Postdoc employment (3 years): Marine Sustainable Development in the Northern Baltic Sea

Umeå University is one of Sweden’s largest higher education institutions with over 37,000 students and about 4,700 employees. The University offers a diversity of high-quality education and world-leading research in several fields. Notably, the groundbreaking discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, was made here. At Umeå University, everything is close. Our cohesive campuses make it easy to meet, work together and exchange knowledge, which promotes a dynamic and open culture.

The ongoing societal transformation and large green investments in northern Sweden create enormous opportunities and complex challenges. For Umeå University, conducting research about – and in the middle of – a society in transition is key. We also take pride in delivering education to enable regions to expand quickly and sustainably. In fact, the future is made here.

Umeå Marine Sciences Centre, The Department of Ecology and Environmental Science and The Department of Political Science at Umeå University, Sweden, invites applicants for a 3-year Postdoctoral employment on marine sustainable development. Application deadline is 29th of March, 2024 at 23:59.

Project description
The postdoc will be part of the Co-Creating Better Blue Programme recently funded by MISTRA which aims to develop ecosystem-based management processes where decisions are based on sustainability and democracy. The project's vision is to steer developments towards a more sustainable, open and democratic blue economy involving stakeholders to scientists. Co-Creating Better Blue involves 13 partners from academia and research organizations, 25 co-funded partners from industry and the public sector, and stakeholders from civil society. 

In particular, Umeå University will lead the part of the program called Living Lab North, which will focus on the northern parts of the Baltic Sea where we have close links with the local stakeholders. A key issue in the northern Baltic is that it experience up to three times the rate of global warming as lower latitudes meaning a combined increase in biotic stressors but also the opportunity for human interaction via an increasing population but also exploitation. Most recently, there has been an increase in activities surrounding the exploitation of shallow-water polymetallic nodules which are significantly easier to extract that those found in the deep sea. Yet in this context, we have little information on how this process can be managed in a sustainable and democratic manner.

Project advances beyond the state-of-the-art: We anticipate that the postdoctoral fellow will make key advances in sustainable development of the northern Baltic by engaging with local actors and stakeholders, including but not limited to the mining, energy and shipping sectors, to develop an ecosystem-based management framework which is particular focused on a warming and increasingly exploited northern Baltic.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will spend time in all three collaborating Umeå University departments, providing a multidisciplinary working environment. The successful candidate will be an engaged member of a research active team that places a high value on collaborative, multidisciplinary and impactful science. The candidate will have the support of a multidisciplinary team with complementary expertise in the northern Baltic and sustainable development as well as in the governance and management of natural resources.

Qualifications
To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirements must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the appointment decision.

To be appointed under the postdoctoral agreement, priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree prior to that may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organisations, military service, or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area. Postdoctoral fellows who are to teach or supervise must have taken relevant courses in teaching and learning in higher education.

The candidate’s doctoral degree should contain a significant component of sustainable development from a natural or social science perspective.

Essential criteria are:

• Strong skills in ecosystem-based management framework development
• Experience working with industrial actors and stakeholder communities
• Good knowledge of oral and written Swedish and English in a scientific context is required

Meriting criteria are:

• PhD in Social Science with community engagement or aligned topic
• Experience interviewing and interacting with local communities under a ethical framework
• Knowledge of the mining, energy and/or shipping sectors
• Knowledge of the marine or coastal environment
• Experience of working with large multi-partner research consortia
• Driving licence

Application
A full application should include:

The application should be written in English (preferably) or Swedish. The application is made through our electronic recruitment system before 29th of March at 23:59. Documents sent electronically must be in Word or PDF format.

Further Information
Evaluations will be based on the application and on interviews. For more information contact:

• Prof. Nick Kamenos, Umeå Marine Science Centre / Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, [email protected]
• Dr Siv Huseby, Umeå Marine Science Centre, [email protected]  
• Prof Camilla Sandström, Department of Political Science, [email protected] 
• The MISTRA announcement is available here: https://www.umu.se/en/news/mistra-funding-programme_11698755/ 
• The C2B2 project website is here: https://c2b2.se/