PhD fellowship "Urban reconfiguration in post-Soviet space"

The Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig kindly invites applications from highly qualified and motivated individuals for

1 PhD fellowship

to commence as soon as possible. The IfL is a non-university research institute and member of the Leibniz association with currently around 70 employees. It is institutionally financed by the Free State of Saxony and the Federal Republic of Germany in the context of a common research funding agreement.

The fellowship includes

-a monthly stipend of 1400 Euro granted for six months

-access to the academic service infrastructure of the IfL (e.g. the Central Geographical Library, the Geography archives, cartographic and IT services, scientific seminars)

-individual support in terms of exchange and discussions within the international research network of ira.urban

-flexible working arrangements in Leipzig

The fellowship will be financed within the framework of the international comparative research project “Urban reconfigurations in post-Soviet space” (ira.urban). The project aims at analysing and explaining continuities and discontinuities in the reconfiguration of urban spaces in the light of traditional, reproduced Soviet and newly formed post-Soviet conditions, as well as of changing global economic and social orders. On the basis of transnational comparative case study research, the project focuses on the question to what extent urban development has become part of a socially negotiated adjustment processes, and a mirror of a comprehensive modernisation process of urban societies in the republics of the former Soviet Union.

The fellowship relates to the ira.urban subproject on urban economy:  in spite of a shared institutional legacypost-Soviet  cities have experienced different trajectories of economic  development. The subproject seeks to gain insight into which factors and preconditions influence processes of urban economic transformation, and promote a city’s success or downfall.

We expect that the candidate looks at various government as well as private initiatives on different scales (such as the creation of innovative territorial clusters; the creation of small and medium-sized enterprises; bottom-up social initiatives, etc) which influence urban economic transformation in and of post-Soviet cities.

The following issues are of particular interest for the project:

·To which extend does the Soviet industrial legacy and newly emerged market economy form urban life and urban space nowadays?

·How does the allocation of new enterprises influence post-Soviet urban areas development? How was the economic base of post-Soviet cities transforming during the last decades?

·Which institutes, adaptation tools and strategies are the drivers for economic prosperity or depression for post-Soviet cities?

·Which role do the local economy and private initiative play for the development of post-Soviet urban areas?

The awardee addresses in his PhD thesis the aforementioned topic and deploys it empirically and theoretically for a local or comparative case study in the post-Soviet space. In the context of the ira.urban project, he/she contributes to the comparative analysis of urban development strategies and institutional mechanisms in different post-Soviet countries and their repercussions on reconfigurations of post-Soviet urban space.

The successful candidate has to be in an advanced stage of his/her PhD project. He/she has a good knowledge in economic analysis, as well as he/she is acquainted with quantitative and statistical methods, social research methods, and is able to produce a comparative urban research in post-Soviet space.

Furthermore, we expect from a candidate a geographic flexibility, fluency in English and in at least one language of the post-Soviet space, as well as working knowledge in Office software. The position requires hard-working individual with analytical strength, communication skills, self-initiative and a strong team spirit.

Please submit your complete application package in English as one pdf file by e-mail to personal@ifl-leipzig.de. The deadline for applications is September 1st 2014.

Please enclose the following documents:

·CV

·letter of motivation/statement of purpose, including a short display of the links between your project/idea and ira.urban (2 pages max.)

·exposé of your PhD project, including your work schedule and work progress   (5 pages max, excluding sources)

·list of your publications and presentations

·certificates, references …

Should you have any further queries, please contact Dr. Isolde Brade (I_Brade@ifl-leipzig.de) or Dr. Irina Slepukhina (I_Slepukhina@ifl-leipzig.de). We are looking forward to your application!

For further information about the project: www.ira-urban.de.

For further information about the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography: www.ifl-leipzig.de.

For further Information about the Leibniz Association: www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de