Radboud University
The project focuses on the motivations for and processes of deception employed by states and other sub/non-state actors in their foreign policy discourses and behaviour, as well as in international relations writ large. This involves (i) conceptualising the international politics of deception (including, for example, lying, BS, deceptive implicatures, disinformation), (ii) identifying the conditions and structures which facilitate them (for example post-truth politics, digital tools of communication, polarisation), (iii) designing suitable methodologies as well as (iv) describing and analysing relevant communicative processes and behaviours.
You will conduct research on deception and deceptive communication in international relations, either quantitatively with the help of datasets created as part of the project or qualitatively via in-depth case studies, discourse/content analysis, or other suitable methods.
You will conduct this research partly independently, and partly in collaboration with the project team, which includes Dr Gustav Meibauer as project lead as well as a PhD candidate who is to start in late 2025. You will write and co-author academic publications together with the other project team members.
You will help with knowledge sharing and outreach in the project, and help train the PhD candidate in appropriate theory and methods. You will also help create and facilitate opportunities for Master’s degree research (e.g. postgraduate theses) within the project, and contribute to departmental teaching/supervision within the range of your expertise.
Ultimately, the project also aims to identify how policymakers or societies can become resilient to or otherwise combat deceptive communication where it is harmful to democratic governance and peaceful co-existence.
This postdoctoral researcher position also involves 15% teaching duties (including thesis supervision).
