Faculty of Humanities and Communication Sciences
USP‑CEU is seeking excellent postdoctoral researchers interested in applying for the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA‑PF 2026). The University CEU holds the HR Excellence in Research (HRS4R) Award and is strongly committed to attracting and supporting international research talent.
USP‑CEU is a competitive and supportive host institution for MSCA‑PF candidates, with a strong track record including 10 awarded fellowships, an exceptional 100/100 score, and two recent successes in the MSCA‑PF 2025 call. We offer personalised guidance throughout the proposal preparation process, as well as our International Talent Retention Programme, which provides successful MSCA Fellows with an additional 6–12‑month contract to support long‑term career development.
Hosting Research Group
The ESCUR Research Group investigates the role of war correspondents from a historical, transnational and gender‑sensitive perspective, fully aligned with research priorities and programmes funded by the European Union. Building on extensive work on Spain's nineteenth‑century civil wars—particularly the First Carlist War, where the modern concept of the foreign correspondent took shape—the group has broadened its scope to include the independence movements of the American viceroyalties under Ferdinand VII, the Second and Third Carlist Wars, and conflicts of the Revolutionary Six‑Year Period (1868–1874), such as the Cuban War in the wider European context of imperialism. Results from this research have been published by internationally recognised academic presses.
This trajectory extends into the twentieth century through studies on journalism during the First and Second World Wars and Spanish conflicts such as the Rif War (1906–1927) and the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The group has contributed to defining new analytical parameters for understanding the journalistic profession, documenting milestones such as the emergence of photojournalism, and placing particular emphasis on the role of female correspondents and their impact on European journalistic cultures.
This line of inquiry naturally connects with current debates on media representations of European conflicts and their legacies, particularly the reassessment of the 1945–1989 period in regions such as Israel or Ukraine, as well as with contemporary gender studies. The combined approach strengthens the project’s alignment with the EU’s agenda on equality, memory, and cultural citizenship, and encourages knowledge transfer to non‑academic audiences.
ESCUR’s commitment to public engagement and societal impact is reflected in the production of historical documentaries available on major international streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime, significantly broadening the reach and accessibility of its research.
The supervisor, Cristina Barreiro Gordillo, holds a PhD in Journalism and is a lecturer in the History of Journalism and Contemporary Spanish History, with a solid and well‑established research trajectory. She is a specialist in Spanish press culture of the 1930s and 1940s, and her work has decisively advanced our understanding of media networks and political culture during the Second Spanish Republic. Her monographs on Carlism and monarchist press have become essential references for scholars of this period and have received distinctions such as the Special Mention of the Luis Hernando de Larramendi International Prize for the History of Carlism.
In recent years, she has expanded her work to the history of war correspondents, a dynamic field in which she places particular emphasis on the role of women correspondents and the transnational circulation of conflict narratives. This line of research provides an excellent foundation for innovative projects at the intersection of journalism, gender studies and European history.
Relevant publications and projects
* Hernández, Carlos and Barreiro, Cristina: “Rereading Karl Marx: Willian Walton as a source of an ideology”. History of European Ideas, 49:4, 676-691.
Research Project Description
The project aims to reconstruct and analyse the presence of women correspondents who reported on the conflicts involving Spain throughout the twentieth century. It is grounded in extensive research across major national and international newspaper archives and digital repositories—spanning Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Portugal, as well as platforms such as Gallica, the Archives Diplomatiques, the Times Archive, the British Newspaper Archive, the Lisbon Digital Hemeroteca, and the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma. Through this comprehensive archival work, the project seeks to identify women’s war reporting and to build new transnational genealogies of female correspondents active in Spain, from the Rif War to other key theatres of conflict.
A central contribution will be the recovery of previously overlooked European authors beyond well‑known figures such as Teresa de Escoriaza or Carmen de Burgos. By examining Spanish and European archival collections, the project will reconstruct their professional trajectories, cross‑border networks and visibility within the public sphere.
Drawing on these sources, it will trace biographical patterns and career continuities, analysing how these women later covered major European and global conflicts, including the Second World War, the Cold War, the Hungarian Revolution, the Prague Spring and the Korean War. This perspective will illuminate the circulation of narratives, journalistic practices and ideological frameworks across twentieth‑century Europe, as well as the extent to which female perspectives from different national traditions converged or diverged.
At its core, the project asks whether a distinctly female approach to reporting war existed, and how these voices shaped Spain’s wartime media landscape within a broader European context. By studying their writings and biographies, it will assess women’s visibility in the press, their contribution to journalistic professionalism and their role in Europe’s wider processes of social modernisation.
Aligned with the EU’s priorities on gender equality, historical memory, cultural citizenship and transnational research, the project deepens our understanding of women’s place in media and public life. Ultimately, it supports a more nuanced assessment of the progress of women’s social and professional rights in twenty‑first‑century Europe, in line with the values and strategic priorities of the European Union and UNESCO.
Candidate requirements
* A PhD in History, Humanities, Journalism, or Social Sciences
* Digital competencies (ArcGIS Online, SPSS, WGS84-World Geodetic System datum, etc.)
* An interest in the study of the history of journalism, armed conflicts, and women in the contemporary era
Applicants are encouraged to submit an expression of interest to with:
* A short CV (Max. 2 pages)
* A one‑page research proposal
* Two letters of reference (recommended)
For MSCA‑PF 26 call, at the deadline for the submission of proposals (09/09/2026) candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activities in Spain for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the abovementioned deadline.
Those files received before 15th of June will be considered for MSCA‑PF 2026 call. Applications received after this date, will be considered for other calls after discussion with the candidate.
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