Senior Researcher Humanitarian Studies (Disasters and Climate Change)

Job content

Humanitarian Studies Centre (HSC) at ISS

The Humanitarian Studies Centre has the mission to develop and advance humanitarian studies in the Netherlands and at the international level, with a special focus on promoting research and education in areas in the Global South that are prone to humanitarian crises. Humanitarian studies concerns the study of societies and vulnerable communities experiencing humanitarian crisis originating from disaster, conflict, refugee situations, and/ or political collapse. It studies the causes and impact of crisis; how people, communities and authorities respond to them, including efforts for prevention and preparedness, and how humanitarian action and other external interventions are organized and affect the recovery from crises. The Humanitarian Studies Centre will host two additional institutions: the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) and the Platform for humanitarian knowledge exchange (KUNO). IHSA was founded in 2009, is governed by a board, organized 7 international conferences and has a constituency of more than 2.000 scholars and practitioners. KUNO is a joint initiative of 5 academic institutions and 12 Netherlands-based aid agencies.

Objectives

The Humanitarian Studies Centre has the following objectives:
To provide a space for academic and applied research, education, international networking, and research uptake and communication.

To strengthen humanitarian studies in countries regularly beset by crisis, especially through the establishment of humanitarian observatories. Humanitarian observatories are organized spaces where participants representing multiple actors exchange, learn, and seek action and influence in relation to humanitarian governance.

To initiate activities and strengthen ongoing collaborations in the field of humanitarian studies.

To disseminate and promote research on humanitarian studies, carried out by HSC’s fellows and partners.

Senior researcher humanitarian studies with a focus on humanitarian crises related to natural hazard-related disaster and anthropogenic climate change.

The Humanitarian Studies Centre (HSC) is a new initiative endowed through a Spinoza Prize awarded to Professor Thea Hilhorst. The Prize was given in recognition of the importance of humanitarian studies as an academic field.

The HSC is looking for an all-round humanitarian studies scholar with a special focus on humanitarian crises related to natural hazard-related disaster and anthropogenic climate change .

The candidate will for the majority of the employment contribute to research, where possible and appropriate to teaching and MA supervision, (max 20% of the employment), and collaborations to advance the study of these topics. This involves the acquisition of academic grants and applied research assignments. Applied research assignment will need to be embedded in and contribute to the academic work and publication record of the centre.

The candidate will work closely with IHSA ( https://ihsa.info/ ) and KUNO ( https://www.kuno-platform.nl/ ) to contribute to the global development of humanitarian studies and to advance research uptake and collaborations with practice.

The candidate is expected to work independently and creatively on the basis of annual planning and evaluation cycles.

Specifications

max. 40 hours per week

€3974—€5439 per month

’s-Gravenhage

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Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR)

Requirements

The successful candidate will have a broad interdisciplinary academic training and experience, with a focus on humanitarian action or a related field, such as disaster studies, conflict studies or development studies.

The candidates’ research base will be the Governance, Law and Social Justice group, which is one of the four groups comprising ISS’s overall focus on Global Development and Social Justice.

A successful candidate will have:
A PhD in a relevant field of social sciences;

A track record of interactive research in humanitarian studies, with a focus on humanitarian crises related to natural hazard-related disaster and anthropogenic climate change;

A track record of the use of mixed methods, and experience in the use of quantitative methodologies;

A record of research-based publications on humanitarian studies and a publication plan

The ability to attract and manage research grants;

Some experience in teaching at Master level;

The ability to embed and link research and teaching activities to societal developments and partners;

Research uptake: contributions to public debate and capacity development projects are part of the engagement tasks to which the candidates will be expected to contribute;

Proven ability to conduct fieldwork in conflict- or disaster-affected areas;

Strong social capacities to work in a multicultural team and willingness to provide support to colleagues and the institute.

Conditions of employment

Internationally-oriented and varied work within an enthusiastic team, with attractive fringe benefits in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU). The selected candidate will be offered a temporary contract for 12 months initially at the level of Researcher 3. The contract can be extended for the duration of the project (maximum of 48 months) if your performance proves satisfactory. The employment will be subject to all the terms and conditions which are in place at the offering of the employment contract and as set out in the Collective Labour Agreement in force at that time. The successful candidate is invited to start as soon as possible.

Your remuneration will depend on the position, your specific knowledge and experience It will be calculated on the basis of full-time salary ranging between € 3.974,- and € 5.439,- gross per month (salary scale 11 CAO NU).

Erasmus University Rotterdam offers attractive terms of employment, including a holiday allowance of 8%, a year-end payment of 8.3% and 41 annual leave days in case of a full work week. In addition, EUR takes part in the ABP pension scheme, and we also offer partially paid parental leave. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Moreover, EUR staff members are allowed to make use of the EUR facilities, including the Erasmus sports centre and the University Library. We value diversity and believe that a diversity of talents contributes to our vision and strategy to excel as a university on research and education. This means that we are looking for a person who can complement our team well.

Erasmus University Rotterdam aims to be a just and inclusive community. We nurture an open culture where everyone is supported to reach their full potential. We see inclusiveness of talent as the basis of our successes and diversity of perspectives and individuals as an extremely valuable outcome of this. EUR offers equal opportunities to all employees and applicants, regardless of gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, neurodiversity, work disability, citizenship or any other aspect that makes them unique. We hope to meet you in our community.

Employer

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 International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

ISS is a leading academic centre for international development studies. While based in The Hague, the ISS is part of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

ISS was established in 1952 as a post-graduate institute of policy-oriented critical social science and development-oriented research. ISS offers a PhD in Development Studies , a 15,5 month MA in Development Studies , a joint MA in Public Policy (Mundus MAPP) , a MPA in Governance delivered in Suriname , and post-graduate Diploma courses .

ISS brings together a highly diverse international community of scholars and students from both the global South and the global North, who on average originate from over 50 different countries. The Institute brings together people, ideas, and insights in a multi-disciplinary setting which nurtures, fosters and promotes critical thinking and innovative research on fundamental social problems. Our strong partnerships with organizations and individuals in the global South make up a vibrant network where we co-create knowledge so that teaching and research are societally relevant. Key to the ISS philosophy and practices is the wish to contribute to achieving social justice and equity on a global level.

Department

Governance, Law and Social Justice (GLSJ) Research Group

How and to what extent does governance help or hinder social justice?

This forms the basis of the research carried out by members of the Governance, Law and Social Justice (GLSJ) research group. GLSJ researchers produce internationally leading, socially committed and societally relevant research on issues of governance from a social justice perspective.

Our research combines multiple disciplines with a focus on fields such politics, political economy, public administration and management, global governance and international law. Thematically, our research initiatives are concerned, amongst others, with topics such as:

the political economy of crisis management

the role of causality and complexity in political economy analysis

human rights, conflicts and peace building

social movements

legal mobilization

citizenship and migration

climate and disasters

development assistance and humanitarian action

translocal livelihoods and border regimes

In our research, we aim to ensure societal relevance through capacity development activities in the global South and active involvement in public and policy debates within and beyond Europe

Humanitarian Studies Centre (HSC) at ISS

The Humanitarian Studies Centre has the mission to develop and advance humanitarian studies in the Netherlands and at the international level, with a special focus on promoting research and education in areas in the Global South that are prone to humanitarian crises. Humanitarian studies concerns the study of societies and vulnerable communities experiencing humanitarian crisis originating from disaster, conflict, refugee situations, and/ or political collapse. It studies the causes and impact of crisis; how people, communities and authorities respond to them, including efforts for prevention and preparedness, and how humanitarian action and other external interventions are organized and affect the recovery from crises. The Humanitarian Studies Centre will host two additional institutions: the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) and the Platform for humanitarian knowledge exchange (KUNO). IHSA was founded in 2009, is governed by a board, organized 7 international conferences and has a constituency of more than 2.000 scholars and practitioners. KUNO is a joint initiative of 5 academic institutions and 12 Netherlands-based aid agencies.

Additional information

Additional information can be received by contacting Professor Dorothea Hilhorst, chair of the selection committee via email: hilhorst@iss.nl

Applications are invited from internal (EUR) candidates.

Making minds matter

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is a highly ranked, international university, based in the dynamic and diverse city of Rotterdam, with its port acting as a gateway to the world.

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