Postdoc Transnational Publics / Digital Methods University of Groningen, Faculty of Arts Netherlands

The Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the historic city of Groningen, in the North of the Netherlands. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members. The Faculty offers a wide range of degree programmes: 15 bachelor's programmes and over 35 master's specialisations. Vibrant research is facilitated by the Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG), the Centre for International Relations Research, Globalisation Studies Groningen and the Centre for East Asian Studies. The vacancy is at the department of International Relations & International Organization (IRIO). As member of the newly set up INFRAGLOB research group prestigiously funded by the European Research Council, you will become part of a first class and international research environment.

The Postdoc researcher will be part of INFRAGLOB, the project “AFRICA's ‘INFRASTRUCTURE GLOBALITIES’: Rethinking the Political Geographies of Economic Hubs from the Global South” funded by the European Research Council. In a world increasingly shaped by non-state actors and technical systems, power beyond the state is one of the major challenges of contemporary international relations. Yet how that plays out in South-South relations, and shapes global governance, remains little understood. This project focuses on new infrastructure ‘globalities’ to understand how governance, and the way it is spatially organized, is redefined by the experiences and practices of actors from the Global South, and emerges from business-society relations in South-South relations. Traditionally not seen as drivers of change, this project posits that significant change through emerging actors from the Global South emerges from the circulation and friction of diverse practitioners, technologies and practices. For more please see newpoliticalgeographies.com/infraglob.

Within the project team, you will coordinate and conduct research on transnational publics in South-South relations. The emphasis will be on situated and material publics around large-scale Brazilian and Chinese infrastructure projects across the Indian Ocean and the South Atlantic. In close cooperation with the PI, you will develop the methodology, collect and analyse online material using digital methods, and integrate these with qualitative material and fieldwork methods. You will coordinate and collaborate with international research partners, and contribute to the high-level publication of research results. There will be the opportunity to develop your own research compatible with project responsibilities.

You are intellectually curious and enthusiastic about working in an international team across disciplinary and methodological boundaries.
You have

• an interest and track record in studying and theorizing transnational publics and/or transnational contentious politics; familiarity with the idea of situational publics is desirable
• excellent skills in digital methods and social media analysis, preferably experience in using them to study transnational publics and/or contentious politics, ideally including outside Europe and in authoritarian contexts
• a PhD in a relevant social science discipline, such as Sociology, Political Science, International Relations, Media Studies or Science and Technology Studies (degree should be completed before the start of the appointment)
• relevant international networks; experience with international collaboration is desirable
• an excellent command of English. good knowledge of either Mandarin or Portuguese would be valuable but is not mandatory. Knowledge of Dutch is not required.

The University of Groningen offers a salary depending on qualifications and work experience starting from a minimum of € 3,255 to a maximum of € 3,895 gross per month (salary scale 10.4 – 11.02 Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities) for a full-time position, excluding 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus and participation in a pension scheme for employees.

The 1.0 FTE appointment is temporary for a specified period of three years. A part-time option of 0.8 FTE for a longer duration may be discussed.

UG is an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community, and as such encourage applications from women and minorities and from different nationalities.

The candidate will first be appointed for 12 months. After 9 months, an assessment will take place of the candidate's results and the progress of the project to decide whether the employment will be continued.

We aim at a start date of 1 September 2019.

Application
You may apply for this position until 10 March 11:59pm / before 11 March 2019 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website). Please merge all your application documents in one single PDF file under the Letter of Motivation attachment.

The following documents should be included:

• a letter of motivation
• a curriculum vitae (including date and place of birth, copies of MA degree and a transcript of the grades obtained) and names and contact details of two academic referees
• if the PhD defense will be after the application, please send information on the defense date or a confirmation from your PhD adviser (or professor) on the expected defense date
• a full list of publications
• two sample writings
• a 1-2 page description of your research plans for the coming 3 years (excluding bibliography).

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.