Postdoctoral researcher on collective agency for inclusive energy transitions in neighbourhoods at Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Vulnerable neighbourhoods provide strategic spatial and institutional challenges for urban energy transitions, especially in developing collective agency and achieving just transitions. In a new research project called “Collective agency and co-evolution toward inclusive energy transitions” (CO2PED), we build concrete tools to strengthen the urban transformative capacity of stakeholders toward developing positive-energy districts. CO2PED engages with neighbourhoods in Belgium, Estonia, the Netherlands, and Portugal. We aim to empower residents and neighbourhood associations as active agents in sustainable neighbourhood redevelopment while at the same time strengthening the capacity of municipalities and other public and private stakeholders to imagine and facilitate more inclusive energy transition strategies.

We are inviting candidates to apply for a position as postdoctoral researcher (3 years, 0.8 FTE) in CO2PED. The postdoctoral researcher will work directly with Dr. Martijn van den Hurk and become a member of the international consortium, including the universities of Ghent, Tartu and Aveiro. The postdoctoral researcher will conduct empirical research on two selected neighbourhoods in the city of Utrecht, with a conceptual focus on the visions and visioning processes related to the futures of these two neighbourhoods. The critical research tasks of the postdoctoral researcher include:

• analysing how the futures of the neighbourhoods are visioned;
• developing and testing alternative approaches of visioning the futures of the neighbourhoods;
• articulating methods to institutionalise the novel visioning approaches locally and address their replicability internationally.

The results of the empirical work will feed into a comprehensive toolkit providing hands-on advice about fostering the transformative capacity of vulnerable neighbourhoods.

Finally, the postdoctoral researcher will (co-)organise consortium meetings and lead in preparing and coordinating stakeholder events and making and presenting research outputs.