Call for applications: 15 Fully-Funded PhD Positions within the MINARET Doctoral Network, funded by the European Commission’s MSCA DN programme.
Deadline: January 31, 2027.
Programme Title: A Sociology of Post-Imperial Islamic Legal Cultures: Insights from Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia (MINARET)
Funding: Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska‑Curie Doctoral Networks
Start: September 2027 | Duration: 48 months | Deadline: January 31, 2027
Consortium: 11 leading universities across Europe
Programme Synopsis
MINARET Doctoral Network trains 15 doctoral candidates (DCs) in the sociology of post-imperial Islamic legal cultures, with a regional focus on Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. The programme examines the interactions between law, religion, and governance in Muslim-majority societies shaped by imperial legacies and ongoing processes of constitutional transformation. Its three core goals are:
Empirical and theoretical innovation on the interconnections between law, religion, governance, constitutionalism, democratization, and security in post-imperial Muslim-majority societies.
Sustainable interdisciplinary doctoral training across disciplines, sectors, and regions, creating a new generation of experts in Islamic legal cultures and constitutional transformation.
Policy outreach and societal impact, translating research findings into actionable intelligence through workshops, conferences, publications, policy briefs, and stakeholder engagement activities.
Doctoral candidates will be hosted at one of 11 leading European universities within the MINARET consortium and will work closely with a wide network of academic and non-academic partners across Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Southeast Asia, and North America. Doctoral candidates will benefit from joint supervision, international and intersectoral secondments, advanced methodological and transferable skills training, and unique opportunities to bridge academic research with policy and practice.
Fieldwork and secondments constitute integral components of the MINARET Doctoral Programme. Accordingly, all doctoral candidates admitted to the programme will be required to undertake international fieldwork and secondments in one or more of MINARET’s partner countries in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, or Southeast Asia. Through collaboration with universities, civil society organisations, think tanks, public institutions, and development agencies, doctoral candidates will gain first-hand experience of legal, political, and governance transformations in post-imperial Muslim-majority societies while developing the skills necessary for successful careers in academia, policymaking, international organisations, and the wider public and private sectors.
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