Post-doctoral job opportunity

There is currently a new Post-Doctoral Research Associate opportunity to work on an ESRC funded project ‘Learning from small cities: Governing imagined futures and the dynamics of change in India's smart urban age' and based in the Urban Futures research domain in King's College London.The deadline for applications is midnight on 29th May 2018.The post holder will work as a part of an international research team (led by Ayona Datta) learning from small cities in India through an in-depth investigation of their transformation into smart cities. Taking an asset-based approach to infrastructure access and provision, the project will examine how these cities learn to translate state imaginations of urban futures into ‘actually existing’ smart cities, how ordinary citizens in these cities live with the dynamics of these changes, how they value assets (tangible and intangible) and how this combined knowledge might be mobilised towards more sustainable smart cities policies and projects. With expertise in geo-informatics and human geography or a cognate discipline, the post holder will be responsible for contributing research assistance, in particular to the design, administration, and analysis of research data. They will undertake desk research to provide an overview of the current Smart Cities policies internationally and in India. They will work with the research team to undertake research and analysis of case study cities using asset mapping, ethnography, critical GIS and other innovative digital methods. They will oversee research protocols such as ethics and data management, and the collation and coding of fieldwork data in conjunction with three local research assistants. They will provide support in organizing workshops/conferences in UK and India and in pathways to impact activities including contributing to online blogs, public exhibitions, preparing storymaps, infographics, asset toolkit and policy briefs. The post holder will be expected to be a full collaborator in the research team, co-authoring publications and engaging in other means for disseminating the research findings.The postholder will be required to travel to India for long periods and will be expected to work closely with other Indian team members, including the Indian co-investigator (Prof. Sanjay Srivastava), societal partners in the third sector, as well as local research assistants. A degree of fluency in Hindi/Marathi/Punjabi is essential.The selection process will include competency based questions, an assessment and a panel interview. Shortlisted candidates will also be asked to provide samples of their work.Interviews are scheduled to be held the week commencing: 28th June 2018For an informal discussion to find out more about the role please contact Dr Ayona Datta, email: ayona.datta@kcl.ac.ukTo apply for this role, please go to the King’s College London HireWire Job Board   and register to download and submit the specified application form.