The University of Amsterdam has two chairs in Urban Geography. One of these focuses on Urbanization and Urban Social Challenges. Attention is given to (1) new processes of urbanization: the geography of (hyper) urbanization, de-urbanization, re-urbanization, and suburbanization; and (2) the study of urban social challenges, which considers urban segregation and integration, polarization, class-space relations, marginalization, and gentrification, for example. Current research specifically addresses the dynamics of the development of different types of urban social spaces at various spatial scales, and questions the functioning and effects of such spaces for various categories of the population, and for other users of space.

The new chair in Urbanization and Urban Social Challenges is expected to develop and supervise innovative research and education in this field. We are interested in candidates who can both connect to the activities of existing staff, and are open to innovation with the ambition to develop new avenues of research and research methodologies in and beyond the field.

Any prospective candidate should have – in the first place – a strong affinity with Urban Geography, and more specifically with one of the two subfields described above.  Candidates should also have well-founded ideas about future directions of change regarding the group’s research agenda. Candidates will be expected to play a leading role in social science debates on urban spaces and places, be interested in theory driven, socially relevant and empirically grounded research in Urban Geography, mostly in international settings, and be able to highlight interaction between humans and the environment.

A more extensive description of the substantive focus of this chair as well as its embedding can be found using this link.

The ideal candidate:

• has a strong international embedding, as, for example, shown by an extensive publication record in international refereed academic journals and with high standing international publishers, as well as by research grant records, roles in research, teaching and professional networks;
• is a social scientist with a broad interest and internationally recognized expertise in the field of Urban Geography/Urban Studies/Human Geography;
• has a demonstrated expertise in applying different methodological approaches, quantitative and qualitative;
• has experience in supervising Thesis and PhD projects;
• is willing and able to teach both at introductory and advanced levels in Urban Geography, but also in more general courses;
• is comfortable lecturing sizeable groups as well as in more intimate seminar-like settings;
• is an interested and engaged teacher;
• is able to develop and innovate teaching programmes both in content and in didactics;
• if not already in possession of a University Teaching Certificate (such as the Dutch BKO) is willing to acquire this within two years;
• is willing and able to engage on a long term basis with the Urban Geography group;
• is willing and able to take a leading role in the further development of the group, but also to share leadership and operate in a largely self-managed, horizontally structured group;
• enables junior colleagues to mature and excel (both in research and teaching), through personal involvement and feedback;
• stimulates Urban Geography staff to jointly acquire funding for research projects which is relevant from an academic and societal perspective;
• positively contributes to the development and consolidation of a team spirit;
• is open to exchange and collaboration with others, both inside and outside the university, and both with academics and practitioners;
• is willing and able to become an active, stable, and accountable presence in the Urban Geography group, the department and the policy domain;
• has a critical, but also a constructive and enthusiastic personality;
• if not already living in the Netherlands, is willing and able to move to the Netherlands;
• if not already speaking Dutch, is willing to learn it within two years.

The position is for  38 hours per week. Salary depends on relevant work experience, with a minimum salary of €5,582 and a maximum salary of €8,127 gross per month based on a full-time appointment for a 38-hour working week (in keeping with scale H2, as per the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).

We additionally offer an extensive package of secondary employee benefits, including a generous holiday scheme and year-end bonus. Because we value your continued personal development and professionalisation, we also offer excellent opportunities for study and development. 

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 Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG) is the largest social-science educational and research institution in the Netherlands. The Faculty serves around 9,000 students in numerous Bachelor's and Master's programmes in Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Communication Science, Psychology, Human Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, International Development Studies and Educational Sciences. The academic staff is employed in education as well as research. There are over 1,200 employees at the Faculty, located in the centre of Amsterdam.

The Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies is one of the six Departments in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG). Research and education are carried out by dedicated 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 programmes 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).

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