Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Speculative Research on Sustainable Urban Mobility) / Tutkijatohtori (Kestävän kaupunkiliikenteen spekulatiivinen suunnittelu)
Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences create a unique environment for multidisciplinary, inspirational and high-impact research and education. Our university community has its competitive edges in technology, health and society. www.tuni.fi/en
We are excited to announce an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the upcoming project Mobility Mindshift - Co-designing a Mindshift for Sustainable Mobility. The project is a Net Zero Cities Pilor Project (Cohort 3), funded by Horizon Europe, awarded to the City of Tampere. The academic side of the project is led by Associate Professor Mattia Thibault.
Mobility Mindshift aims to tackle the greatest challenge faced by Tampere in its efforts to achieve climate neutrality by 2030: mobility-based emissions. This complex and multidimensional challenge, at the city level, is met with efforts to strengthening sustainable mobility infrastructure – however, infrastructure alone is not enough, as a general attitude preferring private cars is still strong among the citizens.
This project will face this challenge by adopting creative bottom-up approaches to imagine and foster a sustainable mobility transformation encompassing different aspects of urban life. The project will directly engage students and young adults living in Tampere through experimental, and people-driven approaches, to rethink together the city’s mobility and create a mind shift leading away from car-centrism. To do so, the pilot will make use of participatory methods oriented towards speculative design, transformative learning and urban gamification. Rather than providing top-down information, the pilot enables students to engage in deconstructing ideological assumptions, finding solutions, and imagining alternatives for sustainable mobility in different stages of life.
JOB DESCRIPTION
We are looking for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow from areas such as speculative research, spatial semiotics, and playable cities.
The candidate’s work will be focused on conducting creative and rigorous research efforts towards the achievement of the project goals. The work will include research and project management tasks, research planning, workshop organising, data gathering, data analysis, article preparation, dissemination, and publishing.
In particular, the researcher will, e.g., conduct a literature review; survey Tampere students and youth to collect data about their status, desires and needs; create personas; conducts collaborative speculative research involving Tampere youth in imagining a wide array of possible interventions and future scenarios; and participate in interpreting, sensemaking and disseminating activities.
The selected researcher will work in close contact with the City of Tampere, and with the schools and institutions involved in the project.
REQUIREMENTS
The applicant needs to have a PhD degree or equivalent in field related to the position, such as HCI, Design, Semiotics, Human Geography or similar, and strong track record in research on topics such as:
- Speculative research (especially on urban environments).
- Humanistic approaches to space.
- Playable cities and urban gamification.
Preferred applicant’s qualifications include:
- Experience with working with schools / youth.
- Experience with game design and gamification design.
- Ability to communicate in Finnish.
WE OFFER
- Duration: Fixed-term position is funded until August 2026 (max 2 years).
- Start date: Immediately or as soon as possible. A trial period of six (6) months applies to all new employees at TAU.
- Salary: In line with the collective agreement, the typical starting salary for Postdoctoral Research Fellow is approximately 3700 EUR/month. The salary increases based on experience.
We are inviting you to be a part of a vibrant, active, and truly international research community. We value interdisciplinarity, as it allows you to expand your research network and exposes you to new perspectives and ideas to solve complex research problems and pursue novel research findings. We are strongly committed to the highest level of scientific research and the provision of high-quality doctoral education.
As a member of staff at Tampere University, you will enjoy a range of competitive benefits, such as occupational health care services, flexible work schedule, versatile research infrastructure, modern teaching facilities and a safe and inviting campus area as well as a personal fund to spend on sports and cultural activities in your free time. Please read more about working at Tampere University. You can also find more information about us and working and living Tampere by watching our video: Tampere Higher Education Community - our academic playground.
Finland is among the most stable, free, and safe countries in the world, based on prominent ratings by various agencies. Tampere is one of the major academic hubs in the Nordic countries and offers a dynamic living environment. Tampere region is one of the three most rapidly growing urban areas in Finland and home to a vibrant knowledge-intensive entrepreneurial community. The city is an industrial powerhouse that enjoys a rich cultural scene and a reputation as a centre of Finland’s information society. The city campus of the Tampere University, where the candidates will be located, is within walking distance of the city centre, and is an international centre of game research. For more information on Tampere and Finland, please visit:
https://www.infofinland.fi/en/frontpage
WORKING ENVIRONMENT
The accepted candidates will work in the Language Unit of the Faculty of Information Technologies and Communication Sciences, within a research group at the intersection of the Gamification Group and PLURAL.
The Gamification Group (GG) is internationally renowned for seminal academic and societal contributions in the areas of novel technologies such as motivational information systems, internet commerce, new media and human-computer interaction. The guiding principle of GG is to pursue gameful approaches to encourage the healthy development of the planet, people, and prosperity. See more: https://webpages.tuni.fi/gamification/
PLURAL - Multidisciplinary research centre for languages and cultures aims to affect society by the means of multidisciplinary research on language. Among the research areas of Plural are language variation and change, language development and learning, multilingualism and -culturalism, the relationship of literature and society, participation, equality and well-being of language users, multilingual communication and translation and the questions relating to the relationship of language and work. https://research.tuni.fi/plural-en/about-us/
Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences create a unique environment for multidisciplinary, inspirational and high-impact research and education. Our universities community has its competitive edges in technology, health and society. Read more: www.tuni.fi
HOW TO APPLY
Please submit your application through our online recruitment system. The closing date for applications is August 4, 2024 (23:59 EEST / UTC +3). Please write your application and all accompanying documentation in English and attach them in PDF format only.
Please attach only the following documents (in PDF format) to your application:
- A Motivation letter and research direction (max. 4 pages). Named “Surname_Motivation_Letter.pdf” and including:
- Introduction to career so far and qualifications
- Previous research fields and main research results
- Future goals in career and research
- Preliminary research plan within Mobility Mindshift
- Curriculum vitae according to the TENK template. Named “Surname_CV.pdf”
- Pdf copy of your PhD degree certificate in English.
- Either 2 Recommendation letters [preferably] OR the contact details of two referees [if the first option is not possible, and with explained reasoning].
INQUIRIES
Mattia Thibault, Associate Professor mattia.thibault@tuni.fi
**********
Tampereen yliopisto ja Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu muodostavat yhdessä Suomen toiseksi suurimman monitieteisen, innostavan ja vaikuttavan tutkimus- ja oppimisyhteisön. Korkeakouluyhteisömme osaamiskärjet ovat tekniikka, terveys ja yhteiskunta. Lue lisää: www.tuni.fi
Tampereen yliopistossa on haettavana Tutkijatohtori (Kestävän kaupunkiliikenteen spekulatiivinen suunnittelu) -tehtävä.
HAKUOHJEET
Lue tarkemmat tiedot tehtävästä ja hakuohjeet yllä olevasta englanninkielisestä ilmoituksesta.
Jätäthän hakemuksesi yliopiston sähköisellä hakulomakkeella (linkki löytyy tämän ilmoituksen alta). Hakuaika tehtävään päättyy 4.8.2024, klo 23:59.
