This is a call for 3 PhD positions at the University of Bonn studying labour regimes and value creation in agricultural value chains, project is led by my colleague Dr Caroline Hambloch (who participated in the Brisbane agrifood in 2018).
The University of Bonn is an international research university with a wide education and research profile. With a 200-year history, approximately 31,500 students, more than 6,000 staff, and an excellent reputation at home and abroad, the University of Bonn is one of the most important universities in Germany and is recognized as a university of excellence.
The DFG Emmy Noether Junior Research Group “Local labor struggles in global value chains”, led by Dr. Hambloch (Department of Southeast Asian Studies), is inviting applications for Three doctoral students, 65% working time for the period of July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028.
DFG Emmy Noether Junior Research Group
The project aims to examine the relationship between value creation and value capture processes in specific agricultural global value chains (GVCs) in select countries of the Global South. It will investigate the multi-scalar dynamics between labor/smallholder control and agency. It will analyze how different mechanisms of smallholder and labor control by firms lead to struggles over livelihoods and labor in different GVCs. The project employs an emancipatory approach to analyze patterns and mechanisms of smallholder and labor agency that challenge the subordinate inclusion in different GVCs. It also examines land control and access, modes of coordination (e.g. contract farming), and standards and certification. The project seeks to develop an integrative framework combining the labor-focused GVC approach, multi-scalar labor regime analysis, and agrarian political economy. The project uses a mixed-methods research design. It focuses on three case countries and two agricultural GVCs in each. In each country, one GVC is central to the national political economy, while the other is peripheral. The selected cases are: Philippines (banana, palm oil); Colombia (coffee, palm oil); Malawi (tobacco, tea). An abstract of the project can be found here.
- Deadline: 02.03.2025
- Reference number: 3.2/2025/03
- Working time model: part time (65%)
- Starting date: July 2025
- Duration: fixed-term June, 30 2028
- Pay grade: TV-L EG 13