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  • Netherlands

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship: invitation for candidates interested in public participation in science, technology, and medicine

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STATUS: EXPIRED
27 Mar 2023

Job Information

Organisation/Company
Maastricht University / RWTH Aachen University / Liege University
Research Field
Sociology » Social shaping of technology
Ethics in health sciences » Other
Technology » Other
Political sciences » Public awareness of science
Political sciences » Science and society
Researcher Profile
Recognised Researcher (R2)
Country
Netherlands
Application Deadline
Type of Contract
Temporary
Job Status
Full-time
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?
Horizon Europe - MSCA
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?
No

Offer Description

Offer Description

Public Participation Research Platform welcomes applicants for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships. The Platform is dedicated to studying diverse forms of public participation in formulating and addressing matters of shared concern. We invite postdoctoral researchers to join the investigation of the emergence, shaping, and implications of participatory practices in different fields and locations across science, technology, and medicine in one of our research centres.

The Public Participation Platform is a collaborative effort of four neighbouring research centres from three universities: Care and Public Health Institute (Maastricht University, The Netherlands), The Käte Hamburger Kolleg: Cultures of Research and Human Technology Center (RTWH Aachen University, Germany), and Spiral Research Centre (University of Liege, Belgium). All three universities are conveniently situated within a one-hour drive from each other and bring together a vibrant network of researchers involved in studying public participation in various fields of science, technology, and medicine.

MSCA Postdoctoral fellow will be hosted by one of the three universities depending on his/her specific research topic, while the other two universities will provide additional support and advice. In this way, the fellow will benefit from the unique cross-border research infrastructure of the Platform, including libraries; regular workshop and lecture series on public participation in science, technology, and medicine; policy and outreach events; joined writing retreats; grant application support teams; and, most importantly, welcoming, diverse, and committed colleagues.

The following research areas are currently open for candidates:

Topic

Research centre (host and partners)

1. Uninvited Participation. Practices people employ to engage in shaping societal orders go far beyond organized formats such as citizen juries or co-production sessions. Particularly creative practices emerge in situations when participation is not invited, or discouraged, or even met with hostility. Such situations are not exceptional because even in established democracies pockets of exclusion exist. MSCA candidates are invited to study how participation is made possible under circumstances hostile to participation and with which consequences.

Host:

Care and Public Health Institute (Maastricht University, The Netherlands), contact: Assist.Prof. Dr. Olga Zvonareva, o.zvonareva@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Partners:

Aachen, Liège

2. Co-producing Health. Besides known and highly visible patient movements, there are also mundane and non-heroic practices undertaken without any overt political motivation. Nonetheless, these practices feed into maintaining, transforming, or disrupting health governance arrangements. Often these everyday practices are not recognized as participation because of an established analytical focus on more dialogical and explicit participatory formats. MSCA candidates are invited to study such quiet and invisible participatory practices and theoretically explicate their significance.

Host:

Care and Public Health Institute (Maastricht University, The Netherlands), contact: Assist.Prof. Dr. Olga Zvonareva, o.zvonareva@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Partners:

Liège, Aachen

3.Participating in living labs. Living labs represent an advanced form of research infrastructure. They open up options for participation. At the same time, the forms and possibilities of participation are very complex and depend on a variety of social and epistemic conditions. Thus, there is a particular dependency on the key actor who set up the Living Lab, be it municipalities, universities or companies. MSCA candidates are invited to conceptually and empirically investigate these multifaceted settings to disentangle socio-epistemic order formations.

 

Host:

Human Technology Center (RTWH Aachen University, Germany), contact: Prof. Dr. Stefan Böschen, stefan.boeschen@humtec.rwth-aachen.de

Partners:

Liège, Maastricht

4.Datafied cities and public participation. Digital twins and other digital representation technologies have recently gained increasing traction as the latest iteration of urban governance innovation. They are developed and used as tools for digitally visualizing and interacting with the city, for example, to construct future scenarios and test them virtually before implementing them in the ‘real world’. Responding to a broad objective of enhancing decision-making processes, these projects often encompass a participatory dimension. Citizens are thought of and described as potential contributors to more horizontal governance practices, and their involvement is supposed to be eased by digital representation technologies. Yet, the way public participation is actually articulated and enacted through projects of digital twins and other digital representation technologies is yet to be scrutinized. How are these technologies developed as to enable public participation? Who are the publics to be involved, and who actually participates? When and how is participation supposed to happen? In all, what kind of participatory governance is emerging through the development and spread of such technologies?

Host:

Spiral Research Centre (University of Liege, Belgium), contact: As. Prof. Dr. Pierre Delvenne, Pierre.Delvenne@uliege.be

Partners:

Aachen, Maastricht

5.Sensing bodies and making publics. Chemical pollution is largely invisible and can only be detected indirectly, through signs, symptoms, indices, and measurements. Traditional methods of environmental monitoring take measurements from air, water and soil, but give no indication about the actual exposure of humans or other organisms to environmental toxins. Current European policy initiatives present biomonitoring as a way to objectify chemical pollution and human exposure to it. In that view, biomonitoring data may together constitute an evidence base for policymaking. This raises a number of questions that concern democracy and public involvement in science: 1) what do participants who give blood, urine and/or hair samples, and personal information, get in return for their participation? What is their place in biomonitoring projects? At which stages of the process are publics involved, or could they be involved in biomonitoring? 2) How can biomonitoring results nourish more profound collective reflections on the past, present and future of a given place/region? 3) How can policymaking learn from such reflections and propose initiatives that move beyond the usual recommendations that focus on (individual) hygiene and gestures to avoid or limit contamination?

Host:

Spiral Research Centre (University of Liege, Belgium), contact: As. Prof. Dr. Pierre Delvenne, Pierre.Delvenne@uliege.be

Partners:

Maastricht, Aachen

6.Participating in structural change. Structural change is currently a very big challenge in the Rhenish lignite mining region. Processes of innovation, exnovation and transformation are taking place simultaneously and place very great demands on the political, economic and public management of such processes. Many players, therefore, highlight the great importance of participation. At the same time, however, the concrete forms and ways are controversial. Not surprising, as it is about nothing less than the political-economic construction of new innovation ecosystems. What role can participation play in this process and in what form? MSCA candidates are therefore invited to investigate questions of participation theoretically and empirically in different innovation ecosystems.

Host: Human Technology Center (RTWH Aachen University, Germany), contact: Prof. Dr. Stefan Böschen, stefan.boeschen@humtec.rwth-aachen.de

Partners:

Liège, Maastricht

 

Should you wish to apply and submit a joint proposal with us, please send an email by 15 May 2023 to one of three potential supervisors depending on a research area closest to your interests. The e-mail must include your CV and a brief outline of the proposed research project. When there is a good match between the candidates and supervisors, candidates will apply for MSCA 2023 with one of the Platform research centres as a host institution. You will receive feedback on your proposal and support in finalising your application.

Where to apply

E-mail
o.zvonareva@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Requirements

Research Field
All
Education Level
PhD or equivalent
Skills/Qualifications

Skills and qualifications must correspond to the general MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship call requirements.

Specific Requirements

Interest in public participation in science, technology, and medicine

Additional Information

Eligibility criteria

General MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship eligibility criteria.

Additional comments

This is a call for collaboration. A fellow is expected to submit their fellowship application individually. No binding offer or guarantee of the MSCA fellowship derives from collaborative application development.

Work Location(s)

Number of offers available
2
Company/Institute
Maastricht University
Country
Netherlands
Number of offers available
2
Company/Institute
RTWH Aachen University
Country
Germany
Number of offers available
2
Company/Institute
University of Liege
Country
Belgium

Contact

City
Maastricht / Aachen / Liege
Website
E-Mail
stefan.boeschen@humtec.rwth-aachen.de
Pierre.Delvenne@uliege.be
o.zvonareva@maastrichtuniversity.nl

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