The Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences is seeking qualified candidates for the full-time post-doc position in the GAČR project: “The Jewish Triangle: Connections and Disruptions in Persianate Jewish Life during the 19th and 20th Centuries” with a start date of January 1, 2024. This position is based in Prague and for two and a half years.
The successful candidate should have
- Excellent active knowledge of Dari and Persian (for interviews with Persian-speaking Jews from Afghanistan and Iran)
- Excellent skills and experience in processing Persian language manuscripts, letters, official documents, and other relevant archival materials and ego-documents.
- Knowledge of the history of minorities within Persianate societies and the history of Afghanistan (with a focus on northern Afghanistan in the late 19th and early/mid 20th century)
- Experience in field research (conducting interviews) and a willingness to conduct field research in Israel and other locations with Persian-speaking Jews as appropriate
- Evidence of one or more scientific publications related to the requirements listed above (writing sample)
The successful candidate will be expected to publish two academic articles in English, present their research at international conferences, and organize outreach activities.
Outreach activities will include blog entries on the research results (one per year together with the PI of the project) arranging a small workshop and an international conference in collaboration with the Austrian partners. Collaboration in the preparation of the conference proceedings is also expected.
Benefits:
38,000 CZK/month before taxation.
Full health benefits.
5-weeks annual vacation.
Workplace at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
To Apply:
Please send a cover letter, CV, and the writing sample addressed to Dr. Thomas Loy at loy@orient.cas.cz. All documents must be received by November 15, 2023. All inquiries may be directed to loy@orient.cas.cz.
About the Oriental Institute:
The Oriental Institute (www.orient.cas.cz) is a public non-university research institution. The Institute currently employs approximately 30 researchers from across the Czech Republic, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Since 1993, it has fallen administratively under the auspices of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), an umbrella research institution similar in function to its counterparts in continental Europe, such as the CNRS in France. The CAS was established in 1992 as the Czech successor to the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The primary mission of the CAS and its institutes is to conduct basic research in a broad spectrum of the natural, technical and social sciences and the humanities. In a country such as the Czech Republic, where university departments dealing with Oriental studies tend to be small and understaffed, the structure of non-university research bodies with permanent research positions brings numerous benefits. Among other things, scholars are enabled to pursue their specializations according to the needs of relevant fields of study, aiming correspondingly at the highest levels of research quality. The framework of the Institute allows for a flexible and open ended approach to research initiatives in Asia-related topics, creating, in effect, an ideal environment for interdisciplinary research. The research quality is guaranteed by the Council of the Institute, composed of both internal and external members, and regular – both Czech and international – peer-review evaluations. Currently, the work of our researchers is mainly focused on the Arab world, Iran, Israel, Turkey, India, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, China, Tibet, Japan, and the ancient Near East.
The Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences does not discriminate on the basis of age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, national or ethnic origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation when considering admission to any form of membership or application for employment.