Postdoctoral position 

Project: ‘Life-in-Death: Necrobiotic politics in rewilding,’ Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czechia. 

Postdoctoral position (1,0 FTE) 

Deadline: 26 October 2026 

 We are pleased to announce a postdoctoral position available on Life-in-death: Necrobiotic Politics in Rewilding, a five-year research programme funded through a Lumina Quaeruntur award from the Czech Academy of Sciences.  

 Job Title 

Postdoctoral Researcher 

Position 

As a postdoctoral researcher, you will work as part of a small team within Life-in-Death, coordinated by Dr. Kieran O’Mahony. You will develop an independent ethnographic research agenda aligned with the project’s wider aims, examining the knowledge politics of death within conservation and biosecurity regimes, and across diverse biocultural settings. The precise empirical focus and field site will be developed in dialogue with the PI. Candidates with an interest in, or experience of working in, southern Europe are particularly encouraged to apply, although applicants bringing relevant expertise from other regions are also welcome. 

Job information 

• Starting date: 1.1. 2027 or soon thereafter 

• Duration: 2 years and 8 months position (an initial 1-year contract with an expected extension) 

• FTE: full-time position 

• Workplace: Prague (candidates must be residents of Czechia or be ready to relocate to Czechia for the whole duration of the position) 

• Gross salary: 66,000 CZK per month (with a 3% annual increase) 

Your qualifications 

• PhD in anthropology, more-than-human geography, science and technology studies, environmental humanities, or a related discipline; or evidence that all requirements for the PhD will be successfully completed by that date. 

• Capacity to work autonomously and develop projects dedicated to the objectives of the ‘Life-in-Death’ project.   

• Demonstrable record of high-quality academic writing, evidenced by a PhD dissertation and peer-reviewed academic publications. 

• Willingness to present at international conferences and to contribute to public-facing or creative forms of research communication. 

• Excellent oral and written English skills are required; working knowledge of Czech would be an advantage. 

• Strong interest in theoretical and conceptual ideas central to the project, including rewilding, biosecurity, multispecies relations, mortality and decomposition, environmental governance, or related fields. 

• Experience conducting qualitative or ethnographic research. We particularly welcome applicants interested in developing visual, creative, sensory or multimodal approaches to research and dissemination. 

 We offer 

• International, ambitious, friendly, and supportive team. 

• Opportunities to work within an innovative research project. 

• Funding for project-related fieldwork and conference travel. 

• Opportunities to contribute to collaborative, public-facing and creative project outputs, including workshops, digital activities and exhibition work. 

• Fees for open access publications. 

• Training seminars and workshops to further professional qualifications and for personal development. 

• Institutional affiliation with the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. 

• 25 days of paid annual leave, flexible working arrangements, and a family-friendly work environment in the centre of Prague. 

 Application process 

The application must contain the following documents: 

• A cover letter outlining your motivation to join the project team of no more than 2 pages. 

• CV 

• A sample of academic writing in English (unpublished work, such as a thesis chapter is acceptable). Applicants may also include links to examples of visual, creative or multimodal research outputs, where relevant. 

• The names and contact details of two potential referees. 

 The deadline for the application is 26.10. 2026, 5 pm CET. Please email a single PDF file to recruitment@eu.cas.cz under the subject ‘Life-in-Death Postdoc.’  

 Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview in early November. 

 About the project 

Rewilding is commonly framed as the restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity in response to ecological crisis. This programme starts from a different proposition: alongside the recovery of life, rewilding reconfigures the ecologies and politics of death. It examines how dying, carcasses, decomposition and other processes of mortality are known, valued and governed within conservation and biosecurity regimes. It asks how these processes become objects of knowledge and intervention, how they are negotiated across different biocultural landscapes, and how they reconfigure multispecies relations. Grounded in comparative ethnographic research across and beyond Europe, it develops the concept of necrobiotic politics to analyse death across species, spaces and times. 

The Institution  

The Institute of Ethnology pursues both basic and applied research in the field of anthropology and cognate fields. The general aim of the Department of Ecological Anthropology, where the project is based, is to advance ethnographic and innovative research on socio-ecological relations, more-than-human worlds, and contemporary environmental challenges. 

Further information 

Interested candidates are strongly encouraged to contact Dr. Kieran O’Mahony to discuss the position in more detail (omahony@eu.cas.cz).  

If no suitable candidates are found the vacancy will be reopened.   

By submitting your CV, you consent to the processing of your personal data for the purposes of the recruitment process, in accordance with applicable legislation. 

 We look forward to receiving your application.