Post-Doctoral Fellow in Sociology

Are you interested in the study of trust, distrust and the taken-for-granted assumptions in which (dis)trust is rooted? Would you like to investigate the roots of (dis)trust in contexts of health and social care?

The Department of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam is looking for a postdoctoral researcher who will work within the research project Excavating the roots of (dis)trust, led by Patrick Brown.

What are you going to do

The starting point for this research is an understanding that a great deal of our (not) 'knowing' in unfolding processes of trust and/or distrust remains highly implicit.

In this sense the study is therefore intended to problematise current trust research - which largely neglects what lies beneath the surface - by excavating and exploring the taken-for-granted assumptions regarding people and systems in which trust is rooted. In this exploration, we would ask questions such as: What do these roots look like and what are their unexpected asymmetric features? How do they develop over time amid particular taken-for-granted social 'imaginaries' or 'lifeworlds' and how, in turn, do processes underpinning trust shape and recast these lifeworlds, as they develop and become tangled up amid the implicit and explicit understandings of others?

Tasks

Working with, and building upon existing and current work by the principal researcher, you will co-design and then undertake a qualitative/ethnographic study into emerging processes of (dis)trust in a healthcare context. This could relate to individuals' or families' trust amid (public) health interventions, or it could focus on health/social care professionals and their (dis)engagement with novel technologies (which could include, for example, decision-support algorithms, and/or artificial intelligence technologies). The specific direction of the data collection can, in these senses, relate to your own existing interests and expertise.

Besides conducting research, you will be teaching for 20% of your time. We place great value upon quality teaching and are keen to give you experience and possibilities to develop your teaching, thesis supervision and pedagogic skills.