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March 2013
DRAFT Request for Proposals in the Research Framework
“Violence Research and Development”
This is a collaborative project of Ain Shams University, Cairo (Egypt), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld
(Germany), the University of the Punjab, Lahore (Pakistan), the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón
Cañas, San Salvador (El Salvador), the University of Benin City, Benin City (Nigeria), and the Pontificia
Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima (Peru).
Ain Shams University and Bielefeld University request proposals from junior researchers educated in the
social sciences (M.A./MPhil/Licenciatura) to participate in a 16-month multilateral comparative research
project on conflict and violence in developing and transformation countries (research lines see below),
conducted as part of the larger project “Violence Research and Development”, coordinated by the
International Centre for Violence Research (ICVR). For further information on "Violence Research and
Development", see www.internationalviolenceresearch.org.
For participation in this project, the junior researchers have to be based in Egypt, residency in Cairo,
however, is not necessarily required. The positions are part-time. The junior researchers will be supervised
by a senior researcher who is based in their country of residence.
The research programme consists of six research lines (see below). The junior researchers are expected to
conduct an individual empirical research project according to their interest that fits into one of six research
lines, and that will be coordinated with junior researchers in the four other countries and the International
Centre for Violence Research (ICVR). Junior researchers are expected to participate in meetings and
workshops in their country of residence and in two summer schools at Bielefeld University (duration: three
weeks each). The first summer school will take place in Bielefeld from August 25 to September 13, 2013.
The monthly remuneration for a junior researcher in Egypt is (the equivalent in Egyptian pounds of) 450 €.
Participation in the project lasts 12 months, with the possibility of extension to 16 months.
Requisites for Candidates:

M.A. degree (or equivalent) in the Social Sciences or Humanities.

Strong analytical skills and outstanding academic performance.

Strong command of English.

Background knowledge on conflict and violence research.

Openness to collaborate closely with researchers from other countries.

Candidates must be self-driven and able to work independently.
Application procedure:
For details on the application procedure consult the ICVR website
(www.internationalviolenceresearch.org - Detailed LINK?), where you find the required cover sheet
and guidelines for writing your proposal.
The usual application documents have to be submitted accompanied by the ICVR cover sheet and a 2000 to
2500 words long research proposal. For the proposal, junior researchers are requested to consult the
detailed descriptions of the research lines and the guidelines for proposal writing available on the ICVR
website, and submit their proposal for their empirical study with explicit reference to one research line.
Applications should be submitted in one electronic document (pdf) only. Please send your complete
application to sina.birkholz@uni-bielefeld.de.
Deadline for submission is May 31st, 2013.
If you have any further inquiries, please contact Sina Birkholz (Bielefeld University, sina.birkholz@unibielefeld.de ) or Prof. Mohamed Salheen (Ain Shams University, mohamed_salheen@eng.asu.edu.eg)
Brief description of Research Lines
Research Line 1: Parties, Passions and Politics. Violence in Processes of Political Transformations
The research line investigates both oral references and actual resorts to violence in discourses and practices
in processes of political transformation from authoritarian rule to democracy or from civil strife to settled
peace. It focuses on non-state actors that are part of the political process (parties and movements, in
government or opposition). The first question is whether and how such non-state political entities conceive
of violence as a political instrument. The second question is whether perceptions and views materialize in
(in-)actions of the entities in contentious situations.
Research Line 2: Justifications and Legitimacy of Police Violence. A Comparative Study of Norms of
Internal Security in five Transition Countries
In this research line a variety of justifications and explanations for police violence shall be reconstructed and
contrasted within each country and across the five countries. The norms of internal security visible in legal,
political, and media discourses shall be considered. Key questions are: which forms of police violence are
observed, which are seen as problematic? Why does police violence happen? What gives it legitimacy?
These questions serve to get a grasp of perceptions of police violence and how these perceptions are
framed and excused.
Research Line 3: Violent and Non-Violent Neighborhoods. A Comparative Analysis of Urban
Neighborhoods’ Strategies of Violence Prevention and Control
The research line aims to seek local social mechanisms for direct violence control and prevention and social
context factors which enable or disable the success of community-wide and national measures of violence
control and prevention. It tries to answer the following questions: are there specific social contexts in less
violent communities compared to more violent ones? Are there specific social habits that prevent violence
on the local level? Are there special social “contracts” in non-violent communities which do not exist in
more violent ones? Which social actors are able to control or to prevent violence? By focusing on these
questions the research line strengthens the micro-perspective in violence research on the Global South.
Research Line 4: Violence in the Twilight Zone: Informal Non-state Policing in the Global South. A
Comparative Study of Community Members’ Perception of Informal Non-state Policing in Egypt, El
Salvador, Nigeria, Pakistan and Peru
The research line investigates how community members in Egypt, El Salvador, Nigeria, Pakistan and Peru
perceive groups carrying out informal non-state policing. It thereby aims, first, at assessing whether
informal non-state policing is considered to be acceptable and, thus, legitimate in the eyes of the members
of the communities or not. Second, it aims at identifying the reasons why informal non-state policing is
acceptable or not. The research will thus not only provide a broad overview of how informal non-state
policing is seen by community members in different countries of the Global South, it will allow compare the
different perceptions and reasonings.
Research Line 5: Violence against Women: Victims’ Perceptions and Social Experiences
The aim of the research project is to analyse the social perceptions and explanations of violence against
women. The social patterns and explanatory or legitimating discourses underlying the prevalence and
reproduction of gender based violence are identified by analysing the perspectives of victims, NGOs, the
media and political authorities on violence against women. The project thereby seeks to develop a
complementary and comparative understanding of the social and political factors and patterns underlying
the prevalence and reproduction of gender based violence from a social science perspective.
Research Line 6: Street Children and Violence in Urban Spaces
The research line investigates the situation of street children in urban spaces, examining survival strategies
in the dynamics of social integration and disintegration and in the dichotomy of victim/perpetrator of
violence. The central research question is how street children secure their survival and what physical and
psychological harm they experience (i.e. what violence is experienced and exercised). Special attention will
be paid to the gender question: how do girls cope with the situation on the street, what sexual violence are
they exposed to and how do they react to it.