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2-4 Senior Researchers (postdoc) at the INVEST Research Flagship Center

Published date more than one year ago
Posted: more than one year ago
Company University of Turku
Company: University of Turku
End date Aug. 9, 2020
Due date: Aug. 9, 2020
Location Turku
Location: Turku

The University of Turku is a world-class multidisciplinary research university which offers interesting challenges and a unique vantage point to national and international research and edu

THE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF TURKU INVITES APPLICATIONS FOR THE FIXED TERM POSITION OF

2-4 Senior Researchers (recent postdocs or equivalent) to the INVEST Research Flagship Center for a fixed term.

The INVEST Research Flagship Center (http://invest.utu.fi/), located at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Turku, is recruiting 2-4 senior researchers (recent postdocs or equivalent) for a fixed term.

The research flagship Inequalities, Interventions, and New Welfare State (INVEST) aims at providing a new model for the welfare states that is more equal, better targeted to problem groups, more anticipatory as well as economically and socially sustainable. The existing research indicates that the Nordic welfare states are efficient in reducing the negative outcomes that are related to many of the structural family disadvantages, such as parental low education, unemployment or poverty. Despite this, children and youth are still particularly vulnerable when negative life course eventtake place unexpectedly or when many disadvantages accumulate to the same families. The growth environments can strengthen these negative effects.  

The flagship has been funded by the Academy of Finland and is implemented in cooperation with the University of Turku and the Institute of Health and Welfare (THL). The multidisciplinary project combines sociology, social policy, statistics, demography, psychology and psychiatry, in addition to the other connected fields of sciences.

The positions are located within the unit of sociology The research to be conducted will be linked to two of the following topics:

  • Effects of policy reforms on families’ and individuals’ life course (PREDLIFE project)
  • Comparative study of social inequalities (between countries)
  • Inequalities over/within the life-course and their inheritance
  • Experimental research on social inequalities

Areas of particular interest include education and learning, social status and class as well as income, wealth and consumption. Regarding the PREDLIFE project, the goal is to understand how life paths unfold over time and how these trajectories are shaped by policy interventions and reforms. The consortium project is conducted in collaboration with statisticians at the University of Jyväskylä. The sociology subproject focuses on analysing the interplay of work and family events over the life course and the impacts of parental leave policies on parents’ life trajectories. The statistics subproject focuses on the development of tools for modelling, predicting, and visualizing how policy interventions affect complex social processes.

The persons chosen to the positions will work under the supervision of Satu Helske, Jani Erola, and Mikko Niemelä. The researchers will participate to the work conducted in the research groups, collaborate with other research groups in the program and apply further funding for their own research.

The persons chosen to the position are expected to have a) a PhD in sociology, statistics or in a field related to the topic (or expected to acquire such a degree within six months), b) strong skills in quantitative methods and experience on using register, panel, survey or comparative datasets, c) the ability to conduct independent scholarly work and publish research on the topics related to the project.

The persons to be chosen to the positions are expected to begin in their employment in 1st October 2020 at the earliest, 1st January 2021 latest. The contract to the PREDLIFE project will last for 36 months and the other contracts until 31st December 2022. The contracts include an option for extension.

The salary is in accordance with the University salary system for teaching and research personnel levels 4–6 where the work-specific salary component is between 2563,09–3460,91 euro/month. The component based on personal performance adds 6–50 % to this salary.

There will be a trial period of six months.

The application should include a) a motivation letter describing the applicant’s own research interests in the field and how they relate to the project, b) an academic portfolio, c) a CV, d) a list of publications, e) a copy of the PhD thesis (or if not yet defended, the manuscript and a statement from the supervisor on the expected date of defending the thesis) and f) two writing samples (articles or manuscripts) on topics related to the project.

The appendices should follow the guidelines of the faculty. The electronic database allows the applicant to submit only one application file to each application section. Information on the file forms to be used can be found in the additional information of each application. Please note that the database only allows the publications to be submitted in a packaged form (.zip). One .zip-file may include several individual files.

The eligibility criteria for the positions are defined in the rules of procedure of the University of Turku https://www.utu.fi/sites/default/files/public%3A//media/file/UTU_Rules_of_Procedure.pdf (section 37).

Further details are available upon request from Professor Jani Erola, +358 29 450 2157, jani.erola@utu.fi, and regarding the PREDLIFE project, from Dr Satu Helske, satu.helske@utu.fi. Any inquiries about the recruitment process or the e-recruitmet system will be answered by Marja Andersson, marja.andersson@utu.fi.

Applications must be submitted by 9th of August, 2020 (23:59) using the electronic application form of the University of Turku on the following address: https://www.utu.fi/en/university/come-work-with-us/open-vacancies. The link to the application system is at the beginning of this announcement (Apply for the job).