Would you like to be trained to become part of a new generation of cultural heritage managers and to work, with a prestigious European fellowship, in an international and multidisciplinary team of researchers, professionals and entrepeneurs in the field of cultural heritage? Please apply at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Location: AMSTERDAM
FTE: 1

Job description
Answering the call for democratization voiced by Critical Heritage scholars, heritage practitioners search for new ways to include communities in heritage practices. The general idea of this “community approach” is that heritage becomes more inclusive, and that it comes to resemble the pluriformity of society’s social and cultural values.

Based on theories on “citizen participation” and “participatory governance” formulated in Public Administration science, your aim will be to design innovative governance systems for heritage planning aimed at a higher level of community participation, thus making heritage planning more democratic and inclusive in nature.

You will develop a cross-European, comparative study on innovative governance systems for heritage planning,  you will write policy documents on the planned design of participative governance of heritage planning and on the key criteria for successful community involvement in heritage planning praxis, and analyze two case studies at heritage agencies in Italy and North England during research stays.

Your duties

• carry out research and training as scheduled in a Personal Career Development Plan
• complete secondments in Italy and North England
• actively contribute to the activities of the HERILAND training network, including network-wide workshops, surveys and Living Labs, the HERILAND Handbook for Heritage Planning, project reports, a traveling exhibition and a final conference
• deliver oral and poster presentations at academic conferences
• write at least 2 peer reviewed papers together with your supervisors Prof. Dr. G.J. Burgers, Dr. F.P. Wagenaar and Drs. J. Rodenberg (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) and write a PhD dissertation

• an (R)MA/MSc or MPhil degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Heritage Studies, History, Public Administration, Political Science, Sociology)
• excellent research skills; research experience in a relevant field by means of scientific publications will be favoured (e.g. conference papers, journal articles, book chapters) 
• excellent written and spoken English
• strong cooperative attitude, strong organizational skills, willingness to engage in international, interdisciplinary collaborative research and a willingness to travel for research, workshops, conferences and secondments
• following the EU Marie Curie eligibility criteria, the researcher to be appointed must not have resided or carried out his/her main activity (work, studies, etc) in the Netherlands for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to his/her recruitment. Moreover, he/she shall at the date of recruitment be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience) of the research career and have not been awarded a doctoral degre

A challenging position in a socially involved organization. The salary will be in accordance with university regulations for academic personnel and amounts €2,325 (PhD) per month during the first year and increases to €2,835 (PhD) per month during the tirth year, based on a full-time employment. The job profile: is based on the university job ranking system and is vacant for at least 1 FTE.

The appointment will initially be for 1 year. After a satisfactory evaluation of the initial appointment, the contract will be extended for a duration of 2 years.
Additionally, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers excellent fringe benefits and various schemes and regulations to promote a good work/life balance, such as:

• a maximum of 41 days of annual leave based on full-time employment
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• contribution to commuting allowance based on public transport
• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

About Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The ambition of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is clear: to contribute to a better world through outstanding education and ground-breaking research. And to be a university where personal education and societal involvement play a leading role. Where people from different disciplines and backgrounds work together on innovations and on generating new knowledge. Our teaching and research embrace the whole spectrum of science – from the humanities, the social sciences and the pure sciences through to the life sciences and the medical sciences.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is home to more than 23,000 students. We employ more than 4,500 individuals. The VU campus is easily accessible, located in the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuidas district, a truly inspiring environment for teaching and research.

Diversity
Diversity is one of our university’s core values. We are an inclusive community, and we believe that diversity and international activities enhance the quality of education and research. We are always looking for people who can enhance diversity on our campus thanks to their background and experience.

Faculty of Social Sciences
The Faculty of Social Sciences examines the major social problems of our time from multiple perspectives. From bullying at school to dealing with illegal immigration, from the rise of populist politicians to creating a self-reliant society. Only at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam you will find all the academic disciplines needed to understand these 'wicked problems': alongside the traditional disciplines such as sociology, anthropology and politics, we also research and teach the new social sciences such as communication science and management & organization science. We do not settle for easy answers in our teaching and research. Our researchers and students are critical thinkers and doers who work together to devise surprising solutions to the problems of today.

Working at the Faculty of Social Sciences means working with colleagues from a range of academic disciplines in an inspiring and personal work and study environment with excellent research facilities. We employ more than 250 staff members, and we are home to around 2,500 students.

The HERILAND project at CLUE+ research institute
As a PhD student, you will be based at CLUE+ (www.clue.vu.nl), the interdisciplinary VU-research Institute for Culture, Cognition, History and Heritage, and be part of the project HERILAND, coordinated by CLUE+. HERILAND is a European network that trains 15 young researchers in the dynamic field of spatial heritage. It is a consortium of 7 key academic and  non-academic organizations, with 21 partners in civil society and business, from the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Poland, Israel and Italy. The project aims to empower a new generation of academics, policy makers, practitioners, professionals and entrepreneurs. In the 15 PhD positions, we address five key challenges to the heritage management of the 21st century:

1. The Spatial Turn;
2. Democratisation (the present PhD vacancy is part of this challenge);
3. Digital Transformations;
4. Shifting Demographies and Contested Identities;
5. Changing Environments.

As one of these 15 young researchers, you will be provided with advanced training, combining theoretical and instrumental knowledge in a series of research seminars, living labs and secondments with our public and private partners. By doing this, you will profit from and contribute to a new pan-European, trans-national, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral research and training standard.

The HERILAND project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 813883. For further information on Heriland, partners and other vacancies, see www.heriland.eu. Applications for more than one position are allowed.