PhD Position in Peace Studies: ‘Refugees as peace builders: countering populist narratives and building refugee resilience for integration’

Summary of Post - PhD Position in Peace Studies:

Doctoral Researcher Peace Studies (PhD programme):

The School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin is seeking to recruit a highly motivated and outstanding doctoral researcher for a period of 4 years (48 months). The successful candidate will conduct an innovative project on refugees as peace builders: countering populist narratives and building refugee resilience. They will be co-supervised by Dr Gillian Wylie (Associate Professor in International Peace Studies, School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, principal supervisor) and Dr Vivienne Brady (Assistant Professor in Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, co-supervisor).

This project contributes to emerging research into refugees as peacebuilders, exploring their capacity to resolve displacement-related conflicts while identifying barriers to activism such as marginalisation by border regimes and political exclusion. By assessing how refugees challenge state policies, counter populist narratives and build social cohesion with host societies, factors which empower and disempower refugee political resilience will be explored as catalysts for change. Using gender-sensitive interviews and focus groups informed by feminist research coalition approaches, the project explores refugees’ lived experiences and refugee-led active coalitions in peacebuilding in the Irish socio-ecological context.

Applicants are asked to submit a research statement that demonstrates how their research background and skills match with the project, and how they would design the project (for more information, see the ‘Application procedure’ below).

Project Funding: Trinity Research Doctorate Award for Group-based Research Project

The PhD will be funded through the Trinity Research Doctorate Award for Group-based Research Projects. The successful candidate will be part of an interdisciplinary group of researchers working on projects linked under the umbrella project ‘Refugee-thrive: Building trauma-informed refugee resilience in the face of the evolving challenges of forced displacement’. The four PhD projects are:

1. Comparing refugee children’s resilience in Irish schools: EU Temporary Protection and other refugee backgrounds.
2. Refugees as peace builders: countering populist narratives and building refugee resilience for integration.
3. Mutual adaptation of refugees and the host society: building resilient communities through informal language learning and story-telling.
4. Building refugee resilience through an ethical-legal analysis of the international protection framework in Ireland.

Moving beyond traditional views of refugees as recipients of aid, these projects recognise their capacity for resilience - their ability to navigate towards and negotiate for resources in culturally meaningful ways. By pairing disciplines in innovative combinations (sociology with psychotherapy, peace studies with nursing and midwifery, linguistics with literature and law with medical ethics), Refugee-Thrive explores how institutional practices, refugee agency, community engagement and legal frameworks can better support refugee agency, resilience and inclusion in Ireland.

This research directly advances multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals by promoting quality education (SDG4), gender equality (SDG5), reduced inequalities (SDG10), and peaceful societies (SDG16). The programme ensures social impact by actively involving refugee communities throughout the research process, from design to dissemination. Output will include academic publications, evidence-based policy recommendations across education, health, housing and justice sectors, media engagement, multilingual resources, community workshops and a major conference uniting refugee communities, policymakers and service providers.

The successful candidate is expected to contribute to the ‘Refugee-thrive’ project and to the academic activities of the Trinity Centre for Forced Migration Studies (TCFMS) (https://www.tcd.ie/global/forced-migration-studies/). TCFMS creates an interdisciplinary community connecting research, teaching, policy and practice. By bringing together academics, practitioners, and experts with lived experience, TCFMS develops collaborative research initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for forcibly displaced persons. The successful candidate will join this dynamic research community, benefiting from cross-disciplinary networks and opportunities to contribute to meaningful, impact-oriented scholarship.

Applicant profile:

Applicants are expected to have a strong interest in the topic and to be intrinsically motivated to work on the PhD project as part of ‘Refugee-thrive’.

Major research activities conducted by the candidate will involve (1) collaborating closely with your research supervisors; (2) becoming familiar with the main theoretical debates in the field by engaging in a systematic reading of the literature and writing a state-of-the-art literature review for your project; (3) designing qualitative research instruments including semi-structured interviews; (4) summarizing and interpreting results for a social science audience and developing policy implications; (5) presenting work in front of different audiences at local, national and international level in conferences or networks; (6) publishing articles arising from the study together with the research supervisors.        

We are looking for enthusiastic PhD candidates who would like to write a cutting-edge PhD dissertation at Trinity College Dublin.

Qualifications

• a high 2.1 or 1st class degree at the undergraduate level in politics, ethics, sociology, gender studies or a related discipline, with exposure to issues of forced migration and/or peace and conflict studies desirable; a relevant Master’s degree is desirable.                                                                                                                    

Essential research skills

• excellent analytical skills;
• collaboration, facilitation and community engagement skills, or willingness and competence to acquire such skills in a short amount of time;
• knowledge of qualitative methods in the social sciences;
• experience in the management and analysis of qualitative data or willingness and competence to acquire such skills in a short amount of time

Other essential knowledge and skills

• strong interpersonal and relational skills;
• an interdisciplinary approach;
• excellent written and verbal communication skills in English;
• ability to structure and pursue an independent research project;
• strong motivation to publish in academic journals;
• very good organisational skills;
• ability to work effectively in a team.

Desirable

• familiarity with literature on forced migration, peace and conflict;
• interest in or basic knowledge of research ethics.

The PhD Programme at TCD School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and School of Nursing and Midwifery.

The candidate will join the structured PhD programme at the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Trinity College Dublin Ireland’s leading university, which is located on a historic campus in the heart of Dublin. The Schools will provide logistic, academic and intellectual support and integrate the successful candidate into a vibrant doctoral programme at TCD.

The School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and the School of Nursing and Midwifery offer dedicated research modules, which guides PhD students in formulating and refining their research question, fostering their legal writing and oral presentation skills, and applying for research funding. Moreover, PhD students at the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and School of Nursing and Midwifery may participate in a variety of other training courses and audit modules in their different Master’s programmes. The School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies is a member of the Trinity Research in Social Sciences (TRiSS), which connects social scientists from multiple schools and research themes for the purposes of collaboration (https://www.tcd.ie/triss/member-schools/). The School is also a member of the Trinity Long Room Hub, the university’s Arts and Humanities Institute which also offers supports to early career researchers (https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/).

PhD students are expected to collaborate closely with their supervisors and will produce a PhD in the form of a dissertation.

 Standard expectations of the post

• Critical, systematic and analytical review of relevant literature for the project.
• Writing academic output (working papers, chapters, journal articles) in excellent English.
• Conducting empirical research using primarily qualitative methods.
• Actively writing and submitting research papers for publication and contributing to joint projects or related submissions with the PhD supervisors.
• Attending meetings, workshops, and conferences.
• Disseminating academic work to specialised and general audiences.

Application Procedure                                                                                  

Informal enquiries are welcome and can be made directly to Dr Gillian Wylie, Associate Professor in International Peace Studies (wylieg@tcd.ie) or Dr Vivienne Brady, Assistant Professor in Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery (bradyvi@tcd.ie).

To apply, candidates should submit:

1. a motivation letter clearly indicating how the applicant’s profile and skills fit the requirements of the job position (max. 1 page);
2. a full curriculum vitae;
3. full transcripts;
4. a concise research statement no longer than 1,500 words excluding references (see explanation below)
5. the names and contact details of two referees (with email addresses included);
6. at least one example of your written work (in English) that shows your analytical and writing skills in politics, ethics, sociology, gender studies or a related discipline via email to:

• Dr Gillian Wylie (wylieg@tcd.ie) and Dr Vivienne Brady (bradyvi@tcd.ie)

before the closing date of June 12th, 2025 (23:59 BST).

Applications must indicate exactly “PhD Application – Refugee resilience through an ethical-legal analysis” in the subject line.