The HEU project Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions (DUST)

We are inviting applications for a 2-year position as a post-doc or experienced researcher in the Department of Urbanism at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology. The researcher will join an interdisciplinary team working on ‘Democratising jUst Sustainability Transitions’ (DUST), a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action project led by TU Delft. In a nutshell, the DUST project will develop and operationalise novel participatory instruments for proactive and strategic citizen engagement in sustainability transitions at the regional scale. It will combine design-led territorial tools with digital tools for citizen deliberation at scale. The project addresses a defining societal and democratic challenge for Europe: to hear the voices of least engaged communities, especially in structurally weak regions dependent on energy-intensive industries, which will be most affected by transitions towards a more sustainable future. Building on the concept of ‘active subsidiarity’, the project will employ an innovative mix of research methods, and experimental citizen participation, to understand the determinants of participation in decision-making on sustainability transitions at different levels of government, and to develop effective policy recommendations for inclusive engagement of the civil society in anticipation of sustainable regional futures. More information on the project can be found here: DUST project.

Testing regional design-led participatory approaches

The researcher will contribute to the DUST ‘Regional Futures Literacy Labs’, which will test a hybrid format combining design-led territorial tools with digital tools for citizen deliberation at scale. We will target politically least-engaged communities – including youth groups, women, miners communities, and indigenous communities - in four European regions in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe. Central methods of the DUST experiments are regional spatial analysis, regional design, the UNESCO Futures Literacy Lab approach, and citizen-science dialogues. The experiments will also test an e-democracy tool for deliberation at scale, as part of a wider participatory strategy.

You are expected to work independently on the research tasks in the DUST experiments that are assigned to the TU Delft’s Department of Urbanism. These tasks focus on regional spatial analysis and regional design, which we understand as an argumentative practice that uses designs to improve the quality of democratic decision-making and learning in experimental governance. Next to this core occupation, you are expected to support work package leaders and the TU Delft team leading the DUST project through, for instance, the organisation of project meetings, the communication of research results, and data management.

The DUST project provides an engaging interdisciplinary environment with academic partners from the fields of the political sciences, public policy, spatial planning, urban design, economics, and with civil society organisations and public authorities. The researcher will also support communication and interaction between these diverse consortium members and stakeholders in the case study regions. Lastly, the researcher is expected to co-author academic publications based on the project results.

You have:

• Expertise in spatial analysis and regional design or similar forecasting and foresight methodologies; this is an essential competence for this position.
• A PhD degree or a Master degree and verifiable research experience in the spatial sciences, for example Urbanism, spatial planning, regional and urban studies, architecture, geography, or another relevant discipline.
• A strong interest in the key concepts of the DUST project: citizen participation, place-based regional development policies, just sustainability transitions, and deliberative democracy.
• Experience in interdisciplinary research, in particular research which combined knowledge from the above-listed fields with knowledge from the political sciences, public policy, and other social sciences relevant to the DUST project.
• Excellent design, drawing, presentation, communication and networking skills.
• Experience in using qualitative research methods, which involve dialogue and interaction with humans; experience in conducting research with vulnerable persons is perceived to be an additional asset.
• Ability to work within interdisciplinary and international research teams.
• Very good writing skills, as demonstrated by peer-reviewed academic publications or by other relevant writing experience.
• Proficiency in the written and spoken use of the English language.
• Availability to work full time for 19 months or part-time (0.8fte) for 24 months, starting in January 2024.     

Fixed-term contract: 19 months for fulltime or 24 months for parttime (0,8 fte).

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (based on scale 10: € 3.226,00 - € 5.090,00). The employment contract is offered for a duration of 19 months for full-time or 24 months for part-time (0.8 FTE) employment. The position is open to both full-time and part-time applicants. The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, a discount on health insurance and sport memberships, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

Delft University of Technology

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Architecture & the Built Environment

The Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment has a leading role in education and research worldwide. The driving force behind the faculty’s success is its robust research profile combined with the energy and creativity of its student body and academic community. It is buzzing with energy from early in the morning until late at night, with four thousand people studying, working, designing, conducting research and acquiring and disseminating knowledge. Our faculty has a strong focus on 'design-oriented research’, which has given it a top position in world rankings.

Staff and students are working to improve the built environment with the help of a broad set of disciplines, including architectural design, urban planning, building technology, social sciences, process management, and geo-information science. The faculty works closely with other faculties, universities, private parties, and the public sector, and has an extensive network in the Netherlands as well as internationally.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment.

You will be embedded in the Section Spatial Planning & Strategy (SP&S) of the Department of Urbanism. The SP&S section consists of a team of urbanists and planners from all over the globe. We focus on (i) international and European territorial governance and policy making, (ii) contemporary methods of spatial planning as well as spatial planning instruments, (iii) territorial evidence and (spatial planning) impact assessment, and (iv) the political dimension of planning. By doing so, we contribute to theories of spatial planning and build on the SP&S section’s strong tradition of international comparative approaches, and vision- and strategy-making. Spatial planning in Delft is closely related to the design disciplines focusing on (the development and transformation of) spatial form, patterns, structures and composition.