Vacancy visiting fellow at Ghent University - investigating doctoral researchers’ career trajectories

23 February 2012

By Emma Gillaspy

The Centre for Research and Development Monitoring (ECOOM) at Ghent University has a 6 month visiting fellowship for a researcher to investigate academic careers in Flanders and more specifically doctoral researchers’ career trajectories.

The research unit at ECOOM-UGent is a cooperation between the Department of Research Affairs and the Centre for Social Theory (CST) at the Department of Sociology. It is commissioned by the Flemish Government and provides indicators and policy advice on doctoral research and mobility of researchers in Flanders. One of the research centre’s main datacollection activities is a database of all academic positions in Flanders (HRRF).

The visiting fellowship will allow researchers with some experience in R&D monitoring, academic careers, doctorate holders’ labour market perspectives or Ph.D. production to:

• Make use of ECOOM’s extensive datacollections, including: R&D survey, Labour Force Survey, Survey of Junior & Senior Researchers, Human Resources in Research - Flanders database;
• Carry out cross-national comparative studies, or study the Flemish situation;
• Develop their own expertise in career monitoring and labour market perspectives of the highly skilled;
• Collaborate with the ECOOM team;
• Extend their network of experts in the field of researchers’ careers.

The visiting fellow will be expected to contribute to ECOOM’s work through interaction with the research team at Ghent University, and to produce at least one academic paper as a result of this visit.

Candidate’s profile:

You have a Master’s Degree or Doctoral Degree in social sciences; You have a strong background in quantitative research methods; You have experience with writing academic papers; You are able to work independently and like to take initiative.

Application process

Interested candidates should write a motivated application letter, explaining the experience they can contribute to ECOOM as well as the research project they intend to carry out using the ECOOM data. The selection of candidates will be based on the Letter of motivation and Curriculum Vitae, and either an interview by telephone or skype, or an interview in Ghent.

Fellows will be granted a six-month salary and full social security, as well as the necessary infrastructure to carry out their work.

Should you wish to discuss particular research topics or proposals with one of the research team members, please contact Hans.Groenvynck@UGent.be Applications should be sent to Hans Groenvynck no later than 12 March 2012.