Prospective students interested in this project can apply through the following departments:
Vanderbilt University:
The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
The Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and the Environment
The Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management
The Department of Political Science
The Department of Sociology
Columbia University:
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Post-Doctoral Scholarships for research on institutions, decision-making, and dynamics in the context of human-natural environment coupling in the Sundarbans-Khulna region of Bangladesh.
Full Description...
There are good reasons for those in national and international leadership to be concerned with the migration induced by climate change and other environmental stressors. Individual and community decisions to migrate or to adapt to a deteriorating or vulnerable environment are deeply related to issues of economic opportunity, politics, social justice, poverty, and sustainability. To understand these pressures and their impact on migration, we also need to understand the sources of family and community resilience that affect individuals’ and communities’ assessment of the relative risks to livelihood and habitat. We are interested in the role of 1) individual behavior, 2) access to resources, 3) legal context including land rights and global economic forces, and 4) informal structures such as community values, practices, and norms in the dynamics of the strain that people and the environment put on each other.
Post-doctoral scholarships and their research interests will be integrated into an existing team-based multi-disciplinary research project sited in a low lying region of Bangladesh that has been affected by seasonal flooding, water-logging, salinization, and cyclones. Applicants are urged to make explicit their research experience and interest in Social Justice, Environment, and Human and Natural Coupling, with reference to the description above or to any of the following: Bangladesh, South Asia, river deltas, and other low-lying areas; political, economic, and social processes and institutions; environmental adaptation and mitigation; international security and migration; environmental degradation and sustainability; community, household, and individual assessment of and responses to risk; common pool resources and sustainability. No specific methodological skill set is required, but field research experience is desired. Applicants should emphasize specific methodological strengths they bring to the project and their learning objectives for their scholarship – both substantive and methodological.
This is a grant funded post-doc and therefore only researchers who are interested in integrating their research into the teams’ research objectives will be considered. The successful candidate will be involved in all aspects of the projects and must demonstrate a capacity for conducting international fieldwork.
The initial appointment will be made for one year, with the possibility for two additional years of support. The start date will be negotiated depending on research expertise. A Ph.D. (or equivalent degree) is required at the time of appointment. For benefits see http://research.vanderbilt.edu/postdocs/.
APPLICATION DETAILS:
Applications, including a CV, statement of professional interests, and contact information for three references, should be emailed in a single PDF document to Dr. Brooke Ackerly at brooke.ackerly@vanderbilt.edu.
Review of applications will begin February 1 and remain open until the position is filled.
CONTACT:
Dr. Brooke Ackerly
Associate Professor, Political Science
brookeackerly.org
615-322-6231 Central Day Light Time GMT-5
