Doctoral candidate in Social Geography and Urban Studies

Doctoral candidate in Social Geography and Urban Studies

We are looking for a Doctoral candidate to contribute to the project “The Home-Debt Nexus: Feminist perspectives on housing, gender, and everyday life.” starting in September 2024. The project addresses the challenges of women's dependency at the nexus of indebtedness and making home. It explores their everyday practices of responding to these challenges, and the geographical and material conditions of indebted life. The selected candidate will conduct a qualitative study of female-headed households in Latin American cities and work with urban and feminist perspectives. This is a 48-months long collaborative project in which we will work with researchers at Universidad Nacional de San Martin (BA), Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (CDMX), upon receipt of funding. The successful applicant will be based at the Social Geography and Urban Studies research group in Zurich. To better understand the doctorate at the University of Zurich, which is mainly research based, please visit the website of the graduate school in Geography (link below).

Doctoral candidate in Social Geography and Urban Studies

• Development and implementation of a PhD-research project that aligns with the above research themes, including extensive fieldwork periods;
• Participation in the organization and realisation of project workshops and conference sessions;
• Presentation of research results at conferences and in publications;
• Collaboration in teaching and administration of the research group.

• Very good Master's degree in human geography, sociology, planning or urban studies, or a related social science discipline;
• Knowledge of qualitative methods of empirical social research (e.g. qualitative interviews, focus groups, ethnographic methods, document analysis, etc.);
• Very good written and spoken Spanish and English skills are an essential requirement; joy in academic writing;
• Ability to work independently and strong social skills for collaborative teamwork; willingness to work with community partners.

• Fixed workplace with high-quality technical equipment in a lively institute and campus environment;
• Participation in the Graduate School of the Geography department;
• Work location with a high quality of life (Zurich), flexible working hours and possibilities for partly mobile work;
• Secure funding for four years including workshop and conference visits abroad;
• A stimulating work environment that provides opportunities and support to develop an academic career. The Institute of Geography values diversity and is committed to equal opportunities: Please find our statement of professional ethics in the link section below.

The salary is commensurate with the regulations of the Swiss National Science Foundation (49,854 - 53,034 Swiss francs p.a.). Funding for project-related fieldwork and conference visits is available. If you are interested, please submit:

• a letter of application indicating your research profile,
• your curriculum vitae,
• names and Email addresses of two possible referees,
• the certificate of your Master's degree,
• and a writing sample in English or Spanish (your MSc thesis or relevant publications)

via the Online application system of UZH. Application letters must be submitted in English, but we do not need translations of certificates or writing samples.

Important dates:
Closing date: 03. May 2024
Two-step interview process: May 2024

Please direct informal inquiries to Erandi Barroso and Hanna Hilbrandt.