CSDC postdoctoral fellowship program (2021-2022)

Deadline: April 15, 2021, 11:59 p.m (Montreal time)

The Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (CSDC) is offering one (1) postdoctoral fellowship valued at $ 45,000 for one year. This fellowship aims to support research training, develop knowledge on one of the Centre’s research axes and support the dissemination of knowledge.

Located in Quebec, the CSDC is an interdisciplinary and interuniversity research centre whose mission is to support research, training and policy development on complex, urgent and important issues concerning democratic citizenship. More specifically, its objectives are:

• to promote scientific research of national and international caliber on fundamental questions relating to democratic citizenship from a variety of disciplinary perspectives;
• to contribute to political debates on the strengthening of democracy at home and abroad;
• to take a leadership role in the development of large-scale (trans)national research projects;
• and to provide an enhanced training environment for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

The scientific program of the CSDC is organized around three research axes:

• Learning democratic citizenship in an unequal world
• Practicing citizenship in a world of skepticism
• Representing and govern citizens in critical times

The postdoctoral fellowship has to be supervised by a CSDC faculty member. We encourage applicants to identify and quickly contact the CSDC faculty member they want to support their application for the CSDC postdoctoral fellowship and a subsequent postdoctoral fellowship application from a major Canadian granting organization (FRQSC, CRSH or Banting) in the fall of 2021, which could cover an additional one or two years (2022-2023, 2023-2024).

The CSDC is funded by the strategic clusters program (Regroupement stratégiques) of the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQ-SC), its managing university (Université de Montréal) and its partner universities (Concordia, Laval, McGill and UQAM).

More detailed information on the members, activities and axes of research of the CSDC is available on its website: https://csdc-cecd.ca/en/

Eligibility criteria

Candidates must meet the following criteria:

• have defended their PhD dissertation by August 31, 2021 at the latest;
• have obtained their PhD (i) in September 2019 or after, or (ii) after September 2016 only if application includes interruptions for relevant circumstances;
• have Canadian citizenship, permanent resident status or, in the case of international students, a valid Canadian work permit at the time of the start of the internship;
• not hold a permanent or tenured professor position;
• have the support of a faculty member of the CSDC and who is not the candidate’s dissertation supervisor or co-supervisor.

This fellowship may not be cumulated with a postdoctoral fellowship from a major granting agency (e.g., SSHRC, FRQ-SC); however, postdoctoral fellowship supplements are permitted.

Internship conditions

The CSDC undertakes to offer the successful candidate:

• a gross salary of $ 45,000 for one year, non-renewable (see note 1);
• access to complementary funding opportunities offered to postdoctoral researchers by the CSDC;
• an individual workstation (conditional on the health rules in force) and in accordance with the policies of the university to which the successful candidate will be affiliated; and
• access to the services of the university to which the successful candidate will be affiliated (e.g., library, information technologies).

The successful postdoctoral fellow agrees to:

• start their postdoctoral fellowship between September 1, 2021 and January 1, 2022 and continue for a period of 12 months;
• complete the postdoctoral research project submitted at the time of application;
• be present on a regular basis on the premises of the university to which the successful candidate will be affiliated;
• submit an application for a postdoctoral fellowship to the FRQ-SC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and / or the Banting doctoral fellowship program in the Fall of 2021, subject to the eligibility conditions of these programs and in agreement with the Centre, in order to continue the internship under the supervision of a faculty member of the CSDC;
• participate regularly in CSDC activities (conferences, workshops, etc.), in particular:
  • offer one (1) methodological training workshop, as part of the winter methodology school or in another appropriate context; and
  • make at least one (1) presentation of their work as part of the conference series organized by the CSDC or in another appropriate context.

Application file

The application file must be presented in French or English. It should include the following:

• a cover letter specifying, in particular, any relevant information to establish the eligibility of the application (see the section “Eligibility conditions”);
• a research project of approximately 750 words specifying a short presentation of the relevant literature, the research question, the theoretical framework, the methodology and the timetable;
• a curriculum vitae;
• a publication representative of the candidate’s research work (article, book chapter, or a dissertation chapter);
• a letter of recommendation;
• an email from a faculty member of the CCSD indicating that they would agree to supervise the postdoctoral fellowship if the candidate is selected.

The candidate submits the first four elements of the file themselves. Please send all your documents in one PDF file to cecd-csdc@umontreal.ca.

The letter of recommendation, as well as the supporting email from a faculty member of the CSDC, must be sent directly to the CSDC by the signatories at cecd-csdc@umontreal.ca

Evaluation of applications:

The CSDC Steering Committee will set up a committee responsible for evaluating the applications received on the basis of the following criteria:

• the consistency between the candidate’s background, the proposed research project and the scientific programming of the CSDC;
• the quality of the proposed research project;
• the academic excellence and leadership of the candidate.

Timeline:

• Deadline for submitting applications: April 15, 2021 (11:59 p.m., Montreal time)
• Competition result: May 31, 2021 (at the latest)
• Beginning of the internship: September 1, 2021 – January 1, 2022

Important note:

[1] In the Centre’s partner universities of the Center, payments for postdoctoral fellowship are considered as a salary. Certain deductions may apply in accordance with applicable laws and collective agreements. Benefits vary by university. The postdoctoral fellowship will be deemed to take place at the institution to which the fellowship’s supervisor is affiliated.