Current PhD projects

At the moment, FASoS hosts around 65 PhD candidates. Some of these are part of a larger funded project while others carry out their own projects. Below you can find an overview of the large funded PhD projects - and the accompanying candidates within these projects - and individual PhD candidates.

PRICELESS

Generative Enhanced Next-Generation Intelligent Understanding Systems (GENIUS) lab

The lab will co-develop generative, human-AI collaborative knowledge engineering methods and techniques for distinct yet highly interweaved knowledge engineering steps: collaborative knowledge synthesis; integration and linking of distributed knowledge fragments; integration of structured knowledge in generative AI models; trustworthy conversational AI using FAIR data and services; and hybrid human-AI ethics. These methods and techniques are designed, developed, experimented with, evaluated and validated in a variety of contexts.

‍The project is a collaboration between Delft University of Technology, Maastricht University, dsm–firmenich, and Kickstart AI.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Mykhaylo BogachovPerformativity in generative AI: a normative perspectiveDr. Darian Meacham

 

GENIUS lab website
GENIUS lab

EMBRACing changE - Overcoming Blockages and Advancing Democracy in the European Neighbourhood

The research project EMBRACing changE (Overcoming Blockages and Advancing Democracy in the European Neighbourhood) aims to respond to the counter-democracy trends after the coloured revolutions and the Arab Spring. It does so through an inter-disciplinary, multi-method and cross-regional assessment of both blockages to and drivers of democratisation in 12 case study countries across Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus, Western Balkans, Northern Africa and the Middle East.

The project is led by Dr. Giselle Bosse.

This project has received funding from Horizon Europe.

PhD CandidateProjectSupervisor
Wicke van den BroekDemocracy promotion during democratic crisis: Poland’s and Hungary’s policy towards Belarus and Ukraine in the framework of EU democracy promotionDr. Giselle Bosse
Embrace logo

Trustworthy AI for Media Lab (TAIM)

The TAIM lab brings together two of the strongest groups on personalisation and recommender systems in the Netherlands, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Maastricht, and a leading media organisation, RTL, to develop trustworthy and personalised media.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Daniella Pauly JensenResearching diversity and bias in artificial intelligence Prof. Sally Wyatt
TAIM

ISPA: Integral Safe and Sustainable-by-Design Plasma Process for Acrylonitrile Production

The societal urge to turn to sustainable and circular modes of production and consumption brings huge challenges for the Dutch chemical industry. Currently, safety considerations as well as economies of scale dictate a landscape of large installations clustering at industrial sites. Products include fertilizers, plastics, and vaccine carrier proteins and are mostly fossil derived. A roadmap to guide the industry to sustainable and circular whilst also preserving economic viability and at least the existing level of safety does not yet exist as suitable technology is lacking. A potential solution for the common building block acrylonitrile is investigated in this work.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Talitha WilmsenThe feasibility of plasma chemistry as a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels in the chemical industryProf. Esther Versluis
ISPA

NanoBubbles: how, when and why does science fail to correct itself?

Prof. Cyrus Mody received a Synergy Grant in 2020 for his project NanoBubbleS: how, when and why does science fail to correct itself?. The project investigates how, when and why science fails to correct itself.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisory
Candida Sánchez BurmesterTracing claims in nanobiology: scientific practices and interactions at conferences and laboratoriesProf. Cyrus Mody

 

NanoBubbles website
Nanobubbles

A coalition of hawks and doves? Explaining military receptiveness to civil society calls for transparency around the use of force

The Hawks and Doves project examines military receptiveness to NGO calls for transparency in Western European countries. It aims to understand the conditions under which military officials are willing to cooperate with civil society to improve transparency around the use of military force and its consequences.

The project is lead by Dr. Yf Reykers and Dr. Francesca Colli.

The project is funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation’s special programme on Security, Society and the State.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Daphné CharotteA coalition of hawks and doves? Explaining military receptiveness to civil society calls for transparency around the use of forceDr. Giselle Bosse
Hawks and doves

Care matters: making and valuing home in a mobile world

Dr. Lauren Wagner received a NWO Aspasia Grant for the project Care matters: making and valuing home in a mobile world. Care matters explores how the labour of caring for a home is changing along with increasingly mobile and partial practices of dwelling. 

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Joma RondenCare matters but who cares: The case of remittance houses in GhanaDr. Lauren Wagner

 

Care matters website
care matters

Managing Scarcity and Sustainability: The Oil Industry, Environmentalism, and Alternative Energy in the Age of Scarcity

Managing Scarcity and Sustainability: The Oil Industry, Environmentalism, and Alternative Energy in the Age of Scarcity is a five year research project led by Prof. Cyrus Mody.

This Vici project, funded by NWO, uses the case of oil in the 1970s to understand why companies adopt or reject alternative energy and conservation, and uses that understanding to facilitate an energy transition.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Michiel BronThe involvement of oil companies in the development of nuclear energy in the age of scarcity, focussing on the 1970sProf. Cyrus Mody
Jelena StankovicUnderstanding the complex relationship of oil firms and solar; internal and external driversProf. Cyrus Mody

 

Managing scarcity

Moving animals: A History of Science, Media and Policy in the Twentieth Century

Moving animals: A History of Science, Media and Policy in the Twentieth Century is a five-year research project led by Prof. Raf de Bont.

The project – sponsored by an NWO Vici grant – studies changing human-nature relations by focusing on human involvement with ‘wild’ animals that move (or are being moved) over great distances. 

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Vincent BijmanInvasive species. The science, management and representation of animal introductions in the context of the 20th centuryProf. Raf de Bont
Monica VasileReintroducing endangered species: human-animal histories in the 20th centuryProf. Raf de Bont

 

Moving Animals website
Moving animals image

PURE3D

PURE3D is a three-year project funded by the PDI-SSH (Platform Digitale Infrastructuur–Social Sciences and Humanities) with a mission to advance the virtual research environment through the development of an access infrastructure for viewing interactive Digital Heritage and Digital Humanities 3D content online. It is led by Prof. Susan Schreibman and Dr. Costas Papadopoulos.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Kelly Gillikin-Schoueri3D Web Infrastructures and the Future of Sustainable 3D Scholarly ResearchProf. Susan Schreibman

 

PURE3D website
PURE 3D logo

Deliberation Laboratory (DeLab)

Deliberation Laboratory (DeLab) is a four-year research project led by Prof. John Parkinson and colleagues at the University of Göttingen.

With Deliberation Laboratory (DeLab), we develop a transformative online testing environment that allows us to explain the nature, causes, and consequences of citizens’ perceptions in deliberative public, online dialogue across languages. 

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Maud OostindieEscalation and de-escalation in online deliberationProf. John Parkinson

 

DeLab website
De Lab logo

The Critical Visitor: Intersectional Approaches for Rethinking & Retooling Accessibility and Inclusivity in Heritage Spaces

The Critical Visitor: Intersectional Approaches for Rethinking & Retooling Accessibility and Inclusivity in Heritage Spaces is a five-year project led by Dr. Eliza Steinbock

The aim of the project is to enable cultural institutions to implement daily working practices (selection, collection, preservation, display, interaction) that alleviate structures of exclusion. 

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Liang-Kai YuQueering the Museum: Contemporary Artists and Curators as Critical Visitors and Their Creative InterventionsDr. Eliza Steinbock
Noah LittelFounding an Inclusive Space: Legacies of Alternative Archiving Practices in the Netherlands, Germany and the United KingdomDr. Eliza Steinbock

Image created by Noah Littel

Critical visitor logo

LIMES: The Hardening and Softening of Borders

LIMES, the Latin word for border, is a doctoral programme for 13 talented PhD candidates in the domain of the humanities and social sciences, centred on the theme of ‘The Hardening and Softening of Borders: Europe in a Globalising World’. It has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (grant agreement No 847596).

LIMES is led by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), thereby working closely with University College Maastricht (UCM), the School of Business and Economics (SBE), and the Faculty of Law (FL). 6 out of 13 PhD candidates are employed by FASoS.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Sara AtwaterFrom Boarders to Borders: Constructing Women's Roles in Post-Industrial Mining Communities in the German Ruhr Area and the Former Mining Regions of Dutch LimburgProf. Leonie Cornips
Maha NaamiYouth Mobilities of Unaccompanied Minors in Border RegionsProf. Valentina Mazzucato
Judith van PuyveldeThe ‘Atelier Glasschilderkunst F. Nicolas en Zonen’ in Roermond (NL) (1855-1968) and the Revival of Stained-Glass Production in Western Europe in the 19th and 20th CenturyDr. Nico Randeraad
Cecilia SchenettiSoft EU borders in Africa. How migration campaigns and social media affect young Senegalese men’s migratrion aspirations and sense of social justice.Prof. Valentina Mazzucato

 

LIMES website
LIMES logo

Making Clinical Sense

Making Clinical Sense describes, analyses, rethinks and redesigns the material conditions of learning sensory, bodily skills. By attending to the everyday material practices of training doctors (such as the use of physical models, blackboard drawing, making and watching video, searching online images and peer-to-peer learning) across place and over time, the research team offers unique insights into how the way people learn connects with what they learn. Making Clinical Sense has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 678390).

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Andrea WojcikThe co-production of bodies and pedagogical technologies in medical education. An ethnography of skills training at a Ghanaian medical schoolProf. Harro van Lente

 

Making Clinical Sense website
Making clinical sense logo

The Scientific Conference: A Social, Cultural, and Political History

The Scientific Conference: A Social, Cultural, and Political History is a three-year research project funded by HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) led by Dr. Geert Somsen.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Georgiana KotsouConvention Conventions. Routines and Rituals in International Scientific Conferences, past and presentProf. Cyrus Mody
scientific conference

Individual research projects

Below you can find a list of PhD candidates that conduct their projects individually, outside a larger project.

PhD candidate

 

ProjectSupervisor
Vasiliki BeliaRedrawing feminism: graphic narrative engagements with the feminist pastProf. Emilie Sitzia
Xing FangThe United Nations Cybersecurity Governance. Towards Fair Global Rules?Prof. Thomas Conzelmann
Angus FosterThe Europe problem – collective memory of Europe in Britain’s national referendumsProf. Mathieu Segers
Antye GuentherUnfolding 3D-Rendered Neuroimaginaries — A Trans*Feminist Artistic InvestigationProf. Harro van Lente
Yan JiaBeyond Clothing: Style, Identities and PracticesProf. Leonie Cornips
Hanna de KorteThe Landscapes of Colonial Healthcare in Congo. An Environmental History of Medicine and Disease (1900-1960)Prof. Raf de Bont
Pieter du PlessisBelonging and Unbelonging in Amsterdam’s Het Zuid-Afrikahuis: A Decolonial Study of Dutch Whiteness in relation to Afrikaner whitenessDr. Eliza Steinbock
Jiaqi LiangA Study of the Impact of Dark Heritage Sites on the Well-being of Local Communities: A Transnational Research with Dark Heritage Sites as Case StudiesDr. Aline Sierp
Dirk van de LeemputPrecarity in the social-material networks of time-based media works of artProf. Harro van Lente
Joe LitobarskiThe History of Public CyberneticsDr. Jacob Ward
Afra de MarsA Mining Landscape without Borders. The Domaniale Mijn (Kerkrade) and its Surrounding Environment and Communities, ca. 1700 – presentProf. Nico Randeraad
Niklas MayerDevelopment Cooperation and Climate Change-Related Migration: The EU-Approach in the Horn of AfricaDr. Giselle Bosse
Félix StreicherThe Forgotten Occupation: Politics, Everyday Life and Gender in the Luxembourgish Occupation Zone in Germany (1945-55)Prof. Mathieu Segers
Karlien StrijboschChallenging masculinities: The institution of marriage for young Senegalese migrant men under conditions of involuntary return to SenegalProf. Valentina Mazzucato
Luca VanelloCaring with matter: Towards new artistic forms of togethernessProf. Aagje Swinnen
Yiming WangFandom and Participatory Censorship: Boys’ Love Fiction and Globalised Fan activities across The Great Firewall of ChinaProf. Emilie Sitzia
Zhanwei WangInstitutional Design of China-Led International OrganizationsProf. Hylke Dijkstra
Yabo WuThe firm as a development actor: the case of Chinese businesses Dr. Adam Dixon
Manling YangA comparative study of the EU’s and China’s development assistance to Africa, especially how their assistance policies differ associated with their domestic developmentProf. Thomas Christiansen

Part-time PhD candidates in European Studies, campus Brussels

At our Brussels campus, you can pursue a PhD alongside your work. Below you can find a list of names of people who participate in this scheme, and their research projects.

PhD candidateProjectSupervisor
Aniek Berendsen-MarissinkReweighing the Re-balance. The Effect of External Political Discourse on European Defence Policy Development: the American Re-balanceProf. Sophie Vanhoonacker
Samuele CrosettiBank resolution regimes and financial stability: recent evolution, public actors and future challengesProf. Esther Versluis
Pétur GunnarssonAlignment of European non-EU members to EU foreign, security and defence policyProf. Sophie Vanhoonacker
Buddy JanssenThe EU Digital Policy and the turbulent Road to Digital Soveriegnty – An initial EvaluationDr. Paul Stephenson
Tomasz JerzyniakEnergy Power Europe. Can the EU lead the global clean energy transition?Dr. Anna Herranz Surrallés
Ann-Kristin MatthéInternationalisation Strategies in higher education – perceptions and practices. Examining how higher education institutions conceptualise internationalisation and which factors influence the implementation of internationalisation strategies in Germany and the NetherlandsDr. Patrick Bijsmans
Giorgio MichelettiThe EU Digital Policy and the turbulent Road to Digital Soveriegnty – An initial EvaluationProf. Sally Wyatt
Susanne ReitherEU mission-oriented policies for the transition to sustainable development and the nexus between public investment and private sustainable financeDr. Aneta Spendzharova
Bachir Saleh AzzamThe Dynamics of Politicization of International Organizations: Why, When, and How States “Abuse” International OrganizationProf. Hylke Dijkstra
Igor SarkissianThe Impact of a priority shift on the governance a policy system: the case of the European trade policyProf. Sophie Vanhoonacker
Antonio SpissuGlobal Stablecoins: the politics of domestic rule-making and international coordinationDr. Aneta Spendzharova
Robert TylerVariation in the use of Historically Contextualised Framing of Foreign Policy Towards Russia between Central and Eastern European Countries in the Context of the Russo-Ukrainian War 2014-Present (The Case of Poland, Hungary, & Slovakia)Dr. Gergana Noutcheva
Teresa Vázquez LópezWinning from crises? An examination of the rise of the European Commission as a political entrepreneur and its dialogue with the pharmaceutical industry during the last two health crisesProf. Esther Versluis