Three Postdoctoral Fellowships in Statecraft and Strategic Communication

Background

The Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication (CSSC), located at the Department for Marketing and Strategy at the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE), is pleased to announce fellowships for three two-year postdoctoral fellows wishing to pursue historically informed research about strategic communication in statecraft. In addition to being part of SSE, the postdoctoral fellows join an international consortium, the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy (AJI).

Incoming postdoctoral fellows will work closely with the affiliates of CSSC as well as being given opportunities to participate in the Center’s activities and the broader intellectual community of SSE. They will also collaborate with faculty, affiliates, students, and fellows from the other institutes in the consortium, creating a multi-institutional, multi-national intellectual community that spans the Atlantic, as well as have publishing opportunities through Engelsberg Ideas.

Research topics

CSSC’s research profile combines history, statecraft, and strategic communication. Our concern with history means that we are interested in past events, but also that we seek to situate current events historically, aiming to apply historical lessons to contemporary phenomena and to understand them as parts of long-term processes. The focus on statecraft means that we are interested in international affairs, and how political leaders navigate the security challenges facing their countries. With strategic communication, we refer to the use of information or disinformation by states and other political actors to achieve strategic objectives. This can entail rhetoric, public diplomacy, propaganda, disinformation, diplomacy, intelligence, strategic narratives, and similar phenomena.

The ideal research project should be situated at the intersection of these three areas, but we are also open to projects with links to one of two of them, as long as the overall orientation fits our overarching concern with statecraft and diplomacy. In addition, research projects relating economic history to statecraft will also be considered. Ultimately, we seek to attract high-caliber candidates pursuing research that fits our research profile.

Our research is firmly grounded in the classic humanities and the history of international affairs. We favor writing in a plain style and support efforts to disseminate research findings to the general public.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Studies of how the role of strategic communication in statecraft (international affairs, warfare, diplomacy, etc.) has evolved historically.
• Historical case studies of relevant empirical examples of strategic communication in statecraft.
• Studies of the use of history in strategic communication in statecraft.
• Case studies with an applied history-design, seeking to draw lessons from relevant historical precedents.
• Other interesting historically oriented projects about statecraft.

Requirements

Candidates must, at the time of assuming the position, hold a Ph.D. (defended not later than three years prior to starting the position) in a relevant discipline such as history, political science, economics, business administration or communication studies. CSSC’s postdoctoral researchers are expected to complete a two-year research project. This can be two or more peer-reviewed articles or a book project. Postdoctoral scholarships can be prolonged if the recipients conduct work for CSSC or AJI, for instance as lecturers or as project managers. Knowledge of Swedish is a merit.

Terms

The three fully funded postdoctoral positions cover two years, and the work is mainly located at CSSC’s premises located at the Stockholm School of Economics. The monthly salary (subject to tax) is around SEK 45 500. Costs for conference participation, travel to our partner universities and necessary literature will be covered by CSSC up to a certain limit as decided by the center director.

Admitted fellows are expected to start around 1 September 2026.

Successful candidates will have opportunity to gain teaching training and experience at SSE during their postdoc period. They will be able to participate in seminars and courses for pedagogical development offered at SSE. Specific teaching assignments could either be in one of the dedicated courses offered by the Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication or in other course offered by the Department of Marketing and Strategy.

Application

Expressions of interest must have been received no later than 15 February 2026. Suitable candidates will be interviewed. The following documents are to be attached:

1. A cover letter articulating the candidate’s qualifications and fit with the position, including research interests and a statement of research plans. The letter should describe how your work fits within CSSC and AJI.
2. A curriculum vitae (including previous and present employment and academic background)
3. A separate document listing published articles, books, or book chapters (if any), articles submitted to journals, and working papers (with status indication). Papers enclosed with the application should be marked with an asterisk (*).
4. Copies of representative research (PDF).
5. Degrees and diplomas, certificates, or other documents (copy of degree certificates, etc.)
6. Names and contact information for three persons willing to provide references.

Postdoctoral positions are in general intended for recent PhD graduates. We primarily look for candidates with a degree from the last three years; we will of course consider extended timelines due to circumstances such as military duty, parental leave or similar.

About the Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy 

The Ax:son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy’s (AJI) mission is to foster historically informed statecraft and diplomacy. AJI conducts rigorous empirically based research focusing on description, explanation, and interpretation. We believe that applying the lessons of history is fundamental in preserving stable, prosperous, and open democratic societies.  

AJI is a consortium comprised of the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit and four research centers at leading universities: the Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge, the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C., the Centre for Grand Strategy in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and the Center for Statecraft and Strategic Communication at the Stockholm School of Economics.

AJI supports the research of emerging scholars, convenes dialogues between policymakers and leading analysts of foreign policy on pressing strategic problems, and builds a growing intellectual community that spans the Atlantic. At the heart of these efforts is AJI’s team of talented doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows.

About the Department of Marketing and Strategy 

The Department of Marketing and Strategy is one of six academic departments at the Stockholm School of Economics. The department currently consists of 10 full professors, 7 associate professors, 7 assistant professors, 3 lecturers, and 21 PhD students. The department contributes to teaching in the bachelor, master, PhD, MBA and executive education programs at SSE. The department also hosts about 30 affiliated researchers (funded by external research grants).

Research at the department covers several disciplines including consumer marketing, strategic management and marketing, international business and marketing, business law, but also economic psychology, economic sociology, economic geography, and economic history. While this means that a variety of theoretical perspectives and research methods are employed, the faculty shares a high-performance research orientation and culture. Faculty members are expected to regularly publish in top journals within their respective fields. Our tenure evaluations reflect this and rely, among other things, on the AJG and FT50 lists as indicators of research quality. Besides publishing, our faculty members also actively and successfully apply for external research grants to fund both their own research and PhD and post doc projects.

About the Stockholm School of Economics