POSITION Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
DISCIPLINE law, criminology
POSTED 18.06.2026
EXPIRES 20.07.2026
Job Title Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Salary 14 659,06 PLN gross/ month (approx. 3400 EUR)
Duration 36 months (starting 1 August 2026 or promptly thereafter)
Starting date 1 August , 2026
FTE 100%
DESCRIPTION (field, expectations, comments):
The Institute of Law Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences is seeking to appoint one full-time post-doctoral Researcher to work on the new project “Unmaking Human Rights? The Expansion of Deportation Approaches at EU Borders and Beyond”, financed by the National Science Centre, Poland (2025/59/B/HS5/00903). The successful candidates will work with Professor Witold Klaus and be part of a team of scholars exploring shrinking human rights spaces in forced return programmes from Europe to non-European countries (Georgia, Nigeria and Iraq).
The project aims to investigate the expansion of EU deportation approaches through a human rights lens. Justified as a sovereign prerogative and a necessary component of immigration management, EU-wide deportation measures continue to rely on punitive and coercive measures. These measures are frequently implemented under narratives of urgency, security, and migrant-related threats, creating conditions in which derogations from human rights guarantees from state obligations become possible. This project studies how stricter EU deportation rules—under the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and the proposed Regulation on Returns (2025/101)— influence the human rights implications of removal practices, in a context where EU Member States increasingly perceive their human rights commitments as constraints on their ability to enforce returns.
Person Specification
The essential requirements of the post include:
- PhD (or DPhil) in Law, Political Science, Anthropology, Sociology, Human Rights, or a closely related field of social science.
- Previous experience of social science research: qualitative data collection and analysis (experience of working with in-depth expert interviews).
- Good skills of Nvivo/MaxQDA (or demonstrable ability to learn this software).
- Demonstrable research interest in human rights and returns (especially forced returns) policies, practices and procedures from Europe (previous knowledge of the human rights field and access to research participants, especially international organisations and NGOs who monitor human rights in return is desirable).
- A proven commitment to high-quality research demonstrable through publications.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Italian (fluent).
- The candidate must have obtained their doctoral degree in the year of employment in the project or within 12 years prior to 1 January of the year of employment in the project. This period may be extended by the time spent during that period on documented long-term sick leave (exceeding 90 days) or rehabilitation benefits received due to incapacity for work. Additionally, the period may be extended by the number of months spent on parental or childcare-related leave granted in accordance with the provisions of the Polish Labour Code. In the case of female applicants, the period may alternatively be extended by 18 months for each child born or adopted, if this method of accounting for career breaks is more advantageous. The period specified above may neither be shortened nor further extended by the competition organizer.
- The candidate must have obtained their doctoral degree from an institution other than the institution where employment in this position is planned, or must have completed a continuous and documented research stay of at least nine months at an institution other than the project host institution and in a country other than the country in which the doctoral degree was awarded. Such a research stay must have been carried out during doctoral school training, doctoral studies, or after obtaining the doctoral degree.
- During the period of receiving this remuneration, the candidate may not receive any other salary funded from the direct costs of research projects financed under National Science Centre (NCN) calls.
- During the period of receiving this remuneration, the candidate may not be employed under an employment contract with another employer, including an employer based outside Poland.
- During the period of receiving this remuneration, the candidate may not receive retirement pension benefits or equivalent benefits in Poland or abroad.
Application process
Application for the position should be made online via the Institute for Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences Human resources website at: inp@inp.pan.pl
Please also upload:
- your CV and
- cover letter
- list of the publication (as well as one of your research papers or a piece of original writing that is relevant to this post)
- copy of the diploma of graduation from the university
- copy of PhD diploma (will be required to be provided at the start of the position at the latest; at the moment of application written proof of PhD defence will be accepted)
- additional statements about the data protection agreement and choosing the Institute as the primary place of academic employment (templates will be sent upon request)
For enquiries relating to the post, please contact Professor Witold Klaus (witold.klaus@inp.pan.pl).
For queries regarding the application process, please contact Iwona Kalisz (i.kalisz@inp.pan.pl), the HR Specialist.
About the Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences
The Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Instytut Nauk Prawnych Polskiej Akademii Nauk – INP PAN) is one of the most prominent scientific research institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the field of the social sciences. The Institute has been also one of the leading scientific centres in the field of legal studies for 70 years. The role of the INP PAN is to initiate, promote, conduct, and coordinate research on the theoretical and practical aspects of law in the context of the dynamic changes of the contemporary world. For more information, see https://inp.pan.pl/en/