Application deadline: 16. January 2023
Contract type fulltime, fixed-term until 31.12.2025
Grade 13 TV-L TU
Start date 01.04.2023
Number of positions 1
Location: Faculty of the Humanities and Educational Sciences – Center for Metropolitan Studies – Berlin University Alliance (BUA) Grand Challenge Initiative Global Health Exploration Project “Re-Scaling Global Health. Human Health and Multispecies Cohabitation on an Urban Planet” (ReHealth)
About the project
The Berlin University Alliance (BUA) funded Grand Challenge Initiative Global Health Exploration Project “Re-Scaling Global Health. Human Health and Multispecies Cohabitation on an Urban Planet” (ReHealth) investigates urban human-animal-environment relationships and how they affect human health in urban spaces in a comparative international context. More specifically, we look at the intersections of urban biodiversity, infectious diseases, and urban pollution through a selection of distinct urban case studies to explore possible pathways towards healthier and more multispecies equitable cities.
Our project brings together an interdisciplinary team of urban scholars from the social sciences, the humanities, urban design and planning fields with ecologists and virologists to work towards conceptualizing and empirically examining the complex relationship between human health and the urban environment through four thematic fields: (1) Global/Planetary Urban Health, (2) The Health Effects of Biophilic Cities, (3) Cities and Infectious Diseases, and (4) Urban Pollution and Multispecies Health.
This position is advertised for the subproject 1 “Global/Planetary Urban Health” led by Professors Dorothee Brantz and Jörg Niewöhner. We are seeking a critical social scientist to examine the complex relationship between human health, biodiversity, pollution and urban development. The proposed project should be situated at the nexus between questions of multispecies urbanism and planetary health either from a historical or contemporary perspective. Possible project topics could include but are not limited to the history of the urban heat island effect, which reaches back to the early 19th century, and its impact on urban environments; the conscious integration of and attention to biodiversity in urban green space planning; the effects of industrial pollution on urban biodiversity; the regeneration of urban rivers and its attention to questions of biodiversity and multispecies health; or general conceptual questions concerning the linkages between global/planetary health and multispecies urbanism. The candidate will be based at the Center for Metropolitan Studies at TU Berlin but will also be part of a larger interdisciplinary research team working collaboratively across different urban sites.
Job description
- Pursue your proposed research project.
- Contribution to the development of theoretical concepts and comparative themes across the case studies in close exchange with the wider project team
- Collaborate with the PI and colleagues at CMS, the ReHealth team, and transdisciplinary partner organisations
- Prepare individual and collaborative manuscripts for publication (esp. for submission to peer-review journals)
- Present research results at conferences and public events
- Contribute ideas for new research projects within the wider focus of the ReHealth project incl. assistance with third-party funding applications
- Contribution to the management of the ReHealth project
- Co-organise international workshops and lecture series
- Contribution to teaching (according to LVVO)
Requirements
- Completed PhD/DPhil in a relevant subject area (urban studies, urban anthropology, urban history, political ecology, environmental history, science and technology studies, or other related fields)
- Excellent English language skills (incl. academic writing) as well as oral proficiency in the language of the selected region for the empirical case study
- Research experience involving qualitative methods in urban contexts
- Prior research experience with urban environmental or urban health topics (especially through publications)
Desirable selection criteria
- Experience of, and enthusiasm for, working collaboratively across academic disciplines
- Knowledge of contemporary scientific debates in the fields global and planetary health, urban political ecology, multispecies studies, science and technology studies, environmental and medical geography/anthropology.
- Prior experience with transdisciplinary research and working with stakeholders and the public in different formats (esp. living labs)
- Experience in using multimodal and creative methods
We offer
The Center for Metropolitan Studies at TU Berlin is an international, transdisciplinary research center with an strong scientific and educational track record. We are dynamic team working in close cooperation with the other PIs and especially with Prof. Dr. Jörg Niewöhner, Director of the Integrative Research Institute Transformations of Human-Environment-Systems (THESys).
The Berlin University Alliance offers an excellent and international research environment characterized by highly inter- and transdisciplinary research. The BUA Global Health Exploration Projects aim to develop the topic of Global and Planetary Health for Berlin long-term together with stakeholders, thus offering the candidate the possibility to develop a research track record beyond the three years.
How to apply
For informal inquiries, please contact Prof. Dr. Dorothee Brantz (dorothee.brantz@metropolitanstudies.de) or Prof. Dr. Jörg Niewöhner (joerg.niewoehner@hu-berlin.de)
Applications should include
- A cover letter
- A 5-6 page project statement that explains your interest in the BUA project and explains your individual planned research project during the period of the fellowship. This should include the description of the topic, central question and hypothesis; empirical and conceptual positioning of the project, providing information on the state of the art of existing research, approach and method, as well as information about your goals within the timeframe of the fellowship (qualification goals, publications etc.)
- Your full CV including the contact details of two referees
- Copies of the two most relevant publications
- Copies of relevant certificates.
The application should be sent to the Center for Metropolitan Studies of the TU Berlin, Prof. Dr. Dorothee Brantz, Hardenbergstraße 16-18, 10623 Berlin or preferably via E-Mail as a PDF-file (max. 10 MB) to info@metropolitanstudies.de.
TU Berlin is an equal opportunity employer who encourages diversity and seeks applications independent of ethnic background or sexual orientation. Severely disabled applicants with equal qualifications will be given preferential consideration. Since we cannot return any documents, please submit copies in the application only.
