Project team

The team working on DSNS-ACT includes the following members:

Project direction and quality control

Jamal Shahin (PI), will provide management, conceptual development, teaching and carry out one or two of the fieldwork trips. He will get his hands dirty in the conceptual, educational, and dissemination aspects of the project. Jamal will liaise with ICANN as the point of contact, responsible for quality and risk mitigation.

Trisha Meyer, Centre Director at the BSoG-VUB Centre for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation, will provide feedback, guidance and support throughout the project, providing quality assurance of deliverables and other outputs.

Clément Perarnaud will support conceptual reflection in the project, and participate in our events. Clément is a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the FWO (Research Foundation - Flanders), and is working on “Negotiating states’ sovereignty over the Internet” by exploring the effect of states’ digital sovereignty policies on Internet standards.

Project supervision

Nadia Tjahja will work on DSNS-ACT as our network and stakeholder manager, a key role in the project. She will manage the network of technical and academic researchers and support the training aspects of the project. Nadia will use her years of experience in I* meetings to facilitate the encounters between the different stakeholder communities.

Project researchers

A number of researchers will engage in the project. We currently have a vacancy for a PhD candidate to work on the project. The deadline is 20 July 2025.

Profile PhD candidate

The PhD candidate will, inter alia:

  • engage in and participate actively in the development of DSNS-ACT and its academic and communication activities
  • contribute to development of a novel research methodology (’the distended case study approach”)
  • support and conduct field research
  • prepare and participate in joint academic publications and workshops.

Finally, in the latter stages of the project, a postdoctoral researcher will be engaged to support the elaboration of our edited volume on digital sovereignty in internet governance.

Visiting researchers

Two visiting researchers will be invited to spend two months at the United Nations University in Bruges, where they will contribute to our ‘consolidation report’. This report will sum up the various meanings of digital sovereignty adopted by our stakeholders. We are specifically looking for experts who will be able to help bring together and analyse these different perspectives. Visiting researchers are also invited to carry out their own research.

Applications from regions of the world that cover the global minority will be given preference in this call.

Profile

The chosen candidates will be experienced researchers, who has intimate knowledge about academic and/or policy debates in their region around the specific topic of digital sovereignty. We welcome applications from individuals who have been involved in regional and global discussions on digital sovereignty.

Fluent professional knowledge of English is a requirement, and will be proven through sample publications and the cover letter. Experience in reviewing and editing text is desirable.

Applicants should provide the following documentation:

  • cover letter, which explains the experience and motivation of the candidate; this letter should also indicate a visiting researcher’s plans for the two months, and whether the visiting researcher requires a visa or not.
  • academic CV, including list of publications, presentations, and participation in conferences, from the past three years
  • one sample publication, preferably peer-reviewed.

The succesful candidates will receive a lump sum (approximately 2500€ per month) to cover all costs (travel, accommodation, subsidence, insurance, and social security/taxation payments in their home country, along with any additional costs that may be accrued). Visiting researchers will be responsible for making their own arrangements: UNU-CRIS and VUB cannot accept liability for any additional costs.

Succesful candidates will receive a ‘Visiting Fellow’ contract during their time in Bruges. This will be with the United Nations University in Bruges.

The proposed timing for the visiting researcher positions is as follows:

  • First stay: February or March 2026
  • Second stay: July, August, or September 2026.

The call is open: submit your documentation to jamal.shahin@vub.be, with a deadline for applications on 1 November 2025. We shall get back to you by 15 November 2025, to give you time to organise your stay.