Project description
The PhD researcher will work in the project ‘Staying in the Rural: Contemporary Life Course related Senses of Belonging, Mobility and Rural Community Participation’, a three year research project funded under the Open Research Area 5th Call (ESRC, NWO & DFG). STAYin(g)Rural is a collaborative project involving a consortium of three research teams in The Netherlands (prof. Tialda Haartsen), Germany (dr. Annett Steinführer) and Northern Ireland (prof. Aileen Stockdale). The research teams will further include two PhDs (one in The Netherlands and one in Germany) and one postdoc researcher (UK).

To date population geography research has focused on migration. Especially in rural areas, those who do not move are seen as a residual category and their motivations for staying receive limited academic or policy attention. STAYin(g)Rural investigates why and how people stay in rural areas at different stages of their lives. It acknowledges that people elect to (selectively) belong to and participate in rural areas and that different types of mobilities influence their staying processes.

A mixed methods approach will be employed which combines a questionnaire survey, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions in three peripheral and depopulating rural case study regions: East Groningen (Netherlands), South Tyrone (Northern Ireland) and South Lower Saxony (Germany). STAYin(g)Rural focuses on three life course stages which are known triggers for re-negotiating residential choices: young adulthood, family formation and post-retirement.

STAYin(g)Rural will yield significant new insights on: (i) contemporary types of rural stayers and staying processes; (ii) how rural belonging and mobility relate to processes of staying and active participation to maintain rural quality of life, and (iii) how these are performed in different geographical contexts and at different life stages. Preparation of, and outcomes from, each research phase will be shared and discussed with rural stakeholders via national Steering Groups, case study seminars and an international workshop.

Recognising that each life stage has its specific decision-making aspects, each PhD/Postdoc will focus their more detailed staying analyses on one life course stage, across the three case studies. For the Dutch team, we are looking for a PhD candidate who will focus on the ‘Young Adult Rural Stayers’ life stage.

We are looking for a candidate with:
• a (research) master degree in human, rural or population geography, population studies, demography, (rural) sociology, or another relevant social science, to be completed before 1 May 2019
• a (proven) interest in studying young (adult) people
• excellent study results and CV
• both quantitative and qualitative research skills
• fluency in speaking, understanding and writing Dutch, to be able to do interviews and focus group discussions in East Groningen
• good writing skills and fluency in written and spoken English
• a keen interest in the topics and target groups to be investigated in the STAYin(g)Rural project, preferably demonstrated by previous work on similar topics
• willingness to spend short periods abroad conducting fieldwork with the research team, as well as to attend conferences and research team meetings abroad
• strong conceptual thinking
• a motivated, communicative, proactive and independent work attitude
• appropriate planning skills, ability to organize own work and related activities, ability to meet deadlines
• curiosity and enthusiasm for scientific research and for working in a research team.

We invite you to apply for this vacancy.

Fixed-term contract: 36 months.

The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2,325 (salary scale Dutch Universities) gross per month in the first year of the appointment, rising to € 2,835 year of a full-time position. The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for the University of Groningen. This full-time appointment as PhD researcher is temporary for three years. You will first be appointed for a period of 12 months. After a positive evaluation, the contract will be extended for the remaining part of the project. The appointment of the PhD researcher is at the Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen. The PhD researcher will be a member of the Graduate School of Spatial Sciences. The PhD candidate will get the opportunity to participate in the Faculty’s training programme for PhD students and will draw up a personal training and supervision plan.

Starting date is 1 May 2019

Application procedure
You may apply for this position until 28 February 23:59h / before 1 March 2019 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

We ask you to submit:
• a motivation letter, including your ideas on the STAYin(g)Rural project
• your CV, including potential academic output (e.g. publications), the study results of your master programme and the names and contact details of two referees.

Candidates who are shortlisted will be asked to submit written work (e.g. master’s thesis or papers) at a later stage.

Interviews with the selection committee will take place in the week of 11 March 2019.

The project proposal can be obtained from the secretaries of the Cultural Geography Department, email: secr.cg-eg@rug.nl

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Faculty of Spatial Sciences

The Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen is looking for a PhD researcher on the topic of ‘Young Adult Rural Stayers’. The Faculty of Spatial Sciences consists of approximately 100 members of staff, 100 PhD students and around 1000 undergraduate students. We focus on high quality teaching and research in the fields of social and economic geography, demography, and spatial planning. With a single collective research theme of 'towards Wellbeing, Innovation and Spatial Transformation' (tWIST), it is our mission to produce research which is world-leading, distinctive, and policy-relevant. With two bachelor and eight master programmes, we provide a wide range of courses within the fields of geography and spatial sciences.