Individual Afr Grant

**_Campus Belval, 11, Porte des Sciences, L - 4366 Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg_**
**_ _**
**The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) calls for**

**PhD applicants**

**in Economics, Geography and Social Sciences (f/m) - Ref: 22-37**

The doctoral project represents an excellent opportunity for qualified students to contribute to the knowledge in public policies, empirical research and/or spatial modelling.

We particularly welcome applicants who would like to develop a PhD project along the research areas listed below, in collaboration between LISER, the University of Luxembourg or other universities abroad:
Research topics to develop with supervisors from the _Urban Development and Mobility _Department:

- **Political and libidinal economies of land and housing**
(Supervisor: Dr. Antoine Paccoud)

Abstract: Land and housing are unequally distributed, and are growing increasingly so. Recent research has drawn out some of the wealth generating strategies of landowners, developers and property investors linked to the concentrated ownership of land and housing: land hoarding, the management of housing supply and the crowding out of owner-occupiers. Less is however known of what drives these actors to accumulate land and housing. While frameworks such as the financialisation of housing and rentier capitalism provide accounts of the policies and technologies that spur these accumulative logics on, they tend to neglect libidinal attachments to property at the individual and group level. This neglect of the ways in which property implicates more than purely financial logics in turn complicates attempts to introduce political change. Drawing on insights from psychoanalysis, the thesis project would aim to supplement existing conceptualisations of accumulation by investigating the specific case of property and its libidinal economy.
- **History of the Greater Region and the Upper Rhine region**
(Supervisors: Dr. Christophe Sohn & Prof. Birte Wassenberg (University of Strasbourg)

Abstract: In a context marked by the resurgence of national borders in the political agendas of European states, the way in which cross-border regions present themselves and the meaning their stakeholders give to national borders represent a timely scientific question and a key issue for the future of border regions. This PhD research proposal focuses on the multimodal analysis of visual discourses related to the political construction of cross-border regions in Europe from their emergence in the 1960s-70s to the present day. More specifically, the objective of the research would be to decode the meaning of the visual materials mobilized in the narratives on cross-border cooperation and the semantic changes that have taken place throughout their history. The empirical research will focus on the Greater Region and the Upper Rhine region, two emblematic cross-border regions of the European construction. In both cases, the analysis of visual materials would concern documents produced by the cross-border cooperation initiatives (reports, policy briefs, websites, etc.) and articles published in the regional press. The PhD research would be co-supervised by Birte Wassenberg, professor of contemporary history and expert of the European construction at the Institute of Political Studies of Strasbourg and Christophe Sohn from LISER. A joint supervision is envisaged between the universities of Luxembourg and Strasbourg.
- **A data-driven solution to analyze air pollution in Luxembourg and its bordering areas**
(Supervisor: Dr. Hichem Omrani)

**Your profile**
- Excellent verbal communication and academic writing skills in English;
- Enthusiasm for research and critical thinking.

**_LISER particularly encourages female researchers to apply._**

**Our offer**

For successful AFR applicants, we offer:

- An exciting multi-disciplinary and international research environment with ample opportunities to exchange with scholars from related disciplines at both LISER and the University of Luxembourg;
- A highly **competitive salary** for a full-time PhD position for a period of maximum **4 consecutive years **(3+1 years);
- A **package of mentoring, training and career development** as well as access to a wide range of courses and seminars offered by LISER and the University of Luxembourg.

**About the departments**

The _Living Conditions Department _studies the multiple dimensions of individuals’ and families’ lives which are at the heart of both the causes of and consequences of inequality. Such dimensions span from early childhood to old age through educational attainment, marital decisions and family formation, fertility choices, and labor market outcomes up to and including retirement. Quantitative, typically survey-based research, examines household income, wealth, inequality, poverty and social inclusion from a variety of perspectives. The impact evaluation of socio-fiscal, family, educational, health, pension and wider social