Job description
The Faculty of Spatial Sciences is looking to appoint a postdoctoral researcher on the topic of regional innovation systems. The main responsibility will be to initiate and perform research on the networked interactions between stakeholders in regional innovation ecosystems and assessing effects of interventions in such networks. We are interested in understanding the role of stakeholders in the set-up and continuous development of regional innovation strategies as part of the European regional economic policies framework (EFRD, for example). How can such stakeholder networks best be leveraged or strengthened for regional innovation policies? With this line of research, the postdoctoral researcher will contribute to our activities in the INTERREG project ‘PERSIST’ (50% of the position). In PERSIST, 9 European regions are working together towards implementing and developing regional Smart Specialization Strategies that are continuously re-adjusted as part of a reflective monitoring process. You will be the main researcher representing the faculty in this project. Apart from research activities that should lead to academic publications, you will be tasked with liaising with other participants in the project as well as with local stakeholders.
Central tasks include:
- Initiate and perform academic research under the umbrella theme ‘Regional Innovation Systems’ with a focus on regional innovation policies.
- Conduct research activities including literature analysis, policy analysis, stakeholder interviews, analysis of surveys.
- Instigate and report study results in international academic outlets as well as to audiences consisting of regional administrators, policy advisors, entrepreneurs etc.
- Contribute to the organizational tasks and deliverables involved in the PERSIST project.
The position involves a limited teaching component in the form of support to our Msc-course in ‘Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Regional Development’ as well as ad-hoc student supervision.
Finally, we will explore the possibility to involve the postdoctoral researcher in the supervision of a PhD-candidate, and we encourage and facilitate publishing and attracting research funding beyond the involvement in PERSIST. In short, we try to accommodate the development of your own line of research.
Organization
The Faculty of Spatial Sciences is a mid-sized faculty with approximately 100 members of staff, 100 PhD researchers and around 1000 undergraduate students. We focus on high quality teaching and research in the fields of human and economic geography, demography, and spatial planning. Our research program is titled TRACE (TRAnsformations, Communities and Environments). Our ambition is to create scientific and societal impact by undertaking cutting-edge research at the interface of people, places, and planning in rural and urban settings, especially at local and regional scales, in the Netherlands, Europe and globally. With two bachelor and six master programs, we provide a wide range of courses in the fields of geography and spatial sciences.
The Department of Economic Geography, in which the position will be based, is one of the four departments in the faculty and it offers an open and friendly academic environment with an international staff. The department has about 20 members of staff and 25 PhD researchers. The University of Groningen has a very strong reputation as one of the main centers in regional science globally. In terms of teaching, the department of Economic Geography contributes to the bachelor Human Geography and Planning and it is responsible for the master’s program in Economic Geography, which includes the tracks 'Regional Competitiveness and Trade' and ‘Sustainable Rural Futures’, and the master of Real Estate Studies. Our research is directed towards issues related to regional labour markets, migration, entrepreneurship, happiness, socio-spatial inequalities and real estate applying quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods.
Requirements
Our ideal candidate should have:
- A PhD-degree (or nearly finished) in the field of economic geography, regional science, applied economics or innovation studies showing a clear affinity to regional innovation and/or regional economic policies.
- Proven experience in quantitative and/or qualitative research methods.
- Publications in international peer-reviewed academic journals that testify to your interest and contribution to the topic of regional innovation systems and/or regional policies.
- A network of relevant academic connections, for example in the field of economic geography, regional science, innovation studies, labour economics, and/or labour (market) sociology.
- The skills to present academic analyses to varied audiences including entrepreneurs and policy makers. Also, you are comfortable building and maintaining a professional network to regional policy makers that are relevant to the research that you are performing.
- A fluency in English (reading, writing, speaking). A good command of Dutch is preferred to allow for smooth communication with regional stakeholders in the ‘PERSIST’ project.
Conditions of employment
Fixed-term contract: 12 months.
The University of Groningen offers a salary depending on qualifications and work experience starting from a minimum of € 4,060 to a maximum of € 5,331 gross per month (salary scale 10.4 – 10 max.) Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities) for a full-time position, excluding 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus and participation in a pension scheme for employees. For more detailed information about working conditions and working for the University of Groningen, please check: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/work-with-us/
You will initially be appointed for a period of 1 year with the intention of extending the position with another year.
We aim for a start date of November 1st 2025.