International Doctorate Programme “Business and Human Rights: Governance Challenges in a Complex World”

Application deadline: 15 June 2021

Thematic Focus, Curriculum and Supervision

The IDP’s research profile builds on law and management as the core disciplines of B&HR complemented by sociology, political, and information sciences. Close cooperation with partners from businesses, civil society, and political actors will enable the doctoral researchers to develop their projects in a broader context to ensure practical relevance. The IDP’s curriculum, lasting for eight semesters, aims at contributing to the professional development of independent and critical researchers through a variety of courses, research retreats, colloquia, and conferences as well as the possibility of practical projects.
The doctoral research projects will be supervised by a scientific committee, consisting of three of the 16 Principal investigators of the IDP B&HR_Governance from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), the University of Bayreuth and Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg (JMU). The doctoral researchers will benefit from a comprehensive supervision concept allowing them to work with and receive support from an international and interdisciplinary team.

Doctoral Projects and Application Procedure

Applicants are free to choose their doctoral research focus in the field of B&HR_Governance. In addition to addressing basic research questions on the relationship between business and human rights, there is the possibility of linking the doctoral projects to one of the four thematic fields of the IDP B&HR_Governance:

•  Global value chains and transnational economic governance
•  Migration and changing labour relations
•  Digital transformation
•  Environmental sustainability

To be admitted, applicants need an excellent university degree at master’s level in a relevant discipline (law, management, sociology, political, or information science) and very good knowledge of English. International, intercultural, and practical experiences will be an asset.

An application comprises the following documents:

•  Research proposal (in English, max. 5000 words)
•  Curriculum Vitae (CV)
•  Letter of motivation (in English, max. 1000 words)
•  Writing sample, e.g. published article, thesis or seminar paper.
•  Certificates of all university degrees with corresponding transcript of records

Applications must be sent in a single PDF document by 15 June 2021 to humanrights-idp@fau.de

The written selection procedure is followed by a personal interview conducted as video conference. Video interviews are scheduled to take place on 1 and 2 July as well 8 and 9 July.

Successful applicants will be matched with a supervisory team based inter alia on the research proposal and the relevant discipline.

For further information on the IDP B&HR_Governance and the selection procedure see: https://www.humanrights-centre.fau.de/international-doctorate-programme-business-and-human-rights/