In the summer of 2026, the research group “Entangled Energies: Actors, Spaces and Practices in Eastern Europe” will commence its work at the Institute for Eastern European Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. This DFG-funded group brings together researchers from Freie Universität, Humboldt University, the Centre Marc Bloch and the Leibniz Centre for Literary and Cultural Research. The research centres on three questions: Firstly, we examine spatial arrangements: how do the extraction and circulation of energy and the (re)configuration of resource spaces interrelate? Secondly, the focus is on actors: within which formal and informal network structures do human and non-human actors shape energy environments? Thirdly, we are concerned with competing narratives: which notions, topoi and concepts shape energy discourses? To address these complex issues, the interdisciplinary group connects researchers from literary and cultural studies, political science, history, sociology and economics, working in close collaboration.

Job description:
The subproject examines the social and political impacts of unreliable energy supply, using the Republic of Moldova as a case study. In post-Soviet societies characterized by energy vulnerability, dealing with “voltage fluctuations” became a constitutive everyday experience. This phenomenon will be analyzed here from a comparative perspective. The project addresses not only questions of adjustment and adaptation, but also the infrastructural dimensions of supply and energy security, as well as the instrumentalization of energy supply in political conflicts.
The predoc will write a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of the PI on the topic of the subproject and, in collaboration with the project leadership, will participate in academic publications and events of the subproject and the research group.

 Requirements:

- Master’s degree in East European Studies, History, or a related field

Desirable:
- Very good language proficiency (C1) in English, as well as Russian or Romanian