Research Fellowships for the Department of Political and Social Sciences

International relations and European studies (area 14/A2): theory of international relations; international politics; European integration; strategic studies; international political economy; foreign policy analysis; conflict processes.

History of international relations and non-European societies and institutions (area 14/B2): the historical reconstruction of the relationships between state and non-state actors of the international system, also taking into account the specific case of the history of Central and Eastern Europe; the history and institutions of the American continent (with particular regard to the United States of America and Latin America), the African continent (with particular regard to Mediterranean Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the Muslim world, Ethiopia and southern Africa), the Asian continent (with particular regard to the areas of the Muslim world, India, China, Japan, and the Near, Middle and Far East).

The selection procedure is open to candidates possessing a Ph.D. or equivalent qualification. Candidates must possess the admission requirements on the deadline for submission of applications laid down in this call. Candidates who do not possess the admission requirements will not be considered.
The selection is not open to any person related, by blood or by marriage up to the fourth degree, to a professor working in the Department or which the call is issued, or to the Rector, Director General or a member of the Board of Governors of the University.
The selection is also not open to anyone who has held research fellowship contracts with any institution, pursuant to Italian Law no. 240/2010, for a period which, summed to the foreseen duration of this contract, exceeds a total of 6 years, excluding any period in which the contract coincided with a Ph.D. without scholarship, for the maximum limit of the legal duration of the Ph.D. programme.

Furthermore, the selection is not open to anyone who has had research fellowship or fixed-term researcher contracts at the University of Bologna or any other state-funded, privately-funded or distance-learning Italian university pursuant to articles 22 and 24 of Italian Law no. 240/2010, or with any other body listed in paragraph 1 of Art. 22 of Italian Law no. 240/2010 for a period which, summed to the foreseen duration of this contract, exceeds a total of 12 (even non-consecutive) years. For the purposes of the duration of the above-described periods, in compliance with the laws in force, any periods of maternity or sick leave shall not be calculated.

Applications may only be submitted online by accessing the "FrontOffice" section of the website: https://personale.unibo.it, after completing the registration process, following the web procedure instructions. The last day available to submit the application, under penalty of exclusion, is June 23, 2020; applications submitted after this time will not be considered.
The date shown on the receipt sent electronically to the candidate is deemed to be the date of the application submission.
The Department is in no way responsible for applications submitted after the above-mentioned deadline or not submitted at all.
Any communications will be sent to candidates exclusively via email, to the address provided in the application.
In the online application, candidates must follow the web procedure instructions and specify, under their own responsibility:

The candidates in possession of a qualification obtained abroad must include as an annex to their applications a translation into Italian or English of their foreign qualification, accompanied by a sworn statement that it is a faithful translation of the original certificate. The foreign qualification may be declared admissible by the Evaluation Board, solely for the purposes of admission to the selection procedure.

In case of award, the winning candidates having obtained their qualification in a country outside of the European Union, must provide the Structure, in the same manner as laid down for the presentation of applications, the official translation with a declaration of value of the foreign qualification issued by the competent diplomatic representation or Italian consulate in their home country, in accordance with the applicable laws, within 30 days from the notification of official approval of the selection procedure reports. If the documents are not received by the Structure within the stated deadline, the candidate will not be awarded the contract.

Candidates must enclose, under penalty of exclusion, an original research project which has not been developed in collaboration with others or related to which others may not claim to have been involved in the original drafting. The project, drawn up in English for a maximum of 3000 words (excluding bibliographic references and any tables and/or figures), must be directly related to one of the four scientific areas listed in art. 1 of this call for applications and contain an initial, clear indication of the scientific area of relevance.
Within the framework of this call, each candidate can submit only one research project, under penalty of exclusion from the selection process.
The project must indicate the research object and goals, as well as the time frame for the development of the project. It is also suggested that the project have a section relating to the theoretical framework and the scientific relevance of the proposed study, a section presenting the main research questions and hypotheses, a methodological section that discusses the possible analytical perspectives, the tools, techniques used in the study and any further element that may be useful to evaluate the project’s practical and scientific feasibility.
Candidates must also enclose the following with their applications (failure to do so entails exclusion from the selection procedure) the following documents in pdf format:

Candidates with certified disabilities pursuant to art.3 of Italian Law no. 104 of 05.12.1992 may in their application request the benefits laid down in art. 20 of the same Law, enclosing the original or an authenticated copy of the certification relative to the specific disability issued by the competent territorial medical board. The signature on the application does not require authentication and is obligatory, otherwise the application will not be accepted. Candidates are admitted to the selection procedure with reserve. At any time, even after participation in any tests, the Administration may, with justification, exclude them from the selection procedure. The concerned candidate will be notified of such exclusion.

The comparative evaluation of the candidates and their projects will be carried out by an Evaluation Board. The Department Council, after having consulted the Research Delegate, appoints the Board, made up of nine professors or researchers from the Department, and indicates its president.
The selection procedure will focus on the examination of:

The Board will initially assess the elements referred to in points a), b) and c), and will admit, in the light of those results, at least three candidates for each scientific area to the interview phase (point d).
During the interview, the Board will also verify the candidates' knowledge of the English language on relevant sectoral topics. The interview can be conducted in English on the candidate’s request.
The list of candidates admitted to interview will be published on the Department of Political and Social Science’s website (http://www.dsps.unibo.it/it, “bandi / calls” section)
The list will also be published on the University’s “Calls, contracting and competitions” website at: https://bandi.unibo.it/ricerca/assegni-ricerca

For information contact the phone number 051 2092501/09.

The date of the interview will be communicated in writing to admitted candidates at least 20 days before by e-mail or certified e-mail.
The interview will take place, remotely via telematics, using the teleconference tool in audio and video via the Microsoft Teams platform (the workstation from which candidates will take the test must be equipped with a webcam - essential for the recognition of the candidate - with microphone and headphones and / or speakers).

At the beginning of the online interview, candidates must present the same identification document to the Commission attached at the time of submitting the application. The interview is in public form, so as to ensure maximum participation.
Candidates admitted to the interview are invited to contact the Board promptly at the following email address: sps.direttore.mbx@unibo.it.

At the end of the selection procedure, the Board will draw up a separate ranking list of candidates for each of the four areas listed in art. 1, which will be posted in the Department’s notice board; those ranking lists will remain valid for a period of five months.
If two candidates receive the same scores, preference will be given to the younger candidate.
The Department Head shall confirm in writing his/her approval of the lists drawn up by the Board, which will be published on the following website: https://bandi.unibo.it/ricerca/assegni-ricerca.

The list of candidates may be used to award other research fellowships within the same scientific area, possibly for a shorter duration than that indicated in the call for applications and in any case for no less than one year.

The research fellowships have a duration that varies according to the scientific area in which they are awarded:

1. Public Policies and Judicial Systems: 25 months;
2. International Relations and European Studies: 25 months;
3. Sociology: 30 months;
4. Area Studies: 21 months.

The fellowships may be extended in the terms laid down in article 8 of the University Regulation concerning research fellowships, as issued by D.R. no. 416 of April 19, 2011.
The gross amount of the research fellowship contract is € 19,367.00 per annum. The amount is exempt of withholding tax and includes all statutory social security charges to which research fellows are subject.
The amount will be paid in deferred monthly payments.
The research fellows are covered by accident insurance, against payment of the required contribution which will be withheld from the first monthly instalment.

Successful candidates will be invited to sign a contract for research activities with the Department no later than October 1, 2020.
The non-acceptance within the deadline notified by the structure shall lead to the forfeiture of the right  to sign the contract.

For obligatory maternity leave, the contract is governed by the provisions of paragraph 6 art. 22 of Italian Law no. 240/2010.
The research activities are carried out under the supervision of the tutor, in a non-subordinate relationship with no fixed working hours. The research fellow shall personally carry out the required activities laid down in the Activity Programme without any substitution. Except for authorized missions or explicit dispensations granted by the tutor, it is understood that the research activities will be carried out at the Department of Political and Social Sciences.
At the end of the project activities, each research fellow shall present a detailed final report to Department’s Research Quality Commission and its Board, describing the activities carried out, the results achieved and the scientific developments, accompanied by the tutor’s assessment.
The research fellow may spend a period of study abroad, according to a programme agreed with the Department and with expenses borne by the Department, without prejudice to the possibility to obtain specific funding.

Industrial Property rights over the results achieved by the Research Fellow in the execution of research activities undertaken on behalf of the University, including but not limited to industrial inventions, models, drawings, plant varieties, as well as the intellectual and industrial property rights deriving from the production of software or databases (“Results”), belong exclusively to the University, which may freely use them also within agreements made by the departments with third parties, without prejudice to the moral rights of the Research Fellow who shall be acknowledged as the author or inventor.

The research fellow has the right to publish the results of his/her research activities, provided that the publication does not prejudice the rights of the University over the protection of the results.
The research fellow therefore undertakes to promptly notify the achievement of the results to the tutor, who shall verify the existence of any such prejudice.
In any case the Research Fellow undertakes to sign a specific Undertaking of Confidentiality with the referred Structure, which will be annexed to the contract.

The position of research fellow is incompatible with the following positions:

Employees of public administrations other than those listed in point a) with a fixed-term, permanent or part-time contract shall take unpaid leave of absence for the whole period of the research contract.
Freelance professional activities are compatible with the research fellowship contract where authorised in advance by the Board of the structure, with the motivated opinion of the tutor and having verified that the activities in addition to the research fellowship do not prejudice the regular execution of the contract.
The accumulation of the research fellowship contract with study grants awarded for any purpose is not permitted, with the exception of those granted by national or foreign institutions for the purposes of integrating the research activities with study periods abroad.
The above requirements must be possessed from the moment of entry into force of the contract. The winning candidate shall sign a specific affidavit undertaking to notify the department of any variations in the declared situations as soon as they occur.

Any candidate who within the deadline notified by the structure does not sign the contract, unless for promptly and duly demonstrated reasons of health or force majeure, shall forfeit the right to sign the contract.
Serious and significant non-compliance pursuant to the provisions of Articles 1453 and following of the civil code by the research fellow are sufficient cause for ending the contract. Such circumstances must be reported and motivated by the tutor and notified to the Department Head, who can submit to the Department Council the proposal to interrupt the collaboration and the provision of the fellowship.

For any matters not laid down in this call for applications, refer to the Regulation on Research Fellows issued by the University of Bologna by Rectoral Decree no. 416 dated 19.04.2011 and other statutory regulations in force.
The personal data provided by the candidates in their applications, pursuant to Regolamento (UE) 2016/679 and of the D.Lgs. 196/2003 e ss.mm.ii, shall be processed for the purposes of managing the selection procedure and the contract. The relative privacy policy is available at the following link:
https://www.unibo.it/en/university/privacy-policy-and-legal-notes/privacy-policy/information-noteon-the-processing-of-personal-data.