The postdoctoral researcher will develop research on funding, governing, and organizing for inclusive smart cities.

Smart city projects have emerged as a response to urban crisis conditions with the aim of leveraging digital technologies for innovation and sustainable development. However, these projects often require substantial public and private sector expenditure, question traditional governance models and involve complex (inter)organizational challenges not all of which have received sufficient attention in existing smart city research (Mora et al., 2023). Moreover, it has become increasingly apparent that depending on how they are funded, governed, and organized, they variably affect the exclusion and inclusion of various groups and individuals in the city.

The aim of this postdoctoral research is to contribute to literature on these topics with a specific angle, using concepts, frameworks, and theories such as Stakeholder Theory, Cross-Sectoral Partnerships, Institutional Logics, Actor Network Theories, Capital Accumulation and Spatial Fix.

The researcher will develop a clear research agenda for the duration of the postdoctoral mission (including precise research questions, expected scientific contributions and theoretical underpinnings of the research). The research will rely on existing data (already available/collected) and on new data collection (case studies). A clear publication agenda will be developed (including A*, A, min B journals[1]) at the beginning of the mission.

While the research will be jointly developed, from an administrative perspective, the researcher will spend the first year at HEC Liege (Belgium) and the second year at Rotterdam School of Management (the Netherlands).

At HEC Liege, the researcher will be working in collaboration with Professor Nathalie Crutzen and will be affiliated at the HEC Liege Smart City Institute.

At RSM, he/she will be working with Professor Martin de Jong and affiliated with the Erasmus Initiative Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity.

The latest publications of their respective research teams include articles in international scientific journals such as Ecological Economics; Public Management Review; Pubic Administration; Journal of Urban Technology; IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management; Technological Forecasting and Social Change; Journal of Cleaner Production; Cities; Administration and Society; The Annals of Regional Science; Government Information Quarterly; International Review of Administrative Science and Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal.

[1] https://www.hec.uliege.be/cms/c_8631209/fr/hec-liege-academic-journal-guide-december-2022)

Job qualifications:

• A doctoral degree in a related field (policy, management, economics, urban studies) is required
• The candidate should demonstrate outstanding research potential with reference to HEC Liege Academic Journal Guide (https://www.hec.uliege.be/cms/c_8631209/fr/hec-liege-academic-journal-guide-december-2022) as well as previous scientific publications in international peer-reviewed journals (A or min B publications)
• Excellent spoken and written English. Familiarity with French, Dutch or both is an asset. 

Fixed-term contract: 12 months at HEC Liege and 12 months at RSM, EUR.

In Liège, the postdoctoral researcher will be hired on a research grant for the first year and therefore should comply with the following requirements: (1) to have obtained the PhD degree less than 10 years before the starting date of the contract; (2) to be in a situation of international mobility (that is, not having stayed more than 24 months in Belgium – for work or studies, etc. – over the last 3 years).

The postdoctoral researcher will receive the contract from Erasmus University Rotterdam 6 months into the contract with HEC Liege.

Fixed-term contract: 1 year. 

We offer a full-time, one-year contract with ULiège (HEC Liège, Smart City Institute). Salary is dependent on the candidate’s experience and is set to ULiège’s scale 116s. It also includes other advantages in compliance with Belgian law, such as meal vouchers, to be discussed during the interview.

We offer a full-time, one-year contract with Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) with attractive employment conditions according to the Dutch Collective Labor Agreement for universities (CAO NU). Salary is dependent on the candidate’s experience and is set at CAO NU scale 11 with a minimum of € 4,332 and a maximum of € 5,929 gross per month on a full-time basis. In addition, EUR pays an 8 percent holiday allowance and an end-of-year payment of 8.3 percent, and offers excellent secondary benefits, including a generous amount of vacation days. In addition, EUR takes part in the ABP pension scheme, and we also offer partially paid parental leave. For international spouses, EUR has set up a dual career programme. 

HEC Liege, University of Liège

About HEC Liege, University of Liège

HEC Liège is the management school of the University of Liège (Uliège). It is one of Belgium’s leading university business schools for graduate and postgraduate programs and the only comprehensive management school in Belgium to hold both AACSB and EQUIS accreditations. It employs more than 115 full-time faculty members and researchers and hosts over 3390 students.

The school's mission is to foster real-life education and research in economics and management for the benefit of our local community and society at large.

HEC Liège is a dynamic institution that promotes an empowering pedagogy that leads students to play a proactive part in their education and offers a dynamic and entrepreneurial research and teaching environment.

HEC Liège’s international vision Liège is reflected in its many research activities, numerous partnerships with companies and universities around the world, and the increasing internationalization of its programs and faculty.

Working at HEC Liège means being part of a Business School with a truly European identity.  Lying at the heart of a metropolis (3rd largest city in Belgium, 1st in the French-speaking region) – easily accessible by plane and train, within less than an hour’s drive from Brussels, Maastricht or Aachen and less than four hours from Paris, Frankfurt, Cologne and London, the School shares the economic and cultural effervescence of this ardent city. Liège is the third inland port in Europe and the seventh cargo airport in Europe.

The successful candidate will be hosted by the Smart City Institute (SCI). the SCI approaches the theme of sustainable and smart transition of territories from a managerial angle, while adopting a truly multidisciplinary approach. The Smart City Institute's missions are based on 4 main areas: research, training, raising awareness and guidance for local actors. Due to its expertise, the Institute has also been the official academic reference on "Smart Regions" for the Walloon Region since 2016, through its Digital Wallonia program.

Like the city’s famous friendliness and hospitality, HEC Liège advocates respect, tolerance, diversity and social responsibility and is committed to the well-being of its members. A great place to live and work!

More information on HEC Liège work environment: www.hecliege.be

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam

About Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 3.700 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

The successful candidate will be embedded in the Erasmus Initiative Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity, an interdisciplinary research centre bringing together scholars in law, business and philosophy and focusing on enabling as many people as possible to benefit from increasing prosperity, whilst minimising the negative consequences.  The members of the initiative develop understanding of inclusive prosperity and expose its drivers. They also show how this knowledge can be used to effectively address contemporary societal challenges in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The combination of academic expertise puts the initiative in an excellent position to study how in a context that is “oriented” by different layers of legislation and (self) regulation, public and private sector actors can interact to leverage inclusive prosperity. How are the benefits of activities distributed and how are the interests of all stakeholders protected? Through which mechanisms and legal institutions is inclusion promoted? What are the epistemologies of injustice and hurdles to transformative change? The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) play an important role in the assessment of current situations and contemplation of possible improvements.