1. You have a master's degree in religious sciences (world religions, theology and religious studies, etc.), Indology or humanities.
2. You have a good and broad basic knowledge of either Christianity or Indian religious traditions and a broad and open interest in the phenomenon of religion and in palliative care and ethics.
3. A specific knowledge of (medical) ethics and/or palliative care is a plus.
4. You can present very good study results.
5. You are quality-oriented, with integrity, creative and collaborative.
6. You are preferably also trained in qualitative research methods.
7. You have strong analytical skills.
8. You write and speak English fluently (and preferably also Dutch) and read and speak French well.
9. You can work independently and take initiative.
10. You are a team player that that is able and willing to work closely together with his/her direct colleague (working on the same project) and the promotor.
11. You participate in conferences in Belgium and abroad.
12. You take on a limited set of teaching and research support tasks in the Research Unit and Faculty.
13. You have not yet worked in the status of doctoral grantee.
14. You meet the entrance requirements for the Ph.D in Theology or the Ph.D in Religious Studies from the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven (see https://admin.kuleuven.be/reglementen/en/education/phd-students/phdregulation-trs#section-3).
Though palliative sedation has been the been the object of often heated societal and academic debates since the nineties of the previous century, so far little attention has been given to the specific views and attitudes of world religions regarding this topic. Given the fact that these religions can, even in a very important way, influence the attitudes of palliative patients and their families and of caregivers regarding this practice, it is essential to know what these traditions are actually saying or teaching, especially in a country and a continent that in recent decades has become much more multicultural and multireligious.
Though much is known already and written about religious views on different treatment decisions at the end of life including euthanasia, paincontrol and the withholding or withdrawing of life sustaining treatment (including artificial hydration and nutrition), palliative sedation as a fairly recent specialised development in palliative care has till now received only limited attention, also by the religious authorities and specialists themselves. As a result of this a comprehensive comparative study of palliative sedation as discussed by the different major Christian and Indian religious traditions is feasible and will provide deeper insight in the way religion and religions see end of life decision making. This part of the research project (the other part focusses on the views of Christian traditions) aims at answering the following research questions:
1. What are the views and attitudes regarding palliative sedation in Indian religious traditions (Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism)? 2. What are the main reasons for and arguments behind these views and attitudes? 3. What internal diversity (or rather diversities) do we find in each specific tradition regarding these views and attitudes and how can this diversity be explained? 4. What fundamental differences and similarities do we find when we compare the results of the (gobal) literature study with those of the empirical study (with its specific Belgian and western European context)? 5. What fundamental differences and similarities do we find when we compare the attitudes of authoritative specialists with those of authoritative religious leaders in our empirical study? 6. What, if any, common views and attitudes and common justifications and/or fundamental differences in views and attitudes and justifications regarding palliative sedation can be found in Christian and/or Indian religions? 7. What are the main reasons for these fundamental similarities/differences?
The first part of our study is based on a comprehensive database and literature review on the views of Christian and Indian religious traditions that is almost finished: data have been collected; further analysis and publication of the results regarding Indian traditions still need to be done. Since most of the religious traditions still do not have officially proclaimed teachings and positions concerning palliative sedation specifically, we will in a second phase identify leading authorities and specialists in each tradition and interview them (semi-structured; grounded theory approach, fifteen interviews per tradition) about their position regarding palliative sedation and the arguments they develop in this context. In this part of our project we will specifically focus on religious authorities in Belgium. Having thus gained a clear insight in the (variety of) views in each tradition, we want, in a final stage of the project, compare the different religious traditions in their views towards palliative sedation and identify fundamental similarities and differences in their argumentation (e.g. regarding the importance of being conscious at the end of life and the necessity of (artificial) hydration).
Prof.dr. Bert Broeckaert of the Research Unit Theological and Comparative Ethics (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, KU Leuven) is looking for a PhD student for a research project on the views and attitudes of Indian Religious Traditions regarding palliative sedation.
15. In the proposed field, you actively work on the preparation and defense of a doctoral dissertation based on scientific articles, published by you in collaboration with the research team, related to the research project and partly based on the data already gathered in an earlier phase of the project.
16. We offer a doctoral scholarship for a period of one year. After positive evaluation, the scholarship can be renewed.
17. The anticipated start date is April 1, 2025. There may be limited deviation from this start date by mutual agreement.