CIVIS launches new job space for early-stage researchers across Europe and Africa

CIVIS has officially launched its new PhD and post-doctoral Job board - a dedicated online platform designed to connect early-stage researchers with academic and research opportunities across the Alliance’s 17 member universities.

Rolled out in January 2026, the post-doc/ doc job space is hosted within the CIVIS Agora and forms part of the broader CIVIS Digital Campus. The platform introduces a centralized, interactive hub where post-doctoral researchers, late-stage PhD candidates and academic staff can meet, connect and collaborate around concrete job and research opportunities.

The initiative responds to a growing demand for more transparent, accessible and internationalized research career pathways. By bringing opportunities together in one shared digital space, CIVIS aims to reduce administrative barriers, strengthen scientific mobility and position the Alliance as an attractive ecosystem for early-stage research talent.

A shared marketplace for research careers

At its core, the Post-Doc/ Doc Job Space functions as an internal academic marketplace. Individual academics from CIVIS partner universities can now post vacancies directly using their institutional credentials, following a standardized online form. Each opportunity includes essential details such as the job title, research field, position type, required profile, application deadline and a link to the external application process.

All listings are displayed in a centralized feed that users can filter by partner university, scientific domain or keyword, enabling candidates to quickly identify relevant offers across disciplines and countries - from Stockholm to Athens, and including CIVIS’s African partner institutions.

The platform currently showcases doctoral offers, post-doctoral positions and PhD mobility opportunities. Over time, it is expected to expand to include additional formats, such as internships and collaborative educational initiatives like Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs).

Two audiences, shared benefits

The Job Board is designed to serve two main groups within the CIVIS research community.

1. For post-docs and late-stage PhD candidates (collectively referred to as Early Stage Researchers - ESRs), the platform offers centralized access to research career opportunities across the Alliance. Beyond job discovery, it creates new possibilities to connect with potential supervisors, labs and collaborators, helping young researchers broaden their professional networks and pursue international experience within a trusted institutional framework.
2. For “opportunity givers” - including Principal Investigators (PIs), research groups, departments and administrative services - the platform provides direct access to a diverse pool of high-quality international talent. Opportunities posted on the Job Space benefit from promotion across the wider CIVIS community through a coordinated, multi‑channel communication strategy, increasing their visibility and reach.

By simplifying how positions are shared and discovered, CIVIS aims to help research teams strengthen their capacity while supporting researchers at critical stages of their careers.

Supporting strategic goals

The launch of the PhD and post-doctoral Job board is closely aligned with CIVIS’s long-term strategic priorities. In particular, it contributes to the RIS4CIVIS strategy, specifically Module 4, which focuses on strengthening human capital and enhancing career development pathways for early stage researchers.

The initiative also supports CIVIS’s broader objective of building a unified, collaborative research community across all 17 member universities. By encouraging openness, mobility and cross-institutional collaboration, the platform reinforces CIVIS’s ambition to function as an integrated European - and international - research ecosystem.

Measuring success

To track the platform’s impact, CIVIS will closely monitor key performance indicators, including the number of opportunities posted by partner universities and the diversity of scientific domains represented. These metrics will help assess how effectively the platform engages both opportunity givers and candidates, and how well it reflects the Alliance’s disciplinary breadth.

With its synchronized launch, refreshed visual identity and new functionality allowing academics to post vacancies directly, the platform marks a significant step forward in CIVIS’s efforts to support early-stage researchers and foster a more connected, dynamic research landscape.