For more than 50 years, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has stood for f reedom, equality and solidarity, and this is very much alive on our campuses among students and staff alike.
At the VUB, you will find a diverse collection of personalities: innovators pur sang, but above all people who are 100% their authentic selves With some 4,000 employees, we are the largest Dutch-speaking employer, in the private sector, in Brussels; an international city with which we are only too happy to connect and where (around) our 4 campuses are located.
Add to this our principle of free research - in which self-reflection, a critical attitude and an open, creative mind around scientific and social issues are central - and you have a university that is fundamentally groundbreaking and pioneering in education and research. In short: the VUB all over again
Moreover, the VUB is a member of EUTOPIA, an alliance of like-minded European universities, all ready to reinvent themselves.
The Brussels School of Governance, Department Institute for European Studies, Research Group European security in the Indo-Pacific age is looking for a PhD-student with a doctoral grant
The Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) of the Brussels School of Governance (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) is seeking to recruit a PhD researcher to work on a research project funded by the Flemish Research Foundation (FWO) entitled: “The Weaponisation of Ideas: US–China Competition in the Symbolic Field”.
The project is led by Prof. Caterina Carta and embedded within CSDS’ broader research agenda on great power competition, international security and strategic narratives.
CSDS is a leading research centre in the field of international security, diplomacy, and strategy, with strong expertise in great power competition, transatlantic relations, and Asia–Europe relations. Researchers will be embedded in an international, interdisciplinary, and methodologically diverse environment, and will benefit from extensive academic and policy networks in Brussels and beyond.
More concretely your work package, for the preparation of a doctorate, contains:
While International Relations scholarship has extensively examined the military, economic and technological dimensions of US–China rivalry, this project focuses on its ideational and symbolic dimensions. It investigates how ideological, cultural and civilisational narratives are mobilised as instruments of power and how they contribute to the construction of adversarial collective identities.
Grounded in International Relations theory and discourse theory, the project analyses US and Chinese narratives between 2000 and 2024 across multiple symbolic fields, including official political discourse, academic debates and selected cultural outputs. Methodologically, it adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining machine-learning–enhanced text-as-data analysis with qualitative discourse analysis.
The project aims to produce a set of high-quality scholarly outputs, including peer-reviewed journal articles, a research monograph and an edited volume, alongside policy-oriented publications and expert workshops. Researchers recruited under this project will contribute to the collection, organisation and analysis of large textual corpora (English- and Chinese-language), the development of analytical categories and indicators and the interpretation of discursive patterns related to identity, ideology and strategic rivalry. The project places strong emphasis on collaborative research, methodological pluralism and publication-oriented teamwork, and is particularly suited to candidates interested in combining theoretical work in International Relations and discourse theory with hands-on empirical analysis using qualitative and computational methods.
You will devote most of your working time to research. Additional tasks may include limited teaching activities, event organisation, and contributions to the broader activities of CSDS. The postdoc is expected to publish in peer-reviewed journals and actively contribute to the project’s collective outputs.
For this function, our Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus (Elsene) will serve as your home base.
What do we expect from you?
You hold a Master’s degree in International Relations, Political Science or a closely related discipline with excellent results.
The following will be considered strong assets:
The VUB wants to be a reflection of the society where everyone's talent is valued, regardless of gender, age, religion, skin color, migration background, disability and neurodiversity.
Are you going to be our new colleague?
You’ll be offered a full-time PhD-scholarship, for 12 months (extendable up to max. 48 months, on condition of the positive evaluation of the PhD activities), with planned starting date 01/09/2026
You’ll receive a grant linked to one of the scales set by the government.
IMPORTANT: The effective result of the doctorate scholarship is subject to the condition precedent of your enrolment as a doctorate student at the university.
At the VUB, you’re guaranteed an open, involved and diverse workplace where you are offered opportunities to (further) build on your career.
As well as this, you will also enjoy various other benefits
Is this the job you’ve been dreaming of?
Then apply, at the latest on 15/03/2026, via jobs.vub.be, and upload the following documents:
Within the framework of the project, we invite you to submit a proposal on a topic related to:
Our application process is as follows (subject to change):
Do you have questions about the job content? Contact Caterina Carta at Caterina.Carta@vub.be or on +32 2 614 80 01.
Would you like to know what it’s like to work at the VUB? Go to jobs.vub.be, and find all there is to know about our campuses, benefits, strategic goals and your future colleagues.
Would you like more information about EUTOPIA? Go to eutopia-university.eu, and read more about the role of the VUB in the development of the EUTOPIA alliance.
