Graduate Program in Conservation of Cultural Heritage at Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Türkiye) is pleased to announce a challenging PhD position that examines resilience in heritage tourism as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network project titled "HERITOUR - Enhancing collaborative synergies between Cultural HERItage and TOURism"

About HERITOUR

HERITOUR is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network that examines how the cultural heritage and tourism sectors can collaborate more effectively to address shared challenges and reduce the negative impacts of tourism. Cultural heritage represents a major segment of contemporary tourism, yet increasing touristification and overtourism have intensified debates about environmental degradation, social disruption, and pressures on heritage sites. Although European and international policy frameworks promote ethical and sustainable tourism, heritage and tourism governance remains fragmented, with sectors operating under different institutional structures and priorities. HERITOUR investigates how current collaborations function and how cross-sectoral policies can be developed within a democratic and regenerative governance model. The project focuses on hybridisation, sustainability, resilience, and democratisation, and provides interdisciplinary training for Doctoral Candidates.

HERITOUR is a collaboration between Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Stavanger, Middle East Technical University, University of Aruba, Mid Sweden University, and the University of Granada.
Successful Doctoral Candidates will be seconded at heritage and tourism organisations for the total duration of three months during the employment period.
A total of 10 PhD vacancies are available across the six universities. For more information, check the individual vacancy pages of the universities, or check the project website www.heritour.eu  

About the research project  

This project examines management practices addressing overtourism in heritage places characterised by limited resources and restricted access, such as islands, and remote tourist-historic destinations. In many heritage environments, increasing visitor numbers place significant pressure on heritage places, infrastructure, and local communities. These challenges are particularly acute in places where financial, institutional, or spatial resources for heritage management are limited. While tourism can contribute to local development and the visibility of heritage, unmanaged visitor flows may threaten the long-term conservation of cultural heritage, exacerbate social inequalities, and weaken the resilience of heritage places and communities. In some contexts, these pressures may also lead to the securitisation of tourism, in which visitor flows, and their impacts, are generally framed as risks requiring regulation or control to protect heritage spaces and local communities.

Situated within the field of conservation of architectural heritage and cultural heritage studies, the research investigates how heritage managers, tourism stakeholders, and public authorities develop strategies to respond to overtourism in resource-constrained contexts. Particular attention will be given to how management practices can strengthen the resilience of heritage sites by balancing heritage conservation, visitor expectations, and the everyday needs of local communities.

Through comparative case studies and qualitative research methods—such as field observations, stakeholder interviews, and policy analysis—the project will examine governance and management frameworks in tourist-historic areas experiencing overtourism pressures. The research aims to develop a community-driven policy framework and evidence-based strategies that enhance the resilience of heritage tourism systems by promoting heritage awareness, social justice, and local economic development while addressing the specific challenges of sites with limited resources and access.

Ultimately, the project seeks to generate practical recommendations for balancing the diverse and sometimes conflicting interests of stakeholders, and to propose actionable strategies that reconcile heritage preservation, visitor management, and community wellbeing. By doing so, the research will contribute to the development of a replicable model for managing overtourism in a way that strengthens the long-term resilience and sustainability of similar heritage contexts.

This PhD position (DC-4) is embedded in Work Package 2 “Resilience” and is supervised by Dr. Özgün Özçakır (Middle East Technical University) and Dr. Naomi Oosterman (Erasmus University Rotterdam). PhD candidates will be seconded at Cas di Cultura (Aruba) and the Istanbul Planning Agency (Türkiye).

Job description

-       The successful candidate is expected to be involved in: 

-       Conducting PhD research. 

-       Publishing and presenting research results in the form of articles in international peer reviewed journals and papers at international conferences. 

-       Participating in intensive training schools as part of the HERITOUR training framework. 

-       Writing a dissertation within the appointment duration of three years. At METU, PhD studies typically take a minimum of four years. The doctoral candidates recruited through the HERITOUR project will be employed under the project with a full-time MSCA fellowship for 36 months. Continuation of the doctoral studies beyond this period will follow METU’s regular doctoral programme regulations, and additional funding opportunities may be pursued depending on institutional and project-related possibilities.

-       M18-M19, six-week secondment at IPA to acquire insights into how IPA deals with the challenges on managing tourism in heritage places with limited resources and access. M30-M31, six-week secondment at CDC to understand and observe balanced decision making in collaboration with different stakeholders and communities.

 

Conditions of Employment

The expected start date for this position is 1 September 2026. The exact starting date may be subject to a delay depending on the graduate application calendar at METU.  HERITOUR doctoral candidates will receive a full-time employment contract for an initial period of 12 months, renewable annually based on satisfactory performance, in accordance with Turkish Labour Law No. 4857 (2003), for a total employment duration of 36 months. This legislation regulates the legal framework of the appointment, including working hours (45 hours per week), provisions for leave (including maternity and sick leave), annual vacation, and social security coverage.

 

The selected candidate, as part of the MSCA DN Fellowship, will receive living and mobility allowances. If the selected candidate has a family, they may be eligible for a family allowance as part of the MSCA Fellowship. The monthly living allowance, which includes all mandatory tax and social security contributions, will be €2,586.45. From this sum, statutory deductions such as the Social Security Institution (SGK) premium, stamp duty, and income tax will be applied. These deductions vary throughout the year and typically range between 35% and 45% of the gross amount. In addition to the base salary, Fellows will receive a mobility allowance of €710 per month, and, where applicable, a family allowance of €495 per month. The salary will be paid in Turkish Lira and calculated on a monthly basis according to the applicable exchange rate. Therefore, it will not be affected by currency fluctuations over time.

Social security provisions are regulated at national level. According to the Turkish Law on Social Insurance and General Health Insurance, HERITOUR doctoral candidates will be insured by the Republic of Türkiye, Social Security Institution (SSI) under the same conditions as citizens of Türkiye. In accordance with the national legislation, researchers at all stages enjoy full social security provisions (including sickness and parental benefits, pension rights and unemployment benefits). The university will ensure that the same standards and procedures will be followed for each of the HERITOUR doctoral candidates. Social Security Provisions which provide insurance to the researchers will be paid from the living allowance cost.

 

Middle East Technical University (METU) / Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi (ODTÜ), founded in 1956, is an international research university, which seeks excellence in serving the country, region and the world. This well-deserved reputation is partly a reflection of its leading position in terms of international scientific publications and share of research funds from national scientific research funding agencies, primarily The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), among the most prominent universities of Turkey. Moreover, ODTÜ – as an international research-intensive university – is among the leading universities in Turkey in terms of depth and breadth of international research projects and the amount of funds generated from research activities. Research revenues account for 20-25% on average of annual ODTÜ expenditures, including all payroll costs.

ODTÜ has actively taken part in and managed various projects under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), especially the Framework Programmes (FP) as well as other international projects, such as COST, Erasmus, Newton-Katip Çelebi Fund, etc. In this context, as of February 2026, ODTÜ has 517 international projects (either signed or in Grant Agreement phase). Among these projects, 251 are supported by the EU Framework Programmes with a total budget of 953 M€ which ODTÜ’s share of 66,5 M€ while 266 of ODTÜ’s international projects are funded other programs such as Erasmus, GCRF and US Embassy, etc. with a total budget of 139 M€ and ODTÜ's share of 27 M€. 

Moreover, ODTÜ is committed to intensify and accelerate the alignment of the European Research Area (ERA) and Turkish Research Area (TARAL) based on the five ERA priorities, as one of the founding members of the Alliance of Turkish Research Universities. The ERA priorities ODTÜ is currently focusing on includes ERA Priority #3: An Open Labour Market for Researchers. In order to fulfil the requirements of this priority ODTÜ has been a EURAXESS Service Centre since 2015, has endorsed its commitment to the 40 principles of the “European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers” in October 2018, has submitted its GAP Analysis and Action Plan for the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) for assessment by the European Commission in December 2019 and become the first university in Turkey to be qualified to obtain the Human Resources Excellence in Research Award in August, 2020. ODTÜ has recently started implementing a five-year “HORIZON-MSCA-COFUND” project, entitled "ENRICH-TOGETHER: Enriching the Green and Blue Transition Research and Training Network by Working Together through the New European Research Area" with 2.8 Million Euro budget, aiming to host 20 post-doctoral researchers, who have not resided or worked in Turkey for more than 12 months in the last 36 months, at our University to pursue research in the cross-cutting theme of Green and Blue Transition covering all disciplines.

Last but not least, it is important to point that the language of education in ODTÜ is English. Moreover, ODTÜ strategically values the prevention of inbreeding by prioritizing the employment of researchers who have had international experience at doctoral and/or post-doctoral level(s). Thus, a significant portion of ODTÜ’s faculty is constituted of incoming researchers from Europe and/or Third countries (mostly USA).

 

Requirements and selection criteria EU

To be eligible, a candidate must have:  

-        Not resided or carried out their main activity in Türkiye for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the starting date of this employment (1 September 2026). (unless as part of a compulsory national service or a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention)   

-        Not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the date of the recruitment (Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis, but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree are not eligible)    

Requirements and selection criteria BENEFICIARY

-       A (research) master’s degree or equivalent with a relevant specialisation in architecture, conservation of cultural heritage, heritage studies, urban studies, or related disciplines within the social sciences or humanities (e.g. anthropology, sociology, cultural studies);

-       Specific requirements for PhD in Conservation of Cultural Heritage can be found here: https://fbe.metu.edu.tr/en/conservation-cultural-heritage

-       Familiarity with and keen interest in qualitative research methods; 

-       Independent thinking and critical analytical skills; 

-       Good collaboration skills and an ability to join interdisciplinary and intercultural academic communities; 

-       Excellent oral and written communication skills in English (CEFR 1); 

-       Motivation to carry out high level research and publish in top peer reviewed international journals  

The selection committee will invite a small number of candidates for an online interview. Candidates may be asked to submit a more detailed research plan and/or give a presentation as part of the application procedure. The interviews are scheduled to take place in May 2026.

Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:  

Dr. Özgün Özçakır (oozcakir@metu.edu.tr). More information about the HERITOUR project, consortium, and the application procedure, please contact Dr. Bozhidar Ivanov, Project Manager, via heritour@eur.nl  

To apply, please send (1) proof of not having resided in Türkiye for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the starting date of this employment, (2) a motivation letter of max. half an A4, (3) your resume including publication list (if applicable), (4) a brief research idea of max. 300 words based on the description of the project and (5) the names and contact details of two potential references (no letters of recommendation are required at this stage) 

Deadline and submission 

Send in your application before April 27, 2026. Applicants should submit their application documents to Dr. Özgün Özçakır (oozcakir@metu.edu.tr), indicating “HERITOUR / DC-4” in the subject line.

The selection committee will invite a small number of candidates for an online interview. Candidates may be asked to submit a more detailed research plan and/or give a presentation as part of the application procedure. 

Acquisition and mediation by third parties is not appreciated. 

The position is financed by HERITOUR MSCA DN: Enhancing collaborative synergies between cultural HERItage and TOURism (2026-2029) GA 101226351 — HERITOUR — HORIZON-MSCA-2024-DN-01