The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) invites highly qualified and motivated applicants for a fully funded PhD position within the framework of the FINWEBS project, co-funded by the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research (FWO) and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).
Closing date for applications: 10 April 2017. Students graduating over the summer 2017 are also strongly encouraged to apply!
- Full time, 40 hrs/week
- Fixed-term contract for up to 4 years
- Work contract at LISER, department of Urban Development and Mobility
- Enrolment in the Doctoral Programme of the Department of Geography, Ghent University
- Co-supervision by Dr Sabine Dörry (LISER) and Professor Ben Derudder (Ghent University)
- Highly competitive salary (around 35,000 EUR p.a.).
- Start Date: June 2017 (or soon thereafter)
Project Description: FINWEBS – The role of agency in interconnecting international financial centres
The growth of the financial services sector has unmistakeably been one of the key economic trends of the last thirty years. This growing market has unleashed a race among cities for the status of ‘international financial centre’ (IFC), which can be understood as an urban concentration of firms in the financial services sector engaged in cross-border business. The objective of this research project is to better comprehend the dynamic/stability of the system of IFCs through an analysis of several ‘transnational social layers’: networks of financial centres, networks of financial firms and their products, and networks of leading financial professionals. By adding an agency perspective to the presently-dominant ranking interpretations of how IFCs come into being and jockey for position within global financial business flows, the project aims to move our understanding of stability and dynamics among IFCs beyond broad-sweeping narratives of path dependence and crisis. This overall objective is specified through a series of more concrete research questions focusing on how IFCs, financial firms and financial elites inhabiting them (re)define each other through webs of innovation, specialization, and power, respectively. The project adopts a mixed-method approach, which allows capitalizing on both in-depth qualitative and systematic quantitative research. The implications for the future of the financial industry and those cities heavily relying on this industry will be explored.
For further information and access to the application form please click here.
