** Apologies for any cross-posting***

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:

ERC FUNDED POST-DOCTORAL POSITION AT KOÇ UNIVERSITY

The Department of Sociology, Koç University, Istanbul, invites applicants for a position as a post-doctoral researcher. The successful candidate will work in a European Research Council (ERC)-funded project on the politics of welfare in emerging market economies.

The successful candidate will work together with Dr. Erdem Yörük on his ERC-funded project that investigates the political causes of welfare state development in emerging market economies (please see emw.ku.edu.tr and the brief summary of the project below). The position will not have any teaching responsibilities. Candidates (i) who have a PhD in social sciences (e.g. sociology, economics, political science, social policy, public policy etc.), (ii) who have extensive knowledge and experience in quantitative research methods, (iii) who are interested in welfare state studies, political economy, comparative-historical sociology, and emerging markets are encouraged to apply.

The successful candidate is expected to:

•	Have extensive knowledge and experience in advanced quantitative analysis, be well-versed with data cleaning and managing operations, imputation techniques and content analysis methods.
•	Have working knowledge of Stata and/or R software packages
•	Be comfortable in leading the project’s scientific progress as well as providing a critical perspective to the project.
•	Ensure that the work packages of the project are harmonized into overall project objectives as well as effectiveness and efficiency of the research team.
•	Be comfortable in working in an international environment and have no restrictions in travelling internationally.
•	Have completed the PhD degree by 1 September 2017

The starting date for the position is September 2017. Initial duration of the position is a full year and renewal up to four years is possible, contingent on research productivity and continued substantive fit of the candidate. This is a full-time position with a competitive salary as well as additional benefits such as private health insurance and housing benefits. Funding for conferences is available depending on relevance of the conference to the project.

Please send your application electronically as a one-pdf file comprising your motivation letter, CV including a publication list, a brief one-page letter comprising of a critique/evaluation/assessment/idea about the ERC project which would help assess the potential contribution of the applicant (see emw.ku.edu.tr), a writing sample which preferably includes quantitative empirical analysis, and the names of two references to the Principal Investigator Dr. Erdem Yörük: ([log in to unmask]). Deadline for application is 1 August 2017.

The New Politics of Welfare: Towards an “Emerging Markets” Welfare State Regime (ERC Starting Grant)

This research project aims to identify a new welfare regime in emerging market economies and explain why it has emerged. The project will compare Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey to test two hypotheses: (i) emerging market economies are forming a new welfare regime that differs from liberal, corporatist and social democratic welfare regimes of the global north on the basis of extensive and decommodifying social assistance programmes, (ii) the new welfare regime emerges principally as a response to the growing political power of the poor as a dual source of threat and support for governments. Based on a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, the project follows a multi-method strategy that combines protest event data collection techniques, macro-historical methods, quantitative data analyses and qualitative content analysis.