Two-year Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 53 500 students and 6 500 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.

The School of Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg produces top-quality research, teaching, and public engagement on today’s key global challenges. The School’s work is highly international, cross-disciplinary, and policy-relevant. Environmental social science (ESS) at the School of Global Studies is a new and growing interdisciplinary subject that explores questions related to environmental change and unsustainable natural resource use in the context of both the global north and south. The overarching aim of ESS is to contribute to an increased understanding of complex environmental problems through the application and development of social science theory and methodology. Currently, the 20+ researchers within the ESS group are addressing a broad range of themes, including environmental governance and policy, sustainable development, green growth, environmental justice, traditional ecological knowledge, environmental education, political ecology, environmental conflicts, and marine resource use.

The School of Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg invites applications for a two-year full- time postdoctoral research fellowship in Environmental social science. The position forms part of the four year (2020 – 2024) multi-disciplinary research program Drylands Transform – Pathways & challenges toward a socio-ecological transformation of landscapes, livestock and livelihoods in the East African drylands (www.slu.se/drylandstransform). The geographical focus of Drylands Transform is the cross-boundary area between Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia, also known as the Karamoja cluster. The program is funded by the Swedish research council FORMAS and involves scholars from seven different universities and organizations in Sweden and the East African region. Within the overall aim of the project to contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the East African drylands, the post-doctoral research fellow is expected to conduct his/her research with a specific focus on dryland governance.

Description of the post-doctoral project
Common characterizations of rangelands as marginal, remote and unproductive places have recently given way to an image of these lands as an untapped resource with a development potential that needs to be “opened up”. As a consequence, pastoralists and agro-pastoralists find themselves increasingly confronted by processes of privatization, fragmentation and commodification of land-based resources through infrastructure projects, exploitation of oil and minerals, agricultural expansion, land reforms, and expanding livestock trade. Following the new political and economic interest in East Africa’s dryland regions, and the land use- and livelihood changes that they generate, the governance of rangelands has emerged as an urgent and strategic academic as well as political challenge. Against this backdrop, the objective of the post-doctoral project is to explore the interplay between regional, national as well as sub-national natural resource institutions on the one hand; and land use practices and strategies at four empirical sites in Uganda and Kenya on the other hand.

Job particulars
In close, multidisciplinary collaboration with other scholars within the Drylands Transform programme, the postdoctoral fellow will design and perform qualitative research in Uganda and Kenya. Based on the results of this research, the postdoctoral fellow is furthermore expected to
contribute to the design of a joint quantitative survey, as well as author single and joint publications.

Terms of Employment
The position is a full-time employment for two years with a fixed term contract with 100 percent dedicated to research. Interviews will be held in August 2021. The latest starting date is January 1st 2022, or an earlier starting date per agreement.

Information for International Applicants
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https://www.gu.se/en/about-the-university/welcome-services
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How to apply
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Obs! The complete ad is available at: https://www.gu.se/en/about-the-university/work-at-the-university-of-gothenburg/vacancies

Closing date: 31ST OF MAY, 2021

The University of Gothenburg promotes equal opportunities, equality and diversity.

Salary is determined on an individual basis.

Applications will be destroyed or returned (upon request) two years after the decision of employment has become final. Applications from the employed and from those who appeal the decision will not be returned.


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