The Centre forUrban Studies and the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies are currently inviting applications for a postdoctoral researcher in Planning and Urban Geography to study how financialization practices, and debt (at household and municipal level) affect urban redevelopment practices. The position is for 1,5 years (1,0 fte) or 2 years (0,7 fte).

The successful candidate will work as an assistant to Profs. Maria Kaika and Ewald Engelen. The post will be held at the Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies and the successful candidate will be affiliated with both Planning, and Geography thematic groups.

The project aims to go beyond the dominant analysis that depicts: 1) the financial crisis as the inevitable result of market liberalisation and finanzialisation and 2) cities as the inevitable victims of this process.

The aim is to investigate the dialectic between housing policies and planning practices, on one hand, and the processes of the ‘urbanization of capital’ on the other hand and the role this dialectic played in fueling the global financial crisis and its aftermath.

It will focus on two or two case studies, (one of which will be Amsterdam) to develop an empirically grounded longitudinal (pre and post crisis) comparative analysis of two different institutional and economic settings in the European north and the European south.

The project will use both quantitative and qualitative methods (life stories, diaries, interviews, archival material, debt and housing market data, etc.).

Candidates are expected to:

• develop and conduct high-quality research;
• provide a contribution to the development of the field through scholarly publications and participation in national and international research networks;
• prepare applications for external funding for long-term research projects to fit in the Centre for Urban Studies;
• live and work full-time in Amsterdam and be prepared to conduct brief fieldwork periods abroad.

The following skills are required:

• a doctoral degree in a relevant discipline by the time of appointment (spring 2018);
• demonstrated ability to publish in international peer-reviewed journals;
• experience with research on urban political economy, cities and financialization  debt, and financial crisis;
• an excellent command of English;
• some experience in funding applications;
• excellent command of qualitative (incl. ethnographic) and quantitative research methods;
• excellent communications skills in English;
• competent in the use of social media and blogging (these will form part of the project’s research methods and dissemination practices).

Desirable skills:

• working knowledge of the Dutch language (related to requirement for fieldwork in Amsterdam);
• working knowledge of Spanish or Greek language (related to requirements for fieldwork in the European south).

A position for 38 hours a week (1,0 fte) for 1,5 years or for 26,6 hours a week (0,7 fte) for 2 years. Depending on qualifications and experience, the gross monthly full-time salary will range from €3,475 to €3,954 (scale 11, Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) for Dutch Universities). Secondary benefits at Dutch universities are attractive and include 8% holiday pay and an 8,3% end of year bonus. 

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.   The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies

The Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies is one of the seven Departments in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG). Research and education are carried out by special institutes. The Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) is responsible for research in the social sciences. The College of Social Sciences (CSS) and the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS) are responsible for undergraduate and graduate teaching programs in the social sciences.

Research and teaching in the Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies is organized in four thematic programme groups: Governance and Inclusive Development (GID), Geographies of Globalizations (GOG), Urban Geographies (UG) and Urban Planning (UP). This position will be embedded in the programme groups Urban Geographies (UG) and Urban Planning (UP).

The Centre for Urban Studies is one of the 20 designated Research Priority Areas at the University of Amsterdam. It is part of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research within the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. With more than 50 research staff members and an equal number of PhD students, it is among the largest academic programmes of its kind worldwide. The Centre stimulates cutting edge interdisciplinary research on urban questions, informing urban policies and planning. It maintains close (international) relations with governmental and non-governmental institutions through research collaborations, and curricular programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, and facilitates PhD research, drawing upon the research and expertise of the CUS staff.

http://www.uva.nl/en/disciplines/human-geography-planning-and-international-development/organisation/department/gpio.html