PhD Studentship: Analysing Gender and Stand-up Comedy in the 21st-Century Anglophone World, Online and Offline

The Department of Literary Studies is looking to hire a PhD Fellow at Ghent University, Belgium.

The PhD Fellow will work with Andrew Bricker (executive supervisor), a scholar of English literature, satire, and humour, and Jeroen Vandaele (co-supervisor), a scholar of translation, ideology, and humour.

The PhD Fellow will work on a doctoral project, “Analysing gender and stand-up comedy in the 21st-century Anglophone world, online and offline,” leading to a dissertation, as part of “DELIAH: Democratic Literacy and Humour,” a multi-university research project funded by Horizon Europe.

This PhD project seeks to understand how women and non-cisgendered comedic practitioners have created new venues for and new forms of stand-up comedy in the 21st-century Anglophone world and how they have created new spaces, forms, and practices of democratic participation. The growth of niche spaces for comedy, both online and offline, has led to alternative spaces for cultural and democratic expression. These new spaces have also created new opportunities for humour produced by women and non-cisgendered individuals, particularly in the exploration of new comedic affects beyond the aggressive energy of either traditional satire or male-dominated stand up; personal trauma; and formal experimentation.

Tasks:

• construct a bibliography of scholarship on stand-up comedy and a database of comedic performers;
• analyse case studies and write a dissertation; and
• write a summary report.
• The Fellow will also be responsible for DELIAH’s website and social-media profiles;
• take an active part in annual meetings (Ghent, April 2025; Tartu, 2026; Bratislava, 2027; Bilbao, 2028);
• and contribute to the advancement of the DELIAH project as a whole.
• The Fellow will engage in part-time teaching in English Literature and will take an active part in the life of the Department of Literary Studies.

Job profile:

• You hold an MA (or will by 1 Mar. 2025) in English Literature or a related field of expertise;
• have an interest in humor research, excellent research skills, excellent academic writing skills and oral skills in English, and a strong interest in collaborative research and interdisciplinary dialogue; and
• are enthusiastic about communicating academic research to non-academic audiences.

We offer a full-time position (initial period of 12 months, which, after positive evaluation, will be extended to a total maximum of 48 months). The contract starts on 1 Mar. 2025 at the earliest and ends on 29 Feb. 2029 at the latest. The Fellow also receives funds to support research and conference travel.

For more information on the PhD project and employment conditions, salary and benefits, please visit: https://www.ugent.be/en/work/scientific/doctoral-fellow-17 

To apply, send your CV, a copy of your university transcripts, a copy of your diploma, a copy of your MA thesis, and a cover letter (max. 2 pages), describing yourself and your interest in the project and the position, to Andrew.Bricker@UGent.be and JKM.Vandaele@UGent.be (via the ‘Apply’ button above). Include “DELIAH gender and stand-up comedy” in the subject line of your application email. Applications are due by the end of the day on 1 December 2024. We will not accept late applications. For more information about this vacancy, please contact Prof. Andrew Bricker directly (Andrew.Bricker@UGent.be)

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