The Sociology of Development and Change (SDC) Group welcomes applicants for a fully salaried PhD position in the ERC funded project ‘Politics of the Periphery in Urban Latin America: Reconceptualising Politics from the Margins’ (POPULAR). POPULAR is a comparative ethnographic research project led by Dr Martijn Koster, Associate Professor at SDC.

It investigates the relationships between residents of low-income neighbourhoods and the state around issues of housing and urban development. It studies the formal and informal practices and interactions of these urban residents around housing and urban development in three domains: governance, electoral politics, and activism. It compares three cities in Latin America where housing is an urgent issue: Medellín (Colombia), Santiago de Cuba (Cuba), and Recife (Brazil).

The research is carried out by a project team consisting of six researchers: 3 PhDs, 2 Postdocs and the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr Koster. The team will work together to further elaborate and refine the research approach and the various work packages, analyse the data, participate in conferences, and (co-)author publications. Fieldwork will be conducted by a PhD and a Postdoc (Santiago de Cuba, Medellín) or a PhD and Dr Koster (Recife).

You will be based at Wageningen University and conduct twelve months of in-depth ethnographic fieldwork in low-income neighbourhoods in Recife. The focus of your research in this work package will be on how the residents interact with the state in the various domains, particularly in relation to housing and upgrading projects, and issues such as housing shortages and tenure legalisation, and protests around the theme of housing.

You will analyse how resident-state relationships are shaped by political histories and regimes of governance. You will study the politics of marginalised urban residents from ‘the inside’, studying their practices and perspectives, their interactions with state representatives, and their emic notions, moralities, and imaginations of the state. The other researcher in this work package (Postdoc or PI) will focus on key actors in the different domains, and their interactions with the urban periphery.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• setting up and carrying out ethnographic fieldwork;
• setting up and completing a PhD dissertation within four years;
• authoring and co-authoring publications with other team members;
• participating in conferences, workshops, seminars and other scholarly activities;
• being part of the research team and help organise the overall work and strategy of the team;
• being an active member of the Sociology and Development and Change Group and the Section Space, Place and Society (participating in group activities, meetings, and seminars).

You will work here
You will be part of the POPULAR research team, led by the PI Dr Martijn Koster. This team is embedded in the chair group of Sociology of Development and Change led by Prof. Bram Büscher, and the Section Space, Place and Society. Your supervisor will be Dr Martijn Koster and co-supervisor will be Dr Robert Coates.

You are:

• a dedicated researcher who wishes to build a deeper understanding of issues of development, social injustice and inequality, while generating knowledge that may help bring about a fairer, more sustainable world;
• a team player who contributes to making a collaborative research project a success, but you also have the creativity, aptitude and qualities needed to do individual work when needed, especially when it comes to 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork;
• willing to nurture these qualities further over the course of the project, including how these could serve you in a further career in academia or beyond after the PhD.

You also possess:

• completed (Research) Master’s Degree in anthropology, development studies or a related field;
• demonstrated passion and aptitude for research;
• proven experience with ethnographic and other qualitative research methods, ideally in urban Latin America and/or on topics related to political anthropology, the state, housing, urban development, informal politics and citizenship;
• excellent command of written and spoken English and, depending on the field site, Spanish or Portuguese;
• good skills in planning, taking initiatives, organizing events, presenting your work to a wider audience;
• proven skills in academic writing;
• interest in being part of and contributing to a lively, caring and engaging academic environment.

Since you are to become an active member of the department’s intellectual community and work closely together with the project team, you are expected to live in the Netherlands, preferably in the vicinity of Wageningen.

For this position you are expected to have a command of English at C1 level. Sometimes it is necessary to submit an internationally recognised Certificate of Proficiency in the English Language. More information can be found here

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.

The gross salary for the first year is € 2.770 - per month rising to € 3.539,- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.

There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 18th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.

Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling. For instance under the "30% rule", certain categories of international staff can receive tax exemption on approximately 30% of their gross salary.

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With its roughly 30 branches, 7,200 employees (6,400 fte) and 13,200 students and over 150.000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen’s unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.

These are the points our employees list as good reasons to come work at WUR: read the 5 reasons to come work at WUR

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.