Research Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute

Profile

We are looking for an independent, driving and result oriented person to work in our Risk and Resilience team. The recruited research fellow will work mainly on the projects RISC KIT and EDUCEN which are described briefly below. Assisting with additional projects may also be included depending on time availability.

Education

The successful candidate should have a Master of Science in a relevant topic in the domain of Natural Resources Management and/or Social Science. An interdisciplinary education is an advantage. Disaster Risk Management and/or ecosystem management orientation involving risk considerations is an important part of the education. There may be several different topic orientations of relevance, so the educational background could vary – what is important are the skills listed below. A PhD may be a merit depending on its focus, although the position requires a strong practical experience and application of the academic knowledge in society.

Experience

A trans/interdisciplinary background preferably with experience from policy, practice and academia with a minimum of 10 years of experience in relevant fields. Experience in action based research and participatory methodology is a requirement. Theoretical and practical experiences of the social learning are an advantage. Feeling at ease with communicating with different types of stakeholders is important. Basic experience (1-2 yrs) in Disaster Risk Management applied to ecosystem management is an advantage. The work also often involves incorporating different equality considerations such as gender in project design and evaluation, which is an important skill.

Required skills

Required skills include qualitative data collection (interviews), analysis, conceptual and analytical framework development, and excellent oral and writing communication skills. Any other quantitative analytical skills are a plus. International experience is a desirable, including experience from collaboration and communication with various partners from different countries. Project management skills are necessary including time and budget planning and management, output planning and internal communication.

Fluency in Swedish and English is required. Additional languages (French, Spanish, or Portuguese) is considered an asset.

Background information

Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts - toolKIT (RISC-KIT)

RISC-KIT will develop methods, tools and management approaches to increase coastal zone resilience to low-frequency, high-impact hydro-meteorological events. RISC-KIT will provide an open access online toolkit. These products will enhance forecasting, prediction and early warning capabilities, improve the assessment of long-term coastal risk and optimise the mix of prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures. As one organization in a consortium of about 18 partners, the SEI main area of research will be to assess and propose management measures and approaches and facilitate stakeholder input and ownership of these. For more information: www.risckit.eu

EDUCEN: European Disasters in Urban centres: a Culture Expert Network (3C – Cities, Cultures, Catastrophes)

The overarching aim of EDUCEN is to build on existing European networks and with them identify priorities under a number of support actions to build and support culture and cultural diversity as reservoirs of available assets for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The methodology is highly participatory, where the network will assist and guide end users to recognize and identify key aspects of available cultural reservoirs, particularly underlying socio-cultural networks and cultural capabilities.

The project consists of seven support actions looking at 1) cultural memory including a gender-specific lens 2) cultural networks using social network analysis 3) learning to improve cooperation and integration between different domains 4) cases centered to appreciate city cultures and infrastructures, including ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ infrastructure 5) practical exercises such as simulation and games 6) cities’ cultural adaptation and adoption 7) developing a policy support framework as a Handbook on Culture of Disaster Risk Reduction. SEI’s role is to lead the 3rd support action (WP 3) on learning. As part of the work package two workshops will be organised with the stakeholders in all case studies and other WPs.

The impact of EDUCEN is to contribute to more resilient cities that are able to meet the needs of their various cultures and subcultures during disaster relief leading to a lower number of fatalities while also reducing reaction time when disaster strikes. In addition, the project will look at ensuring more effective links between academia and disaster management professionals in order to bridge the gap between research and practice.