First round of new projects for semester 1 2026-27
Interested in gaining first-hand experience in academic research? Apply for a student fellowship with the RPA Conflict & Society and work as a student research assistant on one of the projects below.
Fellowships welcome students from all backgrounds and offer an opportunity to develop research skills and contribute to ongoing academic work. Where candidates are equally suitable, preference will be given to students from backgrounds underrepresented in the programme.
Projects are paid positions (€19 per hour) for up to 53 hours of work. General requirements are listed in the application form; project-specific requirements are listed in the project descriptions.
Explore the projects below for details and how to apply. The deadline for applications is project-specific. The first is on September 29th. Please see the application form for all deadlines.
The list will be updated, as more projects will follow later.
General requirements for the positions
- You are a second-year or above bachelor’s student at the UvA (University of Amsterdam). Master’s students can apply, but are only considered if no suitable bachelor’s students apply for the project.
- You are a citizen of the EU or EEA.
- The exception is for non-EU/EEA students who are registered as ZZP’ers at the KvK.
- Sadly, labour regulations prevent us from taking on students from outside the EU or EEA without a KvK registration.
- You have worked less than 100 hours this calendar year as an RA on a freelance basis at the UvA. The UvA only allows a maximum of 100 hours of freelance RA work each calendar year
- Be sure to read the project-specific requirements, as the project may have additional requirements.
Apply here
A game-based framework for building civic resilience to moral manipulation in an era of digitized conflict
Henrik Pröpper, Michael Hameleers, Linda Bos, and Boris Noordenbos | Communication Siences
Datafied warfare operations represent a rising dimension of international conflict, with control over the (virtual) human mind as a central battlefield. Together with the award-winning Serious Game designers Gusmanson, we will develop and test an online game that fosters civic resilience against moral manipulation in an era of digitally mediated conflict. The project sets out to help people become critical rather than cynical towards moral: first by learning to recognize what kind of moral rhetoric is used to influence judgment and behavior, and subsequently by distinguishing manipulative moral propaganda (i.e. designed to polarize, stifle debate, and silence opposing voices) from legitimate moral argumentation (i.e. promoting engaged, civil discourse). With this, we aim help people develop critical reasoning skills which enable them to resist manipulative moral rhetoric while maintaining trust in moral reasoning as a legitimate component of democratic discourse.
For this Serious Game Project, we are looking for research assistants who can help us develop an online game helping people resist manipulative moral discourse; specifically, we aim to help people recognize manipulative rhetoric whilst maintaining trust in moral reasoning as a legitimate component of democratic discourse. Consistent, high-quality, and real-world political arguments are the foundations for a politically sensitive media-literacy game, and we need your help to make this happen!
You will develop (close to real-world) political- and moral arguments from across the political spectrum alongside other members of the team. For this task, you will receive training, which means you will be equipped with knowledge and skills on the intersection of political communication research, inoculation theory, moral psychology, and conflict-studies.
- Your main responsibilities will include:
- Searching and developing moral arguments from across the political spectrum Helping to develop the storyline of the serious game
- Testing different versions of the serious game
Candidate profile:
We’re looking for candidates with an analytical, systematic, and cooperative mindset with an interest in political language analysis. Ideally, you are:
- A student in social sciences or humanities
- Proficient in English, both written and spoken
- Experience or affinity with online games and/or media-literacy research
- Interest in inoculation and mis- and disinformation
What we offer:
We offer a position in an ambitious project on a topic of great societal relevance. The RA contract is for a total of 53 total hours with a renumeration of 19 euro per hour.
For information about the position, you can send an email to Henrik Pröpper at h.y.l.propper@uva.nl
Pathways to violent behaviour and crime
Dr. Ayşe Nur Karkın Javaıd | Child Development
This project comprises two systematic reviews and meta-analyses examining pathways to violent behaviour and crime.
The first investigates youth risk factors associated with adult violent offending, compared with non-violent offending. The second focuses on cannabis supply sources in the Netherlands and examines the relationship between substance use and violent behavior. Both projects have already received ethics approval.
The research assistant will gain practical experience in systematic review methodology, data management, and research. The role also offers opportunities to contribute to the organization of academic workshops and panel discussions, and to build connections with researchers working in related fields.
We are looking for a motivated and well-organised research assistant who can manage several tasks simultaneously and work independently as well as collaboratively.
Tasks will include:
- Contacting study authors to request additional information or identify relevant unpublished studies
- Helping with the organisation of workshops and panel discussions.
- Assisting with data organization and management if needed.
For information about the position, you can send an email to Dr. Ayşe Nur Karkın Javaıd a.n.karkinjavaid@uva.nl
Bunzlau/Bolesławiec Ceramics: Craft, Displacement and Belonging
Olga Sezneva (PI) & Albert Kuhn (PhD) | Sociology
Bunzlau/Bolesławiec Ceramics: Craft, Displacement and Belonging, is a multimodal research project that brings together cultural sociology, conflict studies, and filmmaking. It explores the role of craft in mediating memories and narratives of displacement in Eastern Europe and Germany after WWII. Specifically, it examines a method and style of pottery-making known before 1945 as ‘Bunzlau’ and thereafter as ‘Boleslawiec’. How did territorial transfer, resettlement, and nation-building transform a century-old tradition, and how did it become a ‘traditional craft’ of someone else?
The project uses camera-led interviews and ethnographic filmmaking as its primary methods.
The research assistant, proficient in Polish, will focus on organising, reviewing, translating, and indexing video materials; visual logging; and contextualisation through fact-checking and desk research. Together with the PI and the PhD researcher, the research assistant will conduct thematic coding of the data. Knowledge of German is an asset.
For information about the position, you can send an email to Albert Kuhn a.kuhnbosch@uva.nl
Practices and experiences of participatory processes in Amsterdam
Nanke Verloo and Bart Groen | Human Geography and Urban Planning
This project studies the conflicts emerging from participatory urban development strategies. While citizen participation aims at inclusion, participatory policy and planning often exclude the very citizens they seek to include. The municipality of Amsterdam is aware of this dilemma and therefore provides us with unique access to the behind-the-scenes world of the participatory process.
In this research project, we ethnographically follow both civil servants and citizens in their practices and experiences of participatory processes in Amsterdam Noord, South-East, the City Centre, and New West. We observe participatory meetings and conduct interviews with civil servants and citizens to gain insights into their conflicting perspectives on the future of Amsterdam. Simultaneously, we conduct a citywide survey at participatory meetings in Amsterdam.
Student Research Assistants in this project will support researchers by conducting interviews, transcribing them, and observing participatory meetings. They will also play a significant role in attending participatory meetings to conduct survey research among participants. Students are therefore required to be flexible, as these events often take place in the evening. You will be supervised by Nanke Verloo and Bart Groen from the Department of Geography, Planning, and International Development Studies.
For information about the position, you can send an email to Bart Groen at b.j.d.groen@uva.nl
AI geopolitics between domination and competition’
Valentina Carraro | Human geography (GPIO)
The project ‘AI geopolitics between domination and competition’ considered the relation between the rapid adoption of AI technologies and militarisation. Building on that work, I now consider how EU research funding facilitates collaborations between universities, companies and state institutions around defense-related projects. Some of the the questions I’m interested exploring include: What new research networks are emerging? How are they distributed across the continent? Who stands to gain the most from these funding schemes?
I am looking for a RA assistant that could help me with the data preparations for the analysis. Some of it involves relatively repetitive tasks (looking up the firms on the internet, filling in information in a spreadsheet). Depending on the student’s interest, there is also room for working on more rewarding tasks, e.g. help with social network analysis and GIS, data preparation with python and desk research into militarisation at European universities.
For information about the position, you can send an email to Valentina Carraro at v.carraro2@uva.nl
Cultural sanctions, mass atrocity, and Eurovision
Ueli Staeger | Political Science
Cultural sanctions, mass atrocity, and Eurovision. This project supports an article on the theme “The Politics of Eurovision in Wartime” on civil society sanctions at Eurovision. The paper asks: What explains variation in how civil society uses cultural sanctions in Eurovision? Three sanctioning practices, covering different degrees of intensity, are theorised. The paper (tentatively) compares wartime boycott calls involving Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Belarus and Israel, and develops an in-depth case study concerning Israel’s Eurovision participation in the wake of the Gaza genocide.
The fellow will gain first-hand experience of academic research. They will review scholarship, help refine the coding framework, and independently research selected cases using documents, media coverage, campaign materials and institutional documents. They will produce case memos with sound academic sourcing/citation practices. Basic familiarity with, and personal interest in, debates on cultural politics, cultural mega-events such as Eurovision, or the international sanctions literature is required; knowledge across several areas is especially welcome.
Timing: The 53-hour workload will occur in October and the first half of November, but there is a lot of flexibility with work hours to accommodate study/work schedules.
For informal inquiries ahead of the deadline, please feel free to contact Ueli Staeger at u.staeger@uva.nl
