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Postdoctoral Fellowship in Social and Environmental Sciences

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
Brazil
Closing date
Aug 31, 2018

Job Details

 São Paulo Research Foundation-FAPESP postdoctoral positions are available at USP (Brazil) to integrate the research team that will be working in the Project GLOCULL - Globally and Locally-sustainable Food-Water-Energy Innovation in Urban Living Labs supported by the Belmont Forum (http://www.belmontforum.org/) and JPI Urban Europe (https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/) as part of the Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative – SUGI (https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/calls/sugi/). The fellowships will be for 24 months and will follow the norms of the São Paulo Research Foundation–FAPESP (www.fapesp.br/en/postdoc).

 

Organization and Location

The postdoctoral fellows will be based at University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. The University of São Paulo (USP), founded in 1934, is a public university, maintained by the State of São Paulo. Various world rankings, created to measure the quality of universities according to various criteria, particularly those related to scientific productivity, have widely recognized the talent and dedication of USP professors, students and employees (http://www5.usp.br/english/institutional/usp/?lang=en).

Many cities across the globe experiment with innovative solutions to challenges in the food, water and energy system. However, issues of food, water and energy are often tightly connected with each other, not only locally but also globally. This is known as the Food-Water-Energy (FWE) nexus. As a result, an effective solution to a local water problem may cause new local problems with food or energy, or cause new water problems at the global level. For local actors, it is very difficult to anticipate whether solutions to one issue in the FWE nexus are sustainable across food, water and energy systems, both at the local and the global scale. In response, the GLOCULL project aims to develop a novel approach to produce innovative solutions to FWE challenges that are both locally and globally sustainable, through experiments in Urban Living Labs in seven countries (Austria, Brazil, Germany Netherlands, South-Africa, Sweden and the USA). This is a three-year project involving partners from around the world and supported by the Belmont Forum (http://www.belmontforum.org/) and JPI Urban Europe (jpi-urbaneurope.eu) as part of the Sustainable Urbanisation Global Initiative – SUGI (https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/calls/sugi/). 

 

The Fellowships

The postdoctoral FAPESP fellowships will be an opportunity to work with cutting edge research with some leading scholars in the field of sustainable urbanisation. The postdoctoral fellows will support the development of the research project together with the supervisor and research consortium, engaged in activities at the Environmental Health Department (EHD) - School of Public Health (USP), in collaboration with Hydraulics and Sanitation Department, São Carlos School of Engineering (EESC-USP). The main objective of these postdoctoral FAPESP fellowships will be develop a transdisciplinary action-research in São Paulo, Brazil (one of the Urban Living Labs studied), and contribute to innovation and implementation activities through a participatory assessment of the sustainability of the tested solutions, engaging local stakeholders in a joint learning and co-creation process.

 

We aimed:

  1. To analyze the local dynamics and conflicts around the multiple interests and uses in the Billings Reservoir region, south zone of São Paulo;
  2. To propose a system of sustainable indicators that can capture the context of existing conflicts, and the potential responses to be given in the interface food/water and energy dimensions in the studied area.

The postdoctoral fellows will interact with other researchers and practitioners involved in the proposal, and drawn empirical work in São Paulo (based on a set of quantitative and qualitative methods, including data collection, survey, interviews, focus groups, interactive workshops). The postdoctoral fellows will:

  1. Prepare and present short end user reports targeted at local government practitioners, community working groups and research consortium;
  2. Publish peer-reviewed publications and conference papers targeting dissemination of project findings to scholarly audience; 
  3. Prepare other forms of dissemination of research results.

They should also help the supervisor in integrating the different research activities and safeguarding the good communication among partners and stakeholders. They will be responsible for the scientific part of the data management and will be working closely with the partners to make ensure wide dissemination of the research results among academics and practitioners. Occasional travel is necessary for conducting the research. Fellows can spend a few months abroad to interact with partners during the fellowship period.

 

Qualifications

The candidates should have the following qualifications:

  • Ph.D. in Social or Environmental sciences (or related areas), preferably working on urban and ecological issues;
  • Less than 7 years since the completion of the Ph.D.;
  • Ability to comfortably use qualitative and quantitative methods of social sciences;
  • Ability to use software required to the research;
  • Fluent in written and spoken English (it is important to speak Portuguese). 

 

Application Process

This opportunity is open to candidates of any nationalities. The selected candidate will receive a FAPESP’s Post-Doctoral fellowship in the amount of BRL 7,174.80 monthly and a research contingency fund, equivalent to 15% of the annual value of the fellowship which should be spent in items directly related to the research activity. 
 
Eligible destination country/ies for fellows: Brazil

Eligibility of fellows: country/ies of residence: All

Eligibility of fellows: nationality/ies: All

Company

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