The Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg invites applications for one or more postdoctoral positions (100% of full-time), on 2 years with the possibility of extension up to three years, offering applicants an opportunity to join an ambitious research project on representation and public opinion.
The research project
The position is part of the project “Fem-LEAD: Female Leaders and Effects from African Droughts”, led by Associate Professor Aksel Sundström and funded by an ERC Starting Grant. General information about the project is available at http://www.akselsundstrom.com/research and https://www.gu.se/en/news/erc-grant-for-research-into-extreme-weather-a….
The Fem-LEAD project seeks to understand the connections between natural disasters and women’s political standing in politics.
The project focuses on climate shocks, public opinion and political representation. How and why do such events affect citizens’ demand for female politicians? How and why do they affect the supply of female candidates and the presence of elected women?
The project studies a combination of public opinion data: observational surveys, in-depth interviews and survey experiments. It studies political representation, with access to unique data on women as local candidates and representatives in multiple countries (also beyond the initial focus of Africa).
The project has designed studies where high-quality data is available. There are also good opportunities to design creative studies - with different theoretical and methodological approaches - and the project has funds for ambitious data collection.
However, beyond its specific aims, work within the project can be extended to study processes related to this topic, e.g., but not limited to: additional geographic regions, how other types of shocks affect attitudes and representation, how to understand the effects of disasters on broader types of political variables, or how to see effects of women's political presence on different outcomes. The research group is interested in climate shocks and politics more generally.
A more detailed project description is available upon request.
Duties
The employment as a postdoctoral fellow aims to give the employee an early opportunity to develop his/her independence as a researcher after completing his/her doctoral degree and to create the conditions for further qualifications. The person employed as a postdoctoral fellow must mainly conduct research. Teaching can be included in the work duties, but to a maximum of one-fifth of the working time.
The postdoctoral fellow will be employed at the Political Science Department as part of the research group and is expected to engage in collaborative research with Aksel Sundström and the other members of the group. The postdoctoral fellow’s efforts will be important to ensuring the success of the project. We expect the successful candidate to design data collection strategies to understand women’s political standing and to subsequently collect, analyze, and (co-)author studies resulting from this data collection effort. We thus expect the postdoc to take an independent role to conduct studies that are broadly related to the project, to conduct high-quality research within the context of the project, and to contribute to publications in top outlets.
There are great opportunities to expand the project's focus within the framework of the postdoctoral fellow's interests and specialization.
Successful applicants will become part of a cutting-edge research project, a vibrant and supportive research team, and will be well-integrated in a large department with the leading research environment of the Quality of Government (QoG) Institute and the Gothenburg Research Group on Elections, Public Opinion and Political Behavior (GEPOP). There will be excellent opportunities for intellectual development and mentoring as well as for developing an independent research agenda within the overall context of the project. The project offers funding for conferences, additional training, data collection, and opportunities for developing a strong academic network.
Eligibility
The eligibility criteria for employing teaching staff are set out in Chapter 4 of the Higher Education Ordinance and in the Appointment Procedure for Teaching Posts at the University of Gothenburg.
Eligible to be employed as a postdoctoral fellow is someone who has a doctorate in political science or a closely related subject at the latest at the time the employment decision is made. In the first instance, those who have completed their degree no more than three years before the end of the application period should be considered. Even those who have completed their degree previously can be considered if there are special reasons.
For more information regarding eligibility, please visit The Appointment Procedure GU 2024/1687
