As an Academic Assistant, you will work on concrete research questions and contribute to ongoing research and advisory projects. You will also assist in educational activities within our team. The main subject of your activities relates to energy transition in the context of urban climate sustainability and climate resilience.

You will contribute to the research direction outlined by the academic team, by combining your knowledge about social transformations and environmental sustainability in an urban context with a creative problem-solving attitude to provide analytical inputs to the research problems. On your own initiative, you will assess geospatial data together with social information to obtain insights into socio-economic characteristics of the urban environment. When working with interviews and surveys, you can apply your experience with qualitative and quantitative analysis methods.

You will communicate easily and regularly with the team about your research approaches and results. Critical thinking and self-reflection are necessary to deliver high-quality results. The academic team members will coach and support you to further develop your research skills in urban sustainability.

Your daily activities and main responsibilities include:

• Analyzing (quantitative) primary and secondary data using programming languages and GIS tools
• Performing statistics and econometric analysis of (georeferenced) social and environmental data
• Conducting surveys and interviews, and supporting focus group events
• Supporting the IHS master programs by assisting in communicating with students, lecture preparations, and course organization

To be successful in this role, you are a passionate person, you have a creative and problem-solving attitude, and you can work independently and as part of a multicultural team.

The following criteria should apply:

• You hold a master’s degree in human geography, spatial planning, economics or other disciplines related to Earth science, social geography, urban management, urban sustainability or climate change
• You have a background on, and interest in, aspects of energy transition, social transformation, and urban (environmental) sustainability and resilience
• You are skilled in processing geographical information with QGIS or ArcGIS
• You have good analytical skills, ideally by using data analysis environments such as R, Python or Stata
• You performed surveys and interviews, and you know how to perform analysis of primary and secondary data
• You have excellent command of spoken and written English (a good knowledge of Dutch is welcomed to conduct interviews with Dutch citizens)
• You have no more than two years post-graduate work experience
• You hold a Dutch residence permit or are an EU citizen

Fixed-term contract: • Starting for a period of 1 year, with possible extension of employment for a maximum of 3 years.

We offer an international academic environment, where you will be part of a dynamic multicultural team located on a vibrant university campus. Your motivation to work across disciplines and a personal drive will be greatly valued.

• The position is based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
• Starting for a period of 1 year, with possible extension of employment for a maximum of 3 years
• The minimum gross monthly salary is € 2.793 with a maximum of € 3.771. This is based on 40 working hours per week and on the salary scale 7 of the collective labour agreement for Dutch universities (CAO NU). IHS has attractive employment conditions, which include a holiday allowance of 8.0%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and 30 annual vacation days in case of a full work week.
• The ideal starting date is November 2024

Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) - Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)

The Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) - Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) focuses on educational, research and advisory activities related to urban development and management worldwide. We wish to strengthen the Urban Sustainability and Climate Change Resilience team with an Academic Assistant to support the urban sustainable transition projects we work on. Come and join us to create an impact on urban sustainability and climate resilience.

Urban Sustainability and Climate Change Resilience department

The Urban Sustainability and Climate Change Resilience department investigates how urban areas can transform into more sustainable, resilient and equitable socio-environmental systems that meet the needs of citizens and communities and protect the environment and climate effectively. We work in a multicultural academic environment on multi-disciplinary research, advisory subjects and educational programs.