BEMÆRK: Ansøgningsfristen er overskredet
The Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark, is offering a postdoctoral position in Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems in Agroecology Transition, starting January 1, 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter. The position will be available for a 3-year period.
What are the most appropriate approaches to ensure that new knowledge, technologies and farming systems are continuously developed and applied at an increasingly swift pace, in order to accelerate the green transition of European agri-food systems?
You will be part of a research environment that addresses the above challenges in the context of European policy and research initiatives. These aim at accelerating green transition in Europe, along the lines of agroecology, with a focus on primary production. User-driven innovation, co-creation of knowledge and the integration of research and innovation processes that aim to bring Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) actors and policy levels closer together, are key elements. Living labs and decentralised research infrastructures, combined in open innovation arrangements, have been singled out as potentially transformative mechanisms.
These aims and goals are set in contexts of agri-food system across Europe that are highly diverse, and which require place-specific agricultural sustainability advancements. Further, AKIS across Europe are highly heterogeneous as regards understandings of agroecology concepts, as well as governance and organizing practices in agriculture. Add to this that levels of integration of AKIS elements with underpinning public policy vary considerably. Moreover, an array of agri-food system directions, often framed within powerful sustainability narratives, compete for the attention of AKIS actors.
This complexity calls for better understandings of the transition dynamics of the proposed open innovation arrangements. The focus of your position will be on investigations into policy-level barriers and enablers to agroecology transition, as well as the development of methodological aspects associated with the structuring, design and facilitation of co-creation in various contexts. Specifically:
- Developing methodological frameworks for assessment of enabling factors and living lab practices and arrangements across Europe, and participate in mapping
- Analysis of the social, political and institutional barriers and opportunities that influence European AKIS capacities, as well co-creation practices
- Contributing to the development of methods for strengthening the capacity of AKIS actors to support user-driven, co-created open innovation through living labs and related approaches, in various agricultures and production systems
You will be affiliated with the 7-year European Partnership ‘AGROECOLOGY’ that commences January 2024. See: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/research-area/agriculture-forestry-and-rural-areas/ecological-approaches-and-organic-farming/partnership-agroecology_en
You will collaborate with European colleagues on most activities and the position entails frequent travel within Europe.
Your profile
We are looking for a candidate with:
- A PhD in human geography, human ecology, agroecology, rural sociology, political science, anthropology or a related discipline
- Solid data management skills
- Patience and ability to navigate in complex EU-level institutional architectures
- Experience with case studies and comparative studies.
- High collaborative skills
- Documented scientific writing abilities: publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals
- Mainly qualitative, but also some degree of quantitative skills; Experience with interviews, focus groups and surveys, as well as data processing and analysis
- Participatory research and learning approaches and methods
- Agricultural knowledge and innovations systems (AKIS)
- System level understanding of agriculture and food systems
- Rural development, underpinning strategy and policy
- Sustainability transition thinking
- Natural resource management institutions, organizing practices
- Narratives and directions in agriculture; agricultures, dynamics and actors
Who we are
At the Department of Agroecology, our main goal is to contribute to sustainable solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems within the areas of soil, plants, animals, humans, and the environment. We want to make a difference by contributing to both fundamental knowledge generation and the attainment of sustainable production systems via innovative research, contracted policy advice, and education. We offer professional laboratories, greenhouses, semi-field, and field-scale research facilities, advanced computing capacities as well as an extensive national and international researcher network. The department consists of eight research sections with around 270 highly dedicated employees, of which approximately 50% are scientific staff. More information can be found here.
What we offer
- An informal and multicultural research environment with high professionalism, where accountability, commitment, helpfulness, flexibility, and close collaboration is a prerequisite solving the core tasks
- A good social environment with activities and routines that make it possible to talk across and strengthen the inclusive relationship, and where mutual trust, respect, kindness, and professional sparring are emphasized
- A flexible workplace with a good work-life balance
- An exciting and varied working environment, where two days rarely resemble each other. We are often busy, and we work creatively for solutions to societal challenges
- Subsidized preschool child care and a free education system from primary school up to university level
- Universal health insurance as a resident of Denmark, including family members officially residing in Denmark
- Five weeks paid holiday per year
- In connection with childbirth: the right to have a total of 52 weeks shared maternal/paternal leave with full or partial salary pay
Place of work
Aarhus University, Campus Viborg, Blichers Alle 20, 8830 Tjele,
Additional informations
Additional information about the position can be obtained from:
Torsten Rødel Berg, Senior Research Adviser. Tel +45 24858115, torsten.berg@agro.au.dk
Martin Hvarregaard Thorsøe, Assistant Professsor. Tel +45 93522518, martinh.thorsoe@agro.au.dk,
Tommy Dalgaard, Professor, Section Head. +45 20706132, tommy.dalgaard@agro.au.dk
Application procedure
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.
Letter of reference
If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.
Formalities and salary range
Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.
Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.
Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.
Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.
Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.
Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.
Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here.
The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.
Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/
INFORMATIONER OM STILLINGEN:
- Arbejdspladsen ligger i:
Viborg Kommune
-Virksomheden tilbyder:
-Arbejdsgiver:
Aarhus Universitet, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele
-Ansøgning:
Ansøgningsfrist: 01-11-2023; - ansøgningsfristen er overskredet
Se mere her: https://job.jobnet.dk/CV/FindWork/Details/5917381
