OPEN CALL: Postdoctoral Researcher in ERC-funded Project THINGSTIGATE

The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.

 HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design, at the University of Gothenburg, conducts education and research in Design, Film, Photography, Fine Art, Crafts and Literary Composition – as well as teacher education in Visual Arts and Sloyd. We provide highly specialised degree programmes in an outgoing, international environment – where our unique and broad range of subjects also enables our students and staff to foster a broader artistic perspective, as well as to explore new working models and research fields. Together with our sister department – the Academy of Music and Drama – we form the most broad-ranging faculty of arts in Scandinavia.

We are seeking a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the core team of the European Research Council-funded project THINGSTIGATE – Things for Politics’ Sake: Aesthetic Objects and Social Change (ERC grant 101041284), led by Dr Tintin Wulia (Principal Investigator/PI). As a Postdoctoral Researcher you will work in a dynamic research environment and be responsible for the project’s public interventions as a form of field method. Practice-based researchers in art, design, craft, and cognate disciplines with a doctoral degree, with experience in public interventions, ethnographic fieldwork, and/or participatory methods, that are object-based (see assessment criteria), are encouraged to apply. The two-year position starts in the Fall semester, 2023.

The project will be ongoing until 2028, and we plan to have another call for similar posts in the coming years. We are also welcoming expressions of interest from researchers with relevant skillsets for those upcoming positions.

Candidates whose research aligns with THINGSTIGATE’s research agenda and are interested in applying for externally funded postdoctoral positions – such as the European Commission’s MSCA PF – are encouraged to contact the PI as soon as possible.

Subject area 

Crafts, Fine Art, Design and Society

Research project abstract 

Many believe that art is transformative, that it can change society and politics. But how does art exactly do this? THINGSTIGATE aims to theorize how this transformation happens. THINGSTIGATE’s hypothesis is that this transformation pivots on aesthetic objects, and occurs within a tripartite framework of imagination, emotion, and sociopolitical institutions. The project combines archival analyses, participatory art in everyday life, and longitudinal tracing of aesthetic objects, specifically ones that stimulate imagination and emotion on the nation-state as a sociopolitical institution. It will reinvent methods from large-scale studies of contentious politics to grammatically analyse the sociopolitical relations emanating out of objects in three decades of socially engaged art archives (this will be part of your fellow Postdoc’s responsibilities). Findings will be tested through public formats – both physically in Sweden, Italy, USA, and digitally in Indonesia – where participants assemble and make aesthetic objects (this will be part of your responsibilities, while your fellow Postdoc will focus on the digital objects). These objects will be traced longitudinally to pinpoint when and how they instigate transformations within sociopolitical institutions (this will be both Postdocs’ shared responsibility). THINGSTIGATE will develop, amongst others, on things-in-common (Wulia 2021) based on the concepts of boundary objects (Star & Griesemer 1989).

For more details, please read here

Duties 

As a Postdoctoral Researcher in this ambitious project, you will advance your research career through proactive participation, by contributing to a prestigious ERC-funded project’s research implementation towards its deliverables. The Postdoctoral Researcher in ERC-funded project THINGSTIGATE specialising in public interventions as field methods will be responsible for:

  1. Participating in teamwork: working together with PI and team within the HDK-Valand research environment, including attending regular team meetings
  2. Implementing and creatively developing the initial fieldwork models with the PI’s supervision – in the form of participatory art, public art interventions, interventions via social media – for data collection based on the project’s initial hypotheses. This includes production work for fieldwork to facilitate data collection, collaboration with local fieldwork teams (partner organisations, fieldwork coordinators and research assistants), securing permits, ethics approvals, on-site installation, and other tasks as necessary
  3. Leading the physical fieldworks with the PI’s supervision, ensuring secure data collection (including with video and photography), aggregation (including editing of video footage), transfer, storage, and backup according to established data protection procedures, maintaining documentation of the research process for reporting
  4. Conducting longitudinal survey of physical and digital objects’ relations with participants, analysing data from fieldwork and survey to develop on initial hypotheses, synthesising and communicating results for further analysis in the project
  5. Communicating research and research results to various publics in various forms of publication (e.g., academic journals, academic and public presentations, online media dissemination, organising seminars, workshops, symposia, and exhibitions), contributing to joint publications by the core team
  6. Other tasks and duties necessary for THINGSTIGATE.

The duties described above may change over time due to unforeseen circumstances.

Eligibility 

  1. 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.
  2. To be eligible for appointment as a postdoc, the applicant is required to have a doctoral degree, a doctoral degree in art or a foreign degree that is deemed to be equivalent to a doctoral degree. This eligibility requirement must be met before the employment decision is made.
  3. In the first instance, those who have completed their degree no more than three years prior to the end of the application period shall be considered. Those who have completed their degree more than three years prior to the end of the application period may also be considered in the first instance if special grounds exist. Special grounds relate to leave of absence due to illness, parental leave, commissions of trust within union organisations, service within the defence services or other similar circumstances, as well as clinical service or service/assignment relevant to the subject area.

Assessment criteria 

Essential:

  1. A completed PhD in art, design, crafts, curating, or cognate disciplines – preferably a PhD that was practice-based.
  2. Demonstrable knowledge of debates in the following research themes: theories of objects (e.g., ANT, boundary objects in STS), socially engaged art/social practice, aesthetics and politics
  3. Demonstrable skills of theorizing from practice.
  4. Experience in production of socially engaged art projects or similar community-based productions with non-art participants.
  5. Experience in working hands-on for large-scale participatory performance projects in public space and with a diverse range of public participants
  6. Demonstrable attention to detail.
  7. Evidence of a capacity to work independently and collaboratively
  8. Evidence of a capacity to persist and complete tasks and of a willingness to acquire new skills where required to complete tasks
  9. Evidence of creative problem-solving capacity, ability to think out-of-the-box, and adaptability
  10. Experience in working with data management, processing, and analysis at a postgraduate level
  11. Experience of data collection including with video and photography, and data aggregation including editing of video footage
  12. Excellent writing skills and an academic publication portfolio in English
  13. Excellent communication skills
  14. Oral and written fluency in English

Desirable:

  1. Good competency in languages spoken in at least one of the fieldwork locations: Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Indonesian
  2. Experience in working with social media data and archive is an advantage
  3. A background and research experience connected to sociology and anthropology methods (e.g., contemporary ethnography, digital ethnography) is an advantage

We will select the most suitable candidate to carry out the tasks included in the position, cooperate with other personnel, and contribute to a positive development of the environment.

Regulations for the evaluation of qualifications for academic positions are given in Chapter 4, Section 3 – 4 of the Higher Education Ordinance.

Employment 

The employment is full time employment, time restricted for two years, with possible extension. The placement is at HDK-Valand in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Start date is 1 October 2023, or the date we later agree upon.

Contact information 

Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to contact Dr Tintin Wulia, tintin.wulia@gu.se

If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Human Resources at HDK-Valand, hr@hdk-valand.gu.se

Please note that during the summer break between weeks 28-31 our responses will be delayed.

Unions 

Union representatives at the University of Gothenburg can be found here: https://www.gu.se/om-universitetet/jobba-hos-oss/hjalp-for-sokande

Application

Submit your application via the University of Gothenburg’s recruitment portal by clicking the “Apply” button. It is your responsibility to ensure that the application is complete as per the vacancy notice, and that the University receives it by the final application deadline.

The application should be submitted in English and contain:

  • A Statement of Purpose describing your scholarly development goals, demonstrating how these goals can synergise with THINGSTIGATE’s scientific objectives, articulating how your current research intersects with THINGSTIGATE’s specific theoretical and methodological bases, and outlining your specific strategies to employ and further develop your research expertise to adapt, innovate, and drive your role and contributions to enhance THINGSTIGATE’s intellectual rigour and scholarly depth (max 1000 words). Read the project summary here.
  • A CV including a complete list of publications
  • One PDF file containing a portfolio of 10 (ten) most relevant works, each including 3 (three) images and a 500-word description for each work. Alternatively, this can be a chapter from your PhD dissertation
  • Proof of completed PhD. See also the eligibility requirement above
  • Two recommendation letters – one of these needs to be from a prior supervisor

Applications must be received by: 2023-08-14

Interviews will be conducted via Zoom.

Information for International Applicants

Choosing a career in a foreign country is a big step. Thus, to give you a general idea of what we and Gothenburg have to offer in terms of benefits and life in general for you and your family/spouse/partner please visit:

https://www.gu.se/en/about-the-university/welcome-services
https://www.movetogothenburg.com/

The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations.

Salaries are set individually at the University.

In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden’s regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed.

In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.