The Department of Environmental Science (ENVS) at Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark invites applications for a fulltime position as Post Doc on regional and local governance in climate adaptation, focusing on stakeholder involvement. The position is for 1 year & 9 months, starting August 15th, 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter. The physical work place will be either in Viborg (Central Denmark Region office), Aarhus or at AUs campus in Roskilde. The empirical work will take place in Central Denmark Region.

Job description 

The post doc will participate in the EU funded project RESIST – Regions for climate change resilience through Innovation, Science and Technology – which aims to promote and demonstrate an innovative and participatory approach to climate change adaptation in 4 demonstrator and 8 twinning regions across Europe. Aarhus University is part of one of the demonstrator regions, the Central Denmark Region. Most of the research will be carried out with local stakeholders in this region.

The candidate is expected to contribute to this project, including   

• Conceptually develop, trial and assess innovative stakeholder involvement methods in local or regional climate adaptation, including use of digital visualization and other tools. Stakeholders include a.o. policymakers, the private sector and citizens.   
• Contribute to analysis of policy and governance mechanisms that promote innovative and integrated approaches to climate change adaptation at the local level
• Contribute to transfer of innovative stakeholder involvement methods to other regions within the RESIST project                     
• Cooperate with international partners in the RESIST project
• Communicate findings to stakeholders in local governance settings
• Take lead on dissemination of publications in international peer-reviewed journals

You can read more about the RESIST project here: https://resist-project.eu/

Qualification requirements

The ideal candidate holds a PhD degree within the social sciences (political science, sociology, planning, anthropology or related fields) and has conducted and published research on stakeholder involvement or governance (local/regional) more broadly. 

Moreover, the candidate has:

• strong methodological skills, particularly in qualitative methods
• proficiency in Danish, written and spoken
• proficiency in English, written and spoken
• experience in cooperation with practitioners in local governance settings
• strong communication skills, both written and oral 
• demonstrated ability to publish in international journals
• ability to develop and implement practice-oriented research ideas
• ability to cooperate with others in an international team
• ability to manage own research activities and meet deadlines

The Department of Environmental Science

The Department of Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary department under the Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University. The expertise ranges from physics, chemistry, microbiology and mathematical modelling to social science, geography, economics and policy analysis. Both basic and applied research is conducted related to some of the major challenges facing society, such as pollution and pollution control mechanisms, management of land, soil, water, air and biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services, climate change, and energy systems. Advisory services within these areas are offered to ministries and other stakeholders. Currently, about 170 staff and PhD-students are working at the department. Further information may be found at http://www.envs.au.dk/en/. The department is co-located at Risø Campus with part of Department of Bioscience in Roskilde 35 kilometers west of Copenhagen.

The selected candidate will be affiliated with the Environmental Social Science and Geography research unit. The unit employs approximately 25 staff, focusing on interdisciplinary analysis of the interlinkages between the environment and society from political science, economics and sociology perspectives. The strategic foci of the unit include environmental policy development, regulation and instruments, understanding of actions and actors in policy formulation and implementation, spatially integrated modelling as well as policies and economics of ecosystem services. Research findings are used for dissemination to the research community, in advisory services to decision makers as well as for teaching.

Our ambition is to have an inclusive and open working environment.

Further information

English is the working language at the department for many of the researchers. However, for this project data collection requires proficiency in Danish.

Further information may be obtained by contacting Senior researcher Helle Ørsted Nielsen (hon@envs.au.dk) (+45 24607315), or Head of Section, Senior researcher Anders Branth Pedersen (Abp@envs.au.dk) (+45 26295468). 

International applicant?

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark on Research at AU.

Place of work

The physical workplace will be either in Viborg (Central Denmark Region office), in Aarhus or at AUs campus in Roskilde, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde - subject to agreement with the candidate.

The empirical work will take place in Central Denmark Region, stretching south, west, and north of Aarhus.

Deadline 

Applications must be received no later than May 23rd, 2024.
 

Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.