The Past Speaks

Historical Tensions between International Business and National Taxation: A Challenge for
Europe Today

Annual funding amount: 31,034 Euros pa pro rata to cover fees/stipend. Archival and project travel funds available

A team of business historians from the University of Bayreuth (Germany), Erasmus
University (Rotterdam), Charles University (Prague), and Coventry University (UK), are being
funded by the VolkswagenStiftung for a project that aims to analyse the historical dynamic
of the conflict of interest in relation to taxation between nation states and multi-national
enterprise (MNE). The historical cases examined in the project aim to reveal the complexity
of multi-layered interaction between states and MNE, and the long historical pathdependence of MNE and their global network of specialists.

Coventry University and Erasmus University are now inviting applications from suitablyqualified graduates for fully-funded PhD studentships – one to be held at each university – to
join the team in May 2022 and start work on the project. The successful candidates will
receive comprehensive research training including technical, personal and professional
skills. In addition, the studentships include funding and support for participation, together
with the project’s other PhD students, in various European PhD education programmes,
such as summer schools and courses.

The Coventry University PhD project comprises a case study of BP in the course of the
twentieth century. Against a background of international ideological ruptures (First World
War, 1930s Great Depression, Second World War, de-colonisation, the coming of the Iron
Curtain and fall of the Berlin Wall), the CU project will also focus on the nationalisation
policies of the postwar Labour government, and the progressive privatization of BP from
1979 under Thatcher.

For further details please contact Professor Neil Forbes n.forbes@coventry.ac.uk

The Erasmus University PhD project comprises a case study of the Anglo-Dutch Unilever
since the merger in 1930. Against a background of major international ruptures (1930s
Great Depression, Second World War, de-colonisation, the coming of the Iron Curtain and
fall of the Berlin Wall) this project will focus on Unilever’s connections to other
multinational companies in the UK and the Netherlands and particularly its relations with
the Dutch and British governments. Command of the Dutch and English languages is a
precondition.

For further details please contact Professor Ben Wubs wubs@eshcc.eur.nl

Please note that the annual salary implied by this annual funding fee is considerably higher than what one would normally get as an ESRC funded PhD student at a UK university.

Application deadline is 24 January 2022. Full details available here.