Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – The Research University in the Helmholtz Association creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is our goal to make significant contributions to mastering the global challenges of mankind in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9.800 employees of KIT cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in research, academic education, and innovation.
The Institute of Regional Science (IFR) is looking for the earliest possible date limited to 3 years for a
Research Assistant (F/M/D) for Urban and Regional Research in Latin America Part Time 65 %
You will contribute to the international research project “Wealth & Space: Contested geographies of wealth (re-)production in Latin America”, in close collaboration with partner organisations in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, the project investigates how the (re-)production of wealth and space is mutually constitutive. In detail, the project will: study the economic logics and underlying spatial processes that create the conditions of wealth accumulation through (different forms of) Latin American extractivism; investigate the agency and contestations of key actors in the production of space and wealth; and provide the basis for identifying pathways for more just and sustainable transformations in Latin America through creating a Latin American Observatory for Geographies of Wealth and Space.The project will explore three case studies on extractivist systems and powerful economic groups in Latin America: the agribusiness frontier and the land-agrarian-urban nexus in Brazil; the mining-urbanisation nexus in Chile, and the infrastructure-finance nexus in Mexico.
Your tasks
- You will carry out comparative research about transnational governance processes and circuits of extraction in Latin America
- You will conduct qualitative empirical research in Latin America, in close collaboration with local stakeholders and social movements
- You will analyse empirical research and present research results at national and international conferences
- You will publish research results in international journals (mostly in co-authorship)
- You will contribute to the elaboration of pathways and strategies for sustainable societal transformations in Latin America
Coordinated at KIT, the project “Wealth & Space provides you an international working environment with horizontal decision-making processes and close exchange opportunities with other PhD students and Postdocs in Karlsruhe, Santiago de Chile, Mexico City and Brasilia. Field research and participation in international workshops and conferences are fully funded. Your habitual place of work will be either at the Humboldt University of Berlin or at the Institute of Regional Science at KIT, after consultation with the project direction.
Personal qualification
- You have an interdisciplinary educational background, with a Master Degree in a relevant field for the proposed research, e.g. Human Geography, Urban Studies, Agrarian Studies, International Political Economy, (Ecological) Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Ecology).
- You lived and worked in Latin America (particularly Chile, Brazil or Mexico) and you are familiar with the Political Economy and current socio-territorial processes across the continent. Preferably, you have carried out previous research in Latin America.
- You have strong interest to learn about wealth research, social-ecological transformation processes, and social and spatial justice and put your research with social movements into practice.
- You are motivated to pursue a PhD thesis related to extractivism and accumulation processes (e.g. in relation to mining, agribusiness, infra-structure), financialization of land, corporate and political governance research.
- You have in-depth knowledge of qualitative methods of empirical social research and are also interested in applying (audio)visual, participatory and performative methods in urban studies.
- You are a talented communicator, have excellent written and spoken English language skills and are fluent in Spanish and/or Portuguese; good knowledge of a third language is considered as an asset.
- You work independently, are target-oriented and like teamwork.
Become a member of staff of the only German University of Excellence that conducts large-scale research on the national level. Work under excellent working conditions in an interna-tional environment and be active in research and academic education for our future. Benefit from specific training when starting your job and from a wide range of further qualification offers. Use our flexible working time models (flexitime, work from home), our sports and lei-sure offers, as well as our child and holiday care services. We also pay a share of EUR 25/month in the Job Ticket Baden-Württemberg. Enjoy a large variety of dishes, snacks, and beverages at our canteens.
We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore, we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job.
Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.
Please send your complete application documents in a single PDF document by email to the secretariat of the Institute of Regional Science (Irma Diegmann / Eveline Puchstein: [email protected]) by 20 September 2023, quoting the vacancy no. 2232/2023 and the reference “WEALTH & SPACE”.
Your application should include a curriculum vitae including a list of presentations and publications, contact details for two referees (including e-mail addresses), a motivation statement relating to the position (max. two pages) and degree transcripts.
For further information, please contact Prof. Michael Janoschka, E-Mail: [email protected] and Dr. Corinna Hölzl-Verwiebe, E-Mail: [email protected].
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You can find further information on the internet: www.kit.edu
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