3 PhD Positions in Anthropology AlterTech Activist Infrastructures in Asia

Are you curious about social movement trends in Asia Are you interested in exploring how activists adapt and innovate in response to digital repression Do you like thinking about alternative media and technology Do you have experience with ethnographic research Are you passionate about engaged anthropology Are you an energetic team player Then this position may be for you!

Three PhD positions in ERC project AlterTech

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam is currently seeking three PhD candidates for the project Activist Techtopias: Crafting Alternate Infrastructures of Resistance in Asia (AlterTech) led by Dr Yatun Sastramidjaja. This project is funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant.

The Department of Anthropology is one of the departments at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG). The PhD track is part of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and these three positions are embedded in the programme group Moving Matters: People Goods Power and Ideas.

The project and what you will do

AlterTech is an ethnographic study of how rights and grassroots movements across Asia navigate deepening digital repression by experimenting with new practices and uses of technologies both to dodge the repression and to disrupt the infrastructures that enable it. It examines how political and technological action intersect and how movement infrastructures are reconfigured in a context where state surveillance and surveillance capitalism coalesce. By decentring the digital in our concept of technology and exploring how technologies are crafted and infrastructures are reassembled bottom-up we aim to uncover how a novel type of technopolitics and utopian imaginaries evolve in practices of resistance and everyday struggle.

Inspired by decolonial epistemology and using a multi-modal collaborative methodology AlterTech seeks not only to analyse these processes but also to engage in them. We therefore seek to form a team of dedicated researchers who are committed to exploring the generative possibilities of engaged scholarship. The research team consisting of three PhD candidates one postdoctoral researcher and the Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct ethnographic research at different scales. While the PI will examine hemispheric entanglements among transnational NGOs and the postdoctoral researcher will study dissident infrastructures among diaspora in Europe the PhD candidates will develop ethnographic case studies in specific settings in Asia.

For the PhD projects suggested cases include technologies and infrastructures of activism among youth activists in Papua Indonesia; among grassroots groups in India; and among Myanmar activists-in-exile in Thailand. However PhD candidates with strong proposals on different case studies in Asia are welcome to apply. The project overall is a collective effort emphasizing joint analysis and knowledge production therefore close teamwork is an essential part of the job.

Your tasks

• Your main task as PhD candidate will be to develop your own PhD project within the framework of the overall project.
• You will follow mandatory and optional coursework as part of the PhD programme of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and participate in pre- and post-fieldwork PhD groups at the Department of Anthropology.
• Next to working on and managing your own research you will contribute to collaborative aspects of the project. This will include collecting data for jointly written publication(s) and lending respective expertise to team members.
• You are expected to conduct 12-months of ethnographic fieldwork in the country of your case study.
• You are expected to live in the Amsterdam area and take active part in team meetings and the research environment at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR).
• Teaching (up to 10% of your time) and organisational support for the project leader will be part of your job responsibilities. These tasks will allow you to gain valuable professional experience next to working towards your PhD.

What do you have to offer

You have:

• a masters degree or equivalent with a relevant specialization within the social sciences or humanities preferably in social and cultural anthropology. The degree must have been obtained before the employment starting date;
• excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
• good oral and written communication skills in the country where you will conduct fieldwork;
• good command of ethnographic research methods and the ability and willingness to conduct challenging fieldwork on a sensitive topic;
• independent thinking and critical analytical skills;
• good collaboration skills and the ability to join interdisciplinary academic communities;
• the skills needed to finish the PhD thesis in four years; i.e. independent and pro-active work attitude good planning and academic writing skills.

You preferably have:

• previous research experience with ethnography of activism;
• affinity with current debates in anthropology of infrastructure technology and activism;
• affinity with decolonial and engaged anthropology and commitment to exploring multi-modal visual and co-creative methodological approaches.

This is what we offer you

The position concerns temporary employment of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of four years. Initial employment is for one year and will start on 1 August 2026. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances this term will be extended by a maximum of three years which should result in the conferral of a doctorate.

For this position the University Job Classification profile Promovendus applies

Your salary will be 3.059 gross per month in the first year and will increase to 3.881 in the final year based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week and in keeping with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities. We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary benefits including 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.

We will put together a curriculum which will also include the opportunity to attend training courses and both national and international events. The UvA offers excellent possibilities for further professional development and case of equal qualifications internal candidates will be given preference over external candidates.

What else do we offer

• A position in which initiative and input are highly valued;
• an enthusiastic and warm team that is open to new colleagues;
• an inspiring academic and international community in the heart of Amsterdam.

You will work in this team

To work at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam is to work in a discerning independent creative innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with academic colleagues as well as with the communities we study. You will be based within the program group Moving Matters: People Goods Power and Ideas. Moving Matters is a renowned centre of political anthropology and contemporary Asian studies which explores themes such as transnational flows and mobilities structural inequalities and changing power relations. We are a close-knit community that values social interaction and peer support as much as academic performance.

If this vacancy speaks to you but you are uncertain whether you meet all requirements please do get in touch with us or light of our departments commitment to a diverse and inclusive working environment we strongly encourage applications from qualified candidates who come from groups historically disenfranchised by and underrepresented in Dutch academia.

You may apply online by using the link below. Applications in one .pdf should be submitted no later than 9 March 2026 and should include:

1. your application letter describing your qualifications and motivation. Please specify which aspects of the project you are interested in and tell us what brought you to your present focus of intellectual and scholarly interests. Also briefly describe the case study you would like to explore (2 pages max.);
2. your Curriculum Vitae;
3. a scan of your masters diploma;
4. contact information for two academic references (no letters of recommendation at this stage);
5. an example of writing (max. 25 pages) that reflects your qualifications for this position.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview. Interviews will be held online in the first week of April 2026.

Do you have any questions or do you require additional information Please contact: Yatun Sastramidjaja Associate Professor in Anthropology and Principal Investigator of AlterTech

No agencies please