Department of Geography, National University of Singapore (NUS)
THREE faculty positions in Social/Cultural Geographies addressing contemporary crises of sustainability in Asia (two positions at Assistant Professor level on the tenure-track and one at Associate or Full Professor level with tenure)
The Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore (NUS) seeks to appoint three established or emerging research leaders in the field of Social/Cultural Geography whose work addresses contemporary crises of sustainability in Asia. This could include, but is not limited to, issues of environmental justice, sustainable practices and futures, or the socio-spatial dimensions of climate change. The successful candidates will be expected to play leading and innovative roles in the Department’s Social and Cultural Geographies (SCG) group and to build an ambitious programme of research.
The NUS Department of Geography has a long and rich tradition of social and cultural geography research, with well-established strengths in scholarship on cultural/heritage landscapes, migration and transnationalism, cities, gender, and geographies of tourism. In more recent years the SCG research group has developed other research strands including ageing and care, children and young people, pedagogy innovations and urban liveability. The group is currently organised around two inclusive and overlapping themes: mobilities and urban life. SCG members have strong collaborative relations with colleagues in the other two research groups in the Department (Politics, Economies and Space, PEAS, and Tropical Environmental Change, TEC) and scholars in cognate disciplines, particularly as part of the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. NUS more widely is among the world’s most highly reputed universities and provides a generous and well-resourced environment in terms of funding and other research support. For more information on the NUS Department of Geography, please see: https://fass.nus.edu.sg/geog/
We particularly welcome applications from social and cultural geographers who make use of innovative and creative methods and methodologies, including digital. For candidates who do not have previous experience of researching in/on Asia, it is important to demonstrate evidence of an ability and willingness to develop research projects in/from the region. Candidates must have a PhD in geography or a closely allied field.
Interested candidates should submit an application comprising: a letter of interest with details of their research credentials and future plans; the level of post they are applying to (professor, associate professor or tenure track assistant professor); a full curriculum vitae; and evidence of teaching experience, including feedback if available. Those applying for an Assistant Professorship position should also include the names and contact details of three referees (one of whom must be the applicant’s PhD supervisor). Those applying for the tenured Associate/Full Professor position will be asked to provide the names and contact details of six referees should they be short-listed.
For further enquiries, please contact the Chair of the Search Committee, Professor Tim Bunnell: geotgb@nus.edu.sg
The deadline for applications is 16 April 2021. Shortlisted candidates will be notified soon thereafter, and plans will then be made for a campus visit and interview (because of the impacts of COVID-19 we will be conducting virtual campus visits until further notice).
Candidates to note:
Assistant Professor positions (tenure-track), please submit your application here
Tenured Associate/Full Professor (with tenure), please submit your application here
Posted: 19th April 2021 by Charlotte Stam
Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral GIS Researcher in Environmental, Housing and Health Inequalities
Deadline for application 21st of April 2021.
University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences – Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, are looking for a postdoctoral researcher with experience in spatial analysis to join their multi-disciplinary team and work on an exciting study on environmental justice in Amsterdam.
This postdoctoral position is funded through a research grant awarded by Kenniscentrum Ongelijkheid to study the linkages between housing market change, environmental inequalities and health outcomes in the Amsterdam metropolitan region. The project includes an interdisciplinary research team of scholars from Urban Geography, Environmental Planning and Public Health (Amsterdam UMC) as well as representatives from the Municipality of Amsterdam, GGD, AFWC, and De Gezonde Stad.
The postdoctoral researcher will work closely with the research team in developing multi-dimensional indices of environmental exposure at lower levels of scale, and conducting data analysis with the use of advanced GIS techniques. Secondly, the researcher will also be involved in more detailed public health analyses. The research tasks cover 70% of a full-time position for 17 months. Depending on department needs and candidate preferences, there may be a possibility to extend the terms of the contract to include teaching responsibilities.
The position concerns a temporary appointment of 26,6 hours per week for a term of 17 months. It offers a challenging work environment with a variety of duties and ample scope for individual initiative and development within an inspiring organisation. The social and behavioural sciences play a leading role in addressing the major societal challenges faced by the world, the Netherlands and Amsterdam, now and in the future. To work at the University of Amsterdam is to work in a discerning, independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.
More information about the position and how to apply, click here.
Last Updated: 1st April 2021 by Coordinator
LAND at lunch: Investments and conflict in Cabo Delgado, Northern Mozambique
LAND at lunch: Investments and conflict in Cabo Delgado, Northern Mozambique
On April 15, from 12.00 – 13.30 CEST, LANDac organizes a lunch seminar to discuss the ongoing events in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique, where violent conflicts have been afflicting people for years. Latest reports describe that the city of Palma has been besieged by Islamic extremists and thousands of people fled the region. Colleagues who know the situation in Cabo Delgado point out that the ongoing conflict is not merely the outcome of Islamic extremism, but a result of decades of poverty, inequality and unemployment in a region in which foreign investors profit from the abundant natural resources.
In 2018, LANDac, in collaboration with the LANDdialogue and Shared Value Foundation, carried out a bottom-up research project on the impacts of land-based investments in Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique (you can find a summary of our results here). The discovery of gas just off the coast of Mozambique – combined with the rich soils and abundance of natural resources such as ruby and graphite – has attracted a large number of investors to the province. But at the same time, Cabo Delgado is among the poorest regions in the country and people affected by these type of investments do not share in the profits. On the contrary, our research showed that over 10.000 people will be displaced as a result of the recent oil and gas investments and many more have lost their land and livelihoods to foreign investors in the wider region.
You are warmly invited to join LANDac during this open discussion, organized in collaboration with LANDac fellows and colleagues from Mozambique. We will discuss recent events in Cabo Delgado and reflect upon the link with land governance and land-based investments. What has happened since our research in 2018? And what do we know about what is currently happening? Furthermore, we will discuss what we, researchers, policymakers, practitioners and businesses in the Netherlands and beyond can and should take to address the situation and put the wellbeing of people living and working in the province back on the agenda.
Please use the ZOOM-link to join us!
Posted: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
LANDdialogue: Liberia – More than 1.3 Million Hectares now under Community Ownership and Control
March 5, 2021 – Gerald C. Koinyeneh in Front Page Africa
Monrovia – Local communities across Liberia seem to be taking advantage of the new Land Rights Law to reclaim their ancestral land. With more than 1.3 million hectares of Customary Land now under formal community ownership and control, the future seems to be getting brighter for local communities across the country.
Information gathered at the just ended national learning and experience sharing conference on Customary Land formalization, indicates that more than 100 communities have made significant progress towards completing the process for securing deeds to their land.
According to the Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI), Parley Liberia, and IDH the Sustainable Trade Initiative, the organizations that hosted the just ended conference in partnership with the Liberia Land Authority, they have supported a total of 82 communities in ten counties covering more 1.3 million hectares of land to reclaim their ancestral land.
Read the full article here!
Posted: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
The Land Portal launches third annual land data stories contest
In honour of International Open Data Day, having taken place on March 6th, we would like to invite you to submit your data story to the Land Portal. Read more here below!
Why submit a data story?
What are the requirements for a data story?
1ST PRIZE
800 Euros
Your story featured and used as a case study in an upcoming Land Portal webinar on land rights and storytelling
Your story featured on www.landportal.org
2ND PRIZE
500 Euros
Your story featured and used as a case study in an upcoming Land Portal webinar on land rights and storytelling
Your story featured on www.landportal.org
3RD PRIZE
200 Euros
Your story featured and used as a case study in an upcoming Land Portal webinar on land rights and storytelling
Your story featured on www.landportal.org
Stories should be submitted by April 30th 2021 through email to datastories@landportal.info (link sends e-mail) with copy to stacey.zammit@landportal.info (link sends e-mail)
Visit the Land Portal website here!
Posted: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
Job Opportunities: Three faculty positions in Social/Cultural Geographies (Singapore)
Department of Geography, National University of Singapore (NUS)
THREE faculty positions in Social/Cultural Geographies addressing contemporary crises of sustainability in Asia (two positions at Assistant Professor level on the tenure-track and one at Associate or Full Professor level with tenure)
The Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore (NUS) seeks to appoint three established or emerging research leaders in the field of Social/Cultural Geography whose work addresses contemporary crises of sustainability in Asia. This could include, but is not limited to, issues of environmental justice, sustainable practices and futures, or the socio-spatial dimensions of climate change. The successful candidates will be expected to play leading and innovative roles in the Department’s Social and Cultural Geographies (SCG) group and to build an ambitious programme of research.
The NUS Department of Geography has a long and rich tradition of social and cultural geography research, with well-established strengths in scholarship on cultural/heritage landscapes, migration and transnationalism, cities, gender, and geographies of tourism. In more recent years the SCG research group has developed other research strands including ageing and care, children and young people, pedagogy innovations and urban liveability. The group is currently organised around two inclusive and overlapping themes: mobilities and urban life. SCG members have strong collaborative relations with colleagues in the other two research groups in the Department (Politics, Economies and Space, PEAS, and Tropical Environmental Change, TEC) and scholars in cognate disciplines, particularly as part of the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. NUS more widely is among the world’s most highly reputed universities and provides a generous and well-resourced environment in terms of funding and other research support. For more information on the NUS Department of Geography, please see: https://fass.nus.edu.sg/geog/
We particularly welcome applications from social and cultural geographers who make use of innovative and creative methods and methodologies, including digital. For candidates who do not have previous experience of researching in/on Asia, it is important to demonstrate evidence of an ability and willingness to develop research projects in/from the region. Candidates must have a PhD in geography or a closely allied field.
Interested candidates should submit an application comprising: a letter of interest with details of their research credentials and future plans; the level of post they are applying to (professor, associate professor or tenure track assistant professor); a full curriculum vitae; and evidence of teaching experience, including feedback if available. Those applying for an Assistant Professorship position should also include the names and contact details of three referees (one of whom must be the applicant’s PhD supervisor). Those applying for the tenured Associate/Full Professor position will be asked to provide the names and contact details of six referees should they be short-listed.
For further enquiries, please contact the Chair of the Search Committee, Professor Tim Bunnell: geotgb@nus.edu.sg
The deadline for applications is 16 April 2021. Shortlisted candidates will be notified soon thereafter, and plans will then be made for a campus visit and interview (because of the impacts of COVID-19 we will be conducting virtual campus visits until further notice).
Candidates to note:
Assistant Professor positions (tenure-track), please submit your application here
Tenured Associate/Full Professor (with tenure), please submit your application here
Last Updated: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
Call for Articles: Contested airport land in the Global South
Contested airport land in the Global South
Call for contributions to book edition “Contested airport land in the Global South” (working title), initial editors: Sneha Sharma & Irit Eguavoen, AG Geographische Entwicklungsforschung, Universität Bonn
Airport lands and those foreseen for future airport construction/ expansion are emerging as contested resources in cities, peri-urban and rural areas of the Global South and the Global North. Countries, such as Kenya, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Maldives, Jamaica, or Mexico are witnessing land struggles, displacement of local communities and ethnic clashes. Airport and airport city projects result in so-called ́aviation-related conflicts ́ and raise critical questions about sustainability, environmental justice, citizenship and human rights. In some of these cases, a strong civil disagreement and political mobilisation has resulted in powerful protest movements – some of which were successful in preventing or delaying projects or leading to there vision of implementation schemes. Many other cases have received little public attention despite severe negative social and environmental impact. Evidence from case studies presents a complex interplay of land use planning, infrastructural development, governance, local livelihoods, as well as national economic and climate policies. This interplay calls for a critical examination of land-related contestations around airports. Lobby organisations are actively collecting evidence, building international networks and discourse coalitions across the Global North and the Global South in order to strengthen their protest against avian infrastructure, injustice and displacement, as well as against pollution, destruction of habitats and non-ecofriendly mobility.
Through this book edition, we would like to initiate a wider thematic debate on political discourses and economic drivers, local conditions and responses, as well as establish an arena to discuss and compare a diversity of case studies and views on the issue. We invite you to contact us if you would like to participate in the book project as author or join us as an editor. In our understanding, the journey towards the book/ journal edition is as important as the final product because it generates shared spaces for networking and exchange, allowing us to learn from each other about the conditions and contestations around airports.
For more information, please contact: eguavoen[at]uni-bonn.de or visit the website here.
Posted: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
Opportunity: PhD in Geography
Deadline for application is 30th April 2021.
Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the Department of Geography at the University of Bergen (UiB) are seeking a PhD candidate to conduct research related to the project “Prioritizing the Displacement-Environment Nexus: Refugee and IDP Settlements as Social- Ecological Systems”. The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway.
The successful candidate will be based out of CMI and apply to be enrolled in the PhD program at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Bergen, and shall be affiliated with the Department of Geography at UiB. The candidate will also be part of the Climate Change and Natural Resources research group at CMI.
Start date is set to the 1st of August 2021.
The project aims to understand the relationship between displaced people and the environment
This project pilots a novel approach, it conceptualises settlement areas as social-ecological systems.
Furthermore, the project responds to an important gap in the fields of humanitarian and refugee studies. While environment is often identified as a driver of involuntary displacement, there is little existing research considering how refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) interact with the environment in newly settled areas. Also, existing research falls largely within the social sciences, with little integration of natural science approaches. This gap is filled by coupling remote sensing-based assessments of landscape change with historical, ethnographic and participatory approaches.
Research in Afghanistan and India:
The analysis will identify patterns in livelihoods, landscape change, and health over these multi-decade time-frames, building an interdisciplinary historical analysis.
To interpret these data, the project relies on the Theory of Adaptive Change which, informed by community concerns, will underpin scenario-building and assessment of future socio-ecological trajectories.
The key questions the project seeks to answer are:
Your role as a PhD candidate:
More information and how to apply, click here.
Last Updated: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
Opportunity: Climate Change and Resilience in Food Systems Course
Climate Change and Resilience in Food Systems Course
University of Leeds, GCRF Africap
Learn new research-led strategies designed to mitigate the effects of climate change on agriculture and food systems.
Even small climate changes can have large-scale consequences in agriculture and food systems with devastating effects for the people and their economies. On this course, you will learn strategies designed to mitigate the impact of climate change, develop resilient food systems and create sustainable development in local communities.
Course available from 29 March onwards. Visit the website here.
Posted: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
Blog post: What role do local governance frameworks play in strengthening women’s voices in land governance?
Across East and West Africa, IIED and partners have been developing and testing approaches to strengthen women’s voices in local land governance. Philippine Sutz reflects on the role and impact of local governance frameworks as these approaches are implemented in different contexts.
Read the full blog here.
Last Updated: 22nd March 2021 by Coordinator
Research report: How collective action can influence the direction of a land reform: lessons learned from civil society mobilisation in Senegal
How collective action can influence the direction of a land reform: lessons learned from civil society mobilisation in Senegal
Download the report here.
Reference: Delville, P., Diagne, D., Richebourg, C. (2021). Influencer collectivement les orientations d’une réforme foncière : enseignements de la mobilisation des organisations de la société civile au Sénégal. IIED, London.
https://pubs.iied.org/12610FIIED