The department of Sociology announces for a Postdoctoral Researcher - ,

The department of Sociology announces for a Postdoctoral Researcher 

The applicant to the Postdoctoral Researcher positions shall profile its submitted research plan against one of the chosen specializations. Also state your choice of orientation in your personal letter. 

The position is a full-time employment on a fixed term of two year. Starting date April 1 2022 or by agreement.

Orientation 1; 

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to contribute to the project “Welfare service provision in transition”

The aim of the project is to study how the provision of welfare services provided at the municipal level have changed over time and political consequences of these changes. What is the importance of local democracy and politics for the current trend of welfare service privatization, and how do local politicians perceive the increase of private service provision in the Swedish welfare context? Can class and gender perspectives on local politicians' living conditions contribute to an increased understanding of their views on publicly- vis-à-vis privately provided welfare services? The empirical basis of the project consists of existing quantitative survey data.

For further information on the project please do not hesitate to contact the PI: jonas.edlund@umu.se 

General information on the project can be found at; Welfare service provision in transition. The impact of municipal context and local politicians' preferences, values, and living conditions (umu.se)

Orientation 2;

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to contribute to the project The effects of unemployment on health of family members (HEALFAM) founded by European Research council (ERC)

The aim of HEALFAM is to examine how losing a job affects health outcomes of partners, children and elderly parents of the unemployed and whether the magnitudes of these influences differ across families and societies. The postdoctoral researcher will be involved specifically in the component of HEALFAM project, which investigates the impact of adult children’s unemployment on health outcomes of parents using data from Swedish registers and Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) data. 

For further information on the project please do not hesitate to contact the PI:  anna.baranowska-rataj@umu.se 

General information on the project can be found at the project website https://sites.google.com/view/healfam/home

Eligibility

Eligible to be employed as a postdoctoral researcher is a person who has completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree considered comparable to a doctoral degree. 

For this position, applicants must have a doctoral degree in sociology or equivalent scientific competence that is considered relevant in relation to the chosen research project. The degree must be completed no later than by the time of the appointment decision.

Priority will be given to candidates who have completed their doctoral degree no more than three years before the end of the application closing date. A candidate who has completed their degree prior to this may be considered for the position if special circumstances exist. Special reasons refer to leave due to illness, parental leave, clinical service, positions of trust within trade unions or other similar circumstances, as well as service/assignments relevant to the subject area.

Assessment criteria

The most important assessment basis is the researchers’ scientific skills and the research described in the research plan. The contribution to the project is also seen as an important assessment criteria.

Ability to conduct independent research and to participate in national and/or international research collaborations are also important qualifications.

Teaching can be included as part of the employment and documented experience of teaching, on undergraduate and advanced levels, as well as completed pedagogical education are therefore a merit. 

However, because conducting independent research is the main responsibility of a postdoctoral researcher, research qualifications outweigh pedagogical and educational competence in the assessment of the applicants' qualifications.

Other assessment criteria include good collaborative skills, as well as competence and suitability in general that is needed to fulfill the tasks well.

Orientation 1 requires good knowledge of the Swedish language as well as documented good knowledge of quantitative methods.

Orientation 2 requires documented good knowledge of quantitative methods.

The employment

The position is a full-time employment on a fixed term of two years and includes own research minimum 80%. Teaching and supervision at the undergraduate/advanced level can amount to a maximum of 20% of full-time.

The employment as a postdoctoral fellow follows the Agreement on fixed-term employment as a postdoctoral fellow which applies from February 1, 2022.

Under normal circumstances, our employees are expected to carry out their work in Umeå and participate in common departmental activities. But due to the current situation with Covid-19, the work can temporary be conducted from home/on a distance.

Application

The application must contain:

• A cover letter, summarizing your qualifications, your chosen orientation, your scientific interests and your motives for applying for the job (maximum two pages)
• CV / curriculum vitae with a list of publications
• Maximum 3 scientific publications relevant for the position
• Certified copies of grades and diplomas
• Research plan (maximum two pages including references) that describes the research you plan to conduct within the framework of the employment in the chosen orientation.
• Any other merits of relevance for the position (optional)
• If you plan to complete your doctoral degree after deadline for applying, please upload information about the planned examination and expected examination date.
• Name and contact information to 2-3 references

Apply via our recruitment system Varbi. The deadline for applying is 220310

The Department

The Department of Sociology offers a stimulating environment with good career opportunities. At present the department employs about 60 persons. 

For more information about the Department: https://www.umu.se/en/department-of-sociology/