MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity in Socio-onomastics at Vilnius University

 An interesting opportunity has just appeared on EURAXESS for onomasticians working on naming practices, anthroponymy, and the intersection of names with migration and identity.

Vilnius University's Faculty of Philology is inviting researchers to develop a joint application for the 2026 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship, hosted within the Department of Baltic Studies at the Institute for the Languages and Cultures of the Baltic. The supervisor would be Prof. Dr. Daiva Sinkevičiūtė-Villanueva Svensson, a specialist in Baltic anthroponymy whose current research focuses on contemporary Lithuanian naming practices, identity expression in diaspora families, and the sociocultural drivers behind parental name choice and innovation. She has also worked extensively on historical Baltic anthroponyms and the structure of Lithuanian compound personal names.

The suggested research topic is Personal Naming as a Site of Negotiation in Families of Lithuanian Citizens and Immigrants - a rich area sitting squarely at the crossroads of socio-onomastics, migration studies, and family language policy. It's an exciting framing: names as negotiated objects, shaped by competing pressures of heritage, belonging, legal systems, and parental aspiration.

Candidates are expected to have a background in socio-onomastics and experience analysing naming within sociocultural and political contexts. Familiarity with the Baltic region and Lithuanian linguistic and cultural contexts is listed as highly desirable.

The MSCA deadline is 9 September 2026, but those interested should contact Prof. Dr. Sinkevičiūtė-Villanueva Svensson well before then - ideally now - at daiva.sinkeviciute@flf.vu.lt. A CV, publication list, and proposal summary are needed to get the process started.

Worth noting for non-European applicants: Lithuania is a "widening country" under Horizon Europe, which means unsuccessful proposals are automatically resubmitted to the ERA Fellowships call, giving candidates an additional shot at funding.