Postdoctoral position on Green Volunteering in China for the Gamifying Green Governance Project

A full-time postdoc position for 24 months in the Technologies in Practice Research Group is open for appointment from 1 May 2025, or soon thereafter. The position is available on the Gamifying Green Governance project, funded by the Danish Independent Research Fund (2024-2027). For details of the qualification requirements for the position, please see below.


Gamifying Green Governance Project
The project explores the introduction of gamification mechanisms into green volunteering in China. Globally, volunteering is an important aspect of the green transition: it enrols people into local networks of engagement, is consistently recommended as an antidote to climate despair, and in China alone, amounts to 1.6 billion hours of service per year (Yuan 2022).

In Gamifiying Green Governance, we explore what happens when green volunteering is gamified, when ‘doing good’ (Hoffman and StJohn 2017) becomes morally ambiguous, interrogating both the freighting of public good with private gain and raising fundamental questions about the politics of gamification for planetary ends. We are interested in everyday volunteering moralities, and – building on a prior project called Moving Data-Moving People – in the relationship between volunteering and credit. We will explore ‘green’ volunteering as one of several mechanisms of credit rectification and aim to better understand how ‘green’ volunteering is experienced and conceptualised by those who organise and take part in it.

We approach green volunteering ethnographically and are interested in how people describe, collect information about, communicate, register, value, manage, and feel about it. The project will use a range of approaches to understand this, foregrounding ethnographic fieldwork, digital ethnography and document analysis.

For more about the project, see https://blogit.itu.dk/gggproject/


Job Description
The postdoctoral researcher will be the key fieldworker in the project. They will be required to carry out independent research and over the course of the project, work closely with the PI, Rachel Douglas-Jones.

The postdoctoral researcher will construct a piece of independent research to take place during the project. The location of the fieldwork is open, and candidates are encouraged to consider how to make use of their existing networks, and, where appropriate and feasible, the project’s collaborating partner and its networks, the Ecology and Cultures Innovation Lab at Tongji University, Shanghai.

The researcher will conduct ethnographic fieldwork, formal and informal interviews, and co-construct questions about green volunteering with participants in the field, based on the project’s orienting questions. They will have a capacity for building empirically on their own, and project-based interests in quantification, everyday moralities, volunteering, ‘green’ action, digital ethnography, and gamification. They will have the ability to manage a fieldwork budget.

Additional tasks during the project may include participation in and organization of PhD courses, organizing seminars and workshops, meetings with the Advisory Board, the preparation of manuscripts for publication, and guest lectures.

Prospective candidates are warmly invited to contact the PI ahead of applying to discuss the project or work environment.


General information
The IT University of Copenhagen (ITU) is a teaching and research-based tertiary institution concerned with information technology (IT) and the opportunities it offers. The IT University has more than 160 full-time Faculty members. Research and teaching in information technology span all academic activities which involve computers including computer science, information and media sciences, humanities and social sciences, business impact and the commercialization of IT.


The Work Environment
At ITU, the postdoc will join the active and international Technologies in Practice research group, one of Scandinavia’s largest interdisciplinary STS environments looking at the intersection of society and IT.

The group has a regular forum for presentation of work in progress, a weekly shut up and write group, writing retreats, and annual research days. There is a large group of junior scholars in the research environment. The ideal candidate will be interested in working from their disciplinary foundations in an interdisciplinary way and open to learning from and about a range of types of scholarship, from anthropology to HCI.


Working at the IT University
Located in modern architecture, a 6-minute metro ride from the center of Copenhagen, the IT University offers an informal working environment, a varied everyday life, and a highly motivated, ambitious, competent, and diverse international faculty, with PhD degrees from 17 different countries. The IT University is an equal opportunity employer and prides itself in actively and successfully pursuing an improved gender balance among students and among faculty.


Working in Copenhagen
Copenhagen has a solid educational system, a rich cultural life, universal healthcare, good childcare, and well-functioning infrastructure. Copenhagen is among the world’s most livable cities according to the Economist Global Liveability Index. Living and working in Copenhagen will be a good experience for you and your family.


Salary and terms of employment
Appointment and salary will be in accordance with the Ministry of Taxation’s agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) and job structure for academic staff at Universities.


Qualification Requirements
Essential

• A PhD in a relevant field (e.g., social anthropology, sociology, science and technology studies, China Studies). Candidates who have submitted their doctoral dissertations for evaluation before the application deadline are eligible to apply.
• Fieldwork experience from China or the Chinese speaking world.
• Demonstrable capacity for independent research design and implementation.
• Willingness to spend extended periods of time in the field. The position includes 12 months fieldwork in China, which can be broken up into segments.
• Native or near native skills in both Chinese and English
• Willingness to relocate to Copenhagen during non-fieldwork parts of the project

Beneficial

• Experience of collaborative projects and teamwork, including joint writing.
• Strong organizational skills and experience in organizing workshops and events
• Previous engagement with some of the relevant themes from the project (e.g., volunteering, green themes) and the capacity to narrate the leap from the PhD project to the proposed postdoc
• Previous engagement with relevant theory and methods
• Relevant networks in China for facilitating fieldwork
• Any relevant teaching experience

Application
The application and all other documents ought to be in English and must include:

• A motivated application (cover letter), including a detailed description of your qualifications and brief statements of research and teaching plans
• A full CV, including name, address, phone number, e-mail, previous and present employment and academic background
• Documentation of academic degrees (copy of degree certificates etc.)
• Relevant scientific publication or/and PhD thesis written by the applicant
• Documentation of pedagogical experience and teaching record within one or more of the teaching areas listed for the position

Applications without the above-mentioned required documents will not be assessed.

The applicant will be accessed according to the Appointment Order from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of 13 March 2012.

The IT University may use shortlisting in connection to the recruitment process. In case of shortlisting, the Chair of the hiring committee selects applicants for assessment in consultation with the hiring committee after the application deadline. All applicants are notified whether their application has been passed for assessment. The shortlisting of candidates for assessment is based on the criteria in the job posting.



Further information
Questions about the positions can be directed to Full Professor, Rachel Douglas-Jones, IT University of Copenhagen, [email protected] or tel. 7218 5341.

Questions related to the application procedure may be directed to HR, [email protected].


Application procedure
You can only apply for this position through our e-recruitment system. Apply by pressing the button "Apply for position" in the job announcement on our website.

Please note that all application material will be destroyed after the assessment.


Application deadline: 3 March 2025, at 23:59 CET.


Applications/enclosures received at ITU after the application deadline will not be taken into consideration. If you submit an application, it is your responsibility to ensure that it arrives before the deadline so please allow sufficient time for upload of publications and other documents.


At The IT University of Copenhagen we have an international environment and view diversity as a valuable resource. We are committed to ensuring an inclusive working environment for all our employees and encourage all qualified applicants, regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation, or ethnic background to apply for the position.