funded by the Research Council of Finland through the PROFI 9 allocation. The position involves conducting independent and collaborative research on social, economic, regional, political, or cultural processes related to borders in a broad sense. The researcher will be part of a dynamic and interdisciplinary community exploring contemporary transformations of borders and boundaries. Thus, the project encourages innovative thematic, theoretical and methodological approaches, especially those examining processes of border-making and border-transcending.

The main duties of the Postdoctoral Researcher areto conduct research in accordance with their personal research agenda within the field of critical border studies

to contribute to project teams led by a professor specialised in critical border studies and other members of the Karelian Institute

to take an active role in preparing research funding proposals and in developing and carrying out research projects, while also advancing their own scholarly interests and objectives.

The position is based at the Karelian Institute, but it supports the UEF's Cultural Encounters, Mobilities and Borders (BOMOCULT) Research Community that brings toget