Research Associate (Post-doc, f/m) in Regional or Migration studies - Ref: 26-14

The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)

is recruiting a

Research Associate (Post-doc, f/m) in Regional studies, Migration studies or Communication Sciences

• Ref : 26-14
• 24 months fixed-term contract
• Full-time, 40hours/week
• Department: Urban Development and Mobility (UDM)
• Work location: Belval (Luxembourg)
• Deadline to submit applications : May 31st, 2026 at midnight CET
• Foreseen start date : September 1st, 2026

Project description

The Research Associate will be employed as part of the PECS research project (Populism in the European Cross-Border Space: Discourses of Right-Wing Populists on Migration within Regional Europe). This project is funded under the WEAVE program and involves the following partners: the Department of Linguistics at the University of Vienna (Austria), the Peace Institute (Slovenia), and the Urban Development and Mobility department of LISER (Luxembourg).

The objective of the PECS project is to study the political discourses produced by European right-wing populist parties regarding migration at the scale of cross-border regions. The theoretical framework integrates critical discourse analysis, migration issues, borders and regions as geographical objects of study, as well as intersectionality theory.

The comparative approach adopted by PECS focuses on three types of cross-border regions involving Austria, Slovenia, and Luxembourg: (1) The European Union as a cross-border macro-region, (2) the Meso-regions based on international links between neighboring states and region and (3) the Cross-border micro-regions defined by functional integration processes.

The investigation is based on Critical Discourse Analysis (Discourse-Historical Approach) regarding migration, conducted through various discourse genres (manifestos, social media, minutes/proceedings, interviews) by representatives of selected right-wing populist parties in the cross-border regions.

Your missions

The successful candidate will have the following responsibilities:

• Assist the LISER Principal Investigator in collecting texts related to the positions of right-wing populist parties and activists on migration within the cross-border regions monitored by LISER. These regions include the EU (in cooperation with the University of Vienna and the Peace Institute), the Greater Region Saar-Lor-Lux, and the Luxembourg-centered metropolitan region (encompassing the Grand Duchy and neighboring border towns) ;
• Collect materials including interviews, strategic documents, political minutes, mass media texts, and social media posts dealing with migration in Europe at different spatial scales ;
• Encode collected texts into a MAXQDA database to facilitate comparative analysis with researchers from the University of Vienna and the Peace Institute, following a shared codebook ;
• Analyze encoded data on the positions of selected parties regarding migration at the cross-border regional scale ;
• Prepare at least two articles publishable in peer-reviewed scientific journals indexed in Scopus.

Your profile

• PhD in a relevant field of social sciences (e.g., Regional Studies, Migration Studies, Communication Sciences) ;
• Expertise in qualitative research, particularly in Critical Discourse Analysis and social media analysis ;
• Proficiency in qualitative research software (e.g., NVivo, MAXQDA) ;
• Knowledge of right-wing populism in Europe ;
• Knowledge of EU migration issues and policies ;
• Scientific publications in Regional Studies, Migration Studies, Critical Discourse Analysis, or Communication Sciences ;
• Proficiency in French and German (key languages of the case studies followed by LISER) and good command of English (working language of the research consortium and language of future research articles with proofreading support). Knowledge of Luxembourgish is considered an asset ;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary and multicultural research team.

LISER particularly encourages female researchers to apply

What we offer

• A dynamic and international research environment with attractive working conditions and a stimulating work environment ;
• Flexibility in the organisation of the working hours and the possibility of teleworking ;
• Competitive remuneration according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in force (half of a 13th month salary, meal vouchers, etc.) ;
• Investment in career support and development (trainings, seminars, participation to international meetings and conferences) ;
• 32.5 days of annual leave for a full-time contract.

How to apply

Please submit your complete application in English via https://jobs.liser.lu/jobs by including the following documents before May 31st, 2026:

• Your curriculum vitae ;
• Motivation letter ;
• A recent piece of research ;
• A copy of your PhD diploma;
• 2 reference letters (to be sent separately per email to recruitment@liser.lu).

Deadline to submit applications: May 31st, 2026 at midnight CET

Please note that interviews will be conducted in English

For any content-related questions, please contact Dr. Christian LAMOUR at christian.lamour@liser.lu

For administrative matters, please contact Mrs. Vanya KIROVA at recruitment@liser.lu

Why LISER?

LISER is a publicly funded research institute located in Luxembourg and dedicated to applied empirical research in economic, social and spatial sciences. The Institute attracts top researchers from all over the world and high-level student training is a vibrant part of the Institute’s activities. LISER staff consists of approx. 200 employees, about 60% of the staff being researchers; mainly from the fields of economics, geography and sociology. The vision of the institute is to be a socio-economic research institute internationally recognised, focused on scientific excellence and societal impact, able to contribute through multi-disciplinary and intersectoral research, in an active and inclusive way to a sustainable and inclusive society at national and international level.

The institute is located on the new Belval campus in the south of Luxembourg (Cité des Sciences, Luxembourg), which hosts the University of Luxembourg and a substantial part of the country’s publicly funded research facilities, i.e. LISER, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) cross-national data centre, the Luxembourg institutes of Health (LIH) and of Science and Technology (LIST). Information on research in Luxembourg is accessible via the national EURAXESS platform.

LISER is an Equal Opportunity Employer