Post Doc Position in The Future of Humanitarian Design (HUD) at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen

More info/apply here: https://employment.ku.dk/all-vacancies/?show=161538

The Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, is hiring a postdoctoral researcher as part of the project “The Future of Humanitarian Design (HUD)”, led by Associate Professor Jonathan Luke Austin. The expected starting date is 1 September 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The selected candidate will be hired for 2.5 years. The postdoctoral position is expected to form part of the daily academic environment at the Department of Political Science.

Job description
We invite applications for a postdoctoral researcher to join the research project ‘The Future of Humanitarian Design (HUD)’. HUD is a four-year Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funded project focused on the contemporary humanitarian challenges: war, refugee flows, forced displacement, etc. Such humanitarian challenges are rapidly worsening: contemporary conflicts are more frequent and protracted, refugee flows are rapidly destabilizing geopolitical structures, and humanitarian actors are under growing threat. In light of these dilemmas, HUD explores how emerging technologies, processes of aesthetic design, and engineering insights can be combined with knowledge from international relations to tackle the crisis facing humanitarianism. Our goal is to 1) explore how we might better integrate ‘high theoretical’ and ‘critical’ social scientific concepts and theories into the world of practice (humanitarian and beyond), 2) to see how social science can be more closely ‘bridged’ with engineering, architectural, and design practice and knowledge, and 3) therein, take up the urgent task – especially in the light of recent geopolitical events – of working collaboratively across the sciences to improve the conditions of some of the most vulnerable populations in the world.

HUD is a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, the Geneva Graduate Institute, the Art and Design School in Geneva, and the EssentialTech Lab at EPFL Lausanne. It also integrates high-level humanitarian and policy practitioners as project partners based at organizations including Médecins sans frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Terre des hommes, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, alongside partnerships with research institutions in Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As part of the project, the recruited postdoctoral researchers will join this interdisciplinary and transvocational team, having the opportunity to travel and work in relevant field sites (Colombia, DRC). They will work on core project research collaboratively with the entire team, as well as pursue independent research related to the project themes and their own interest.

More info about the project can be found here www.humanitarian.design.
Apply here: https://employment.ku.dk/all-vacancies/?show=161538