PhD fellowship in Disaster Risk Management at The Department of Public Health

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen

We are offering a PhD fellowship in Disaster Risk Management commencing 15 February 2022 or as soon as possible hereafter.

Our group and research
The PhD position will be part of the Global Health Section and the Copenhagen Centre for Disaster Research (COPE) at the Department of Public Health.

Project description
The PhD scholar will work on a collaborative research project funded by International Research Fund, Denmark (DFF) on urban resettlements and disaster risk in India.

In an ever changing global and urbanizing world and with high numbers of people living in slums/informal settlements, there has been a call by many governments to resettle urban slums. Many of these places are constantly affected by extreme weather events and disasters such as urban floods. However, relocation and resettlement processes post-disasters been proven unsuccessful in many places in the past as post-disaster resettlements have shown that resettled communities continue to be affected by flooding and other disasters. In this context, this project will investigate how resettlement of urban slums might create new disaster risks and have impacts on various aspects of life such as livelihoods, education, social networks etc. This project will contribute with new knowledge on how disaster risk is created in urban resettlement and push the field of disaster studies in a new direction theoretically highlighting the contours of disaster risk creation. The PhD student will engage with some of the following questions- How do established social and institutional resettlement processes contribute to creation of new risk or exacerbate existing risk to disasters? What factors influence decision making of resettlement in urban areas? What forms of citizen participation emerge in these decision-making processes? What are the different social interfaces that emerge between the state and the community in the process of resettlement?

This project is built around a synergistic partnership between University of Copenhagen, Roskilde University in Denmark and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in India.

Principal supervisor isAssociate Prof. Emmanuel Raju, Global Health Section and Director of COPE. Email.[email protected]

Start:                  15 February 2022 or soon hereafter

Duration:          3 years as a PhD student

Job description
Your key tasks as a PhD fellow at SUND are:

• Carry through an independent research project under supervision
• Fieldwork will be carried out in India (Mumbai and Chennai) 
• Complete PhD courses or other equivalent education corresponding to approx. 30 ECTS points
• Participate in active research environments including a stay at another research institution
• Participate in teaching and supervision on the Global Health and Disaster Management education
• Obtain experience with teaching or other types of dissemination related to your PhD project
• Write a PhD thesis on the grounds of your project

Key criteria for the assessment of applicants
Applicants must have qualifications corresponding to an MA/MSc degree related to the subject area of the project e.g. disaster risk management; climate change adaptation; global health (with a disaster risk management track); development studies, sociology, anthropology, human geography. The master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish master’s degree. The ideal candidate possesses relevant training and/or experience in the practical use of both qualitative (e.g. qualitative in-depth interviews, focus groups etc.) and quantitative research methods. Knowledge of GIS; research experience in a low and middle-income country context is considered a strong added advantage. Field experience in India is an added advantage. Knowledge of using data analysis software is considered an advantage. Previous experience of working with scientific publications is considered an advantage.

Place of employment
The place of employment is at Global Health Section , Department of Public Health , Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in dynamic and international research environment.

Terms of employment
The employment as PhD fellow is full time and for 3 years and is to commence on 15 February 2022.

It is conditioned upon the applicant’s success­ful enrolment as a PhD student at the Graduate School at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. This requires submission and acceptance of an application for the specific project formulated by the applicant.

The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD programme (2013) and the Faculty’s rules on achieving the degree. Salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agree­ment between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State. Depending on seniority, the monthly salary begins around 27,800 DKK /approx. 3,730 EUR (October 2021-level) plus pension.

Questions
For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

General information about PhD study at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences is available at the Graduate School’s website: https://healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/guidelines/

Application procedure
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format: 

Application deadline:  3 November 2021, 23.59pm CET

We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications that do not live up to the abovementioned requirements.

The further process
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the hiring committee. All applicants are then immediately notified whether their application has been passed for assessment by an unbiased assessor.

The assessor makes a non-prioritized assessment of the academic qualifications and experience with respect to the above-mentioned area of research, techniques, skills and other requirements listed in the advertisement.

Once the assessment work has been completed each applicant has the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that relates to the applicant him/herself.

You can read about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/ .

The applicant will be assessed according to the Ministerial Order no. 242 of 13 March 2012 on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Universities.

The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences comprises approximately 8000 students, 1790 PhD students and 5100 employees. The Faculty advances the field of health sciences through its core activities: research, teaching, knowledge sharing and communication. With basic research fields ranging from molecular studies to studies of society, the Faculty contributes to a healthy future through its graduates, research findings and inventions benefitting patients and the community. The University of Copenhagen wishes to reflect the surrounding community and invites all regardless of personal background to apply for the position. 

Part of the International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU), and among Europe’s top-ranking universities, the University of Copenhagen promotes research and teaching of the highest international standard. Rich in tradition and modern in outlook, the University gives students and staff the opportunity to cultivate their talent in an ambitious and informal environment. An effective organisation – with good working conditions and a collaborative work culture – creates the ideal framework for a successful academic career.