The post-doc will work on a specific subproject within the DECYCLE project. The research focuses on the regulatory frameworks that organize international streams of construction and demolition waste.

The post-doc will contribute to critical research on the circular economy, urban political ecology and the study of the urban metabolism in social geography, environmental studies and planning studies. The post-doc will critique emerging practices of sustainable and circular construction and expose the connections between these practices and existing global value chains of construction materials.

The Netherlands is taken as the point of origin and destination for the tracing of the construction industry and selected streams in Europe. This country is the first in the EU for ‘backfilling’, it has begun several experiments in wood-based construction, and it is a leading advocate of the circular economy while it invests largely in downcycling construction waste. Yet, its government has no intention to slow down construction, posing clear challenges in terms of environmental footprint and ecological justice.

For this project, the post-doc will use both (secondary) quantitative and (primary) qualitative data. These include EU regulations on building materials and construction waste and semi-structured interviews with corporations and EU regulators.

You will

• Collect data on regulations and legal frameworks that apply to the construction and demolition sector in the Netherlands, EU and internationally. To collect this information, you will conduct interviews with policy makers, EU experts, representatives of companies in the business of construction, both in The Netherlands and internationally.
• Analyse how these regulations have been reformed in the last years, focusing on the power relations that shape these regulatory frameworks. You will carry out archival research and interviews, looking at professional publications in different fields. To carry out the research you will zoom into specific projects of circular construction (to be defined together with the PI), so to grasp how regulations are protected, contested and reformed.
• Conceptualize the relation between construction and the urban metabolism, from a critical perspective. The empirical work will be integrated in the developing debate on the politics of the circular economy in the built environment and on the necessary reduction of material demands.
• Publish in top-ranked journals both independently and in collaboration with the PI.
• Help with the dissemination of results, assisting the PI with the scientific activities of the DECYCLE project.
• Help organizing an international conference in Amsterdam on ‘urbanization and degrowth’.
• Assist the PI and the research assistant in the organization of workshops.

Successful candidates for this position are those that combine expertise on urban studies, urban metabolism, political ecology, and (possibly) postgrowth geographies. Candidates that demonstrate a good capacity of data-hunting and proactiveness in fieldwork are particularly rewarded.

Required skills

• A PhD degree in urban planning, social geography, environmental studies, environmental geography, environmental sociology or planning law. Other disciplines are also suitable, but candidates need to show a clear socio-spatial dimension in their previous work.
• A research interest in political ecology and the critique of the ecological impact of urban development.
• Excellent writing skills in English
• Basic knowledge of Dutch language, sufficient to understand written materials.
• Experience in publishing in peer-reviewed academic journal, and/or other relevel academic publication (edited books)

Desirable skills.

• Abilities to understand a set of (secondary) data on material stocks, waste, building and environmental requirements, environmental zoning.
• Ability to carry out trans-disciplinary research.
• Experience in teamwork and collaborative research.
• Capacities to organize dissemination activities (eg. seminars, webinars, workshops)
• Research experience in policy analysis and/or policy design.

The position concerns an employment contract of 38 hours per week for a maximum term of 2 years. After 6 months we will assess your performance and, upon positive assessment, extend your contract till a maximum of 2 years. For this position the University Job Classification profile Researcher 3 applies.

The department also asks Postdoc to be available to perform teaching duties up to 10% of their time.