项目介绍

2026年2月1日

JUST ART: Performing multispecies justice in the Dutch Caribbean

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam is seeking a PhD candidate to investigate visions of multi-species justice in and through theatre and performance practices. In recent years, numerous theatre projects have explored social and more-than-human justice by staging alternative realities or imagined futures. ‘Performing multi-species justice’ seeks to ethnographically examine practices in and of decolonial, multispecies theatre in the Dutch Caribbean, where islands are severely affected by rising sea levels and, consequently, by coastal land and biodiversity loss. The aim is to identify and articulate artistic research avenues that respond to and reflect on the islands’ ecological urgencies, for the critical reimagination of other-than-human subjectivities. This can include applied, or community theatre, or other devised performance-based methodologies.

Together with our cooperation partners, the project seeks to examine artistic and cultural performance practices with a decolonial approach to multi-species justice in the DC. This will involve examining the politics of production and representation and expanding the performance space into a playground for critical engagement with multispecies imaginaries.

The project is funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and led by the University of Groningen. It offers 10 fully funded PhD Positions at six universities in collaboration with Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and four universities of applied sciences.

What are you going to do

• Your primary responsibility will be to develop your own artistic research PhD project that explores artistic propositions for envisioning multispecies justice and collaborates with partners to create a theatre and/or performance work as a methodological intervention within your research context.
• You will follow mandatory and optional coursework as part of the PhD programme of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and participate in pre- and post-fieldwork PhD groups at the Department of Anthropology.

• Take an active part in the wider JUST ART community and contribute to collaborative knowledge exchange and dissemination activities with JUST ART partners.
• Conduct 12-months of fieldwork in the country of your case study.
• Submit a PhD thesis (ca. 70.000 words) within the period of appointment.
• Teaching (up to 10% of your time) and organisational support for the project leader will be part of your job responsibilities. These tasks will help you gain valuable professional experience while working toward your PhD.

What do you have to offer

• You have completed a master’s degree or equivalent with a relevant specialisation within the social sciences or humanities, preferably anthropology and/or theatre and performance studies.
• Affinity with artistic and co-creative methodological approaches.
• The skills needed to finish a PhD thesis in four years, i.e., an independent and proactive work attitude, excellent planning and academic writing and research skills.
• Cultural sensitivity in conducting research that is respectful and ethically sound
• Good command of English (Dutch and/or Papiamentu is desirable).

Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere, you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA. 

This is what we offer you

The position concerns temporary employment of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of four years. Initial employment is for one year and will in principle start on 15 August 2026. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances, this term will be extended by a maximum of three years, which should result in the conferral of a doctorate.

For this position the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” applies.

Your salary will be €3.059 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €3.881 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week and in keeping with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities. We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits, including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.

We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events. The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and education.

What else do we offer

• A position in which initiative and input are highly valued;
• an enthusiastic and warm team that is open to new colleagues;
• an inspiring academic and international community in the heart of Amsterdam.