2 open positions in Geography, Planning and Environment
Ernste, H. (Huib)
2 Assistant Professors of Geography, Planning and Environment (1,0 fte each)
Sorry for cross-postings
Nijmegen School of Management
Vacancy number: 27.01.12/7
Closing date: February 5, 2012
Responsibilities
As an Assistant Professor of Geography, Planning and Environment, you provide high quality courses in the field of human geography, spatial planning and social and political sciences of the environment. You are involved in the teaching programmes of the Nijmegen School of Management, in particular in the bachelor programme of Geography, Planning and Environment.
In addition you are expected to carry out high-quality research activities in the context of the research programme on Shaping and Changing of Places and Spaces (SCAPES), which is one of the research programmes within the multidisciplinary setting of the faculty research institute IMR. Next, you are expected to successfully obtain funding from European as well as domestic institutions, either public or private. You publish regularly in international academic journals. You participate actively in the internationalization activities of the Nijmegen School of Management.
Work environment
The Nijmegen School of Management (NSM) is an academic centre of research and higher learning, focusing on institutional and managerial issues within complex organizations in both the public and private domain. The domains in which the NSM provides education and carries out research are: Business Administration, Public Administration, Political Science, Economics, Human Geography, Spatial Planning, and Social and Political Sciences of the Environment. Next to the many education programmes at bachelor and master level, research is organized in three interdisciplinary groups, of which SCAPES is one. The NSM strives for a multi-disciplinary approach whenever possible. The NSM employs 220 full-time staff, of whom 75% are academics. The NSM has about 3,000 students.
The Department Geography, Planning and Environment is one of the four departments within the NSM. It consists of three chairs: Human Geography, Spatial Planning, and Social and Political Sciences of the Environment. The department also includes professorships in Economic Geography and Real Estate and Location Development, and special professorships in Transport and Spatial Development, Euregional Management and City and Regional Marketing. Finally, the department has 5 associate professors and a number of assistant professors, doctoral candidates, and post-graduates. All in all: about 60 people.
The department has the primary responsibility for the Bachelor programme Geography, Planning and Environment, in which each year about 100 students enroll from pre-university education. In addition, there are around 60 students per year who enter via the Pre-Master programmes of Human Geography, Spatial Planning, and Social and Political Sciences of the Environment. Finally, the department offers 3 Master programmes in the fields of Human Geography, Spatial Planning, and Social and Political Sciences of the Environment (with, in 2011, 70, 60 and 15 students respectively) with each a number of different master-specialisations.
What we expect from you
You have a PhD degree in Human Geography, Planning or Environmental Studies, or a related and relevant field, and dealing with issues of places and spaces, their shaping and governance. You have demonstrated thorough knowledge about recent theoretical, methodological and empirical developments in at least one of the (sub)fields of Geography, Planning and Environment.
In particular, we look for people with special expertise, interest and skills in one or possibly more of the following (sub)fields:
1. Urban Studies
2. Housing Studies
3. Quantitative Research Methods
4. Interface between Natural- and Social Sciences
Ad. 1) Urban Studies
Increasingly our world becomes more urbanised and increasingly cities are the motor of innovation, creativity, competitiveness, new developments, growth and of change both on local and global scale. On the other hand cities are also the focus of differentiation, of segregation, of concentration and dominance, and of shrinkage and conflict. Urban studies are more topical then ever before and are central for all aspects of spatial and environmental development. At our Department we especially also investigate what makes these urban places so special and how they differ from other places, what ‘urbanity’ in this respect means. How are urban places made? How are they managed and how can they be made more sustainable? How are they imagined and communicated? What role does culture and multi-culturality play in these contexts and how does it influence also the urban economy and the urban way of life? How are these urban places related to each other? What connects them, what departs them? Our department seeks to strengthen and enhance it’s expertise in this field of urban studies both in teaching and in research. If you can offer this expertise, possibly in combination with expertise in one of the other fields mentioned here, we look forward to your application.
Ad. 2) Housing Studies
Housing policies, both on national, regional and local levels, have always been very much related to urban planning policies and are therefore an integrated part of teaching programme. This includes issues like (the problems with) the implementation of new urban extensions also called ‘VINEX locations’, social housing and the position of the housing associations on the housing market, land policies for (social) housing, including for instance the programming of land for future development and the current problems of municipalities with their land positions, forecast modelling for housing demand, the current mortgage rents and tax relief debate, and international studies of housing markets. We invite candidates with extensive expertise in the field of housing studies, who are able to teach and do research in this field, possibly in combination with one of the other (sub)fields mentioned here.
Ad. 3) Quantitative Research Methods
In our education and research we extensively make use of a broad set of different qualitative and quantitative research methods. To have thorough knowledge of developments in the field of Geography, Spatial Planning and the Environment and to be able to conceptualise and theorise these is one thing, but to be able to put these insights to a methodologically rigorous empirical test is another thing. Especially if you investigate what attitudes people have towards their environment, how spatial and environmental choices are made, what effects certain policy measures have, and how different spatial situations are related to each other we also need quantitative research methods. For students and researchers it is very important, not just to have the necessary methodological skills but also to be able to use them in close interaction with the development of theoretical insights in the field of interest. In particular the department therefore seeks to strengthen and enhance it’s expertise in the field of applied quantitative research methods (statistics), such as spatial sampling, causal modelling, categorical data analysis (discrete choice modelling) etc. in combination with an expertise in one the other (sub)fields mentioned here. We are thus looking for a person who is able to teach applied quantitative research methods in a very inspiring, practical and hands-on way in direct relation to the substantive fields of research in our discipline.
Ad. 4) Interface between Natural- and Social Sciences
While the emphasis in our education and research clearly is on the societal aspects of, Geography, Planning and Environment, to be truly an integrative science, we explicitly need to take into account the constraints and opportunities the physical environment provides for society, and even more, to understand the dynamics and dialectics of the society-environment interactions, and the relevance thereof for our fields of research and education. The Netherlands’ eternal struggle with water offers a clear example of the pertinence of physical parameters and qualities for societal, economic, political and cultural developments, and for planning in the largest sense of the word. A series of environmental issues, from local tot global, with climate change as an ubiquitous example, illustrate the relevance of physical conditions for society, both as a result of human action and as a trigger to new responses to these environmental changes. Apart from its general conceptualisation in society-environment interaction terms, recent concepts such as ecosystem services, resources efficiency, risk governance and others do relate to these issues. In turn, these insights do play a crucial role in a series of environmental and spatial developments, such as housing and urban planning, energy and mobility policies, international migration etc., that we deal with in our education and research. The department therefore also seeks to strengthen and enhance it’s expertise in physical environment aspects of society-environment interactions, and in the concepts and approaches linked to them, either with a natural sciences background or not. In particular, though, we look for somebody able to translate these concepts and insights into education and research in combination with one of the other (sub)fields mentioned here.
You have an excellent teaching record and proven didactic skills. As our Bachelor-Programme is taught in Dutch with some courses taught in English, and our master programme is to a large degree taught in English with some specialisations taught in Dutch, we expect you to be able to teach in Dutch and in English as soon as possible and at least within about 6-8 months after starting this position. Intensive courses in Dutch are available.
You have proven qualities in contributing to the international, academic discussion in this field, as apparent from publications in academic journals. You have the potential to attracting external funding for research projects.
What we have to offer
We offer you:
- employment: 1,0 fte;
- in addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
- Radboud University Nijmegen has excellent conditions of employment. The salary depends on qualifications and experience;
- duration of the contract: maximum 4 years. Next, excellent candidates can be offered a contract for an indefinite period of time;
- you will be appointed as an Assistant Professor (UD).
Would you like to know more?
Prof. dr. P. Leroy
Telephone: +31 24 3612095
E-mail: p.l...@fm.ru.nl
Applications
Are you interested?
Applications should include a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, a list of publications and two letters of reference from relevant persons within academia.
It is Radboud University Nijmegen's policy to only accept applications by e-mail. Please send your application, stating vacancy number 27.01.12/7, to vaca...@dpo.ru.nl, for the attention of drs. P.W. Mans, before 5 February 2012.
For more information on the application procedure: +31 24 3611633
No commercial propositions please.
Prof. Huib Ernste
Chair
Human Geography
Radboud University Nijmegen
Thomas van Aquinostraat 3 (Room 3.1.46)
P.O.Box 9108
NL-6500 HK Nijmegen
Tel: +31-(0)24-361 19 25
Fax: +31-(0)24-361 18 41
Home: Tel/Fax: +31-(0)24-360 92 31
Member of the Academy for Spatial Research and Planning (ARL)
Member of the Editorial Board of Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geografie (TESG)
Newest book: Ernste, H. (2011) Angewandte Statistik in Geografie und Umweltwissenschaften. UTB, Zürich