Postdoctoral position: Social, historical and ecological perspectives on management and establishment of different types of lawns in Sweden

The Landscape Architecture Unit at the Department of Urban and Rural Development at SLU announces a fully funded 2 years Post-doctoral position in: “Social, historical and ecological perspectives on management and establishment of different types of lawns in Sweden”. The position is financed by the FORMAS grant “Lawn as ecological and cultural phenomenon: searching for sustainable lawns in Sweden” and is part of an interdisciplinary research project comprising social, design, planning and natural scientists.

Today lawns cover a significant part of all green open spaces in cities (up to 70%) in, e.g., the front- and backyards of private gardens, public parks, cemeteries, and in addition golf courses and along roads. Most people view lawns as natural elements of the urban landscape, without questioning their functional, ecological or aesthetic value. There are few studies of the biodiversity, environmental impact, public opinion about and the historical and contemporary motives for planning and management of different types of lawns.

This FORMAS project is an interdisciplinary collaboration, including stakeholders, to study lawns from different perspectives as a social and ecological phenomenon in order to understand their roles in sustainable urban planning, design and management. The post-doctoral researcher will be working in a team together with sociologists, ecologists, soil and environmental scientists, and landscape architects. We are studying the history of lawns, social motives behind planning and management of different types of lawns as well as their biodiversity, carbon balance and direct and indirect contribution to ecosystem services such as pollination, carbon sequestration and recreation.

The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to start on March 1 2014. Further information is available from Professor Maria Ignatieva SLU , Uppsala, Department of Urban and Rural Development, e-mail: maria.ignatieva@slu.se

Qualifications

Applicants should hold a PhD degree in sociology, landscape architecture or related fields. We are seeking applicants that have an interest in social science and history. This position involves field work and requires capability to be a part of an interdisciplinary team and good knowledge of Swedish and English. The field work will mainly consist of doing interviews and questionnaires with citizens and different stakeholders, therefore experience of using such methods is meriting. An important part of the research will be to study the history of Swedish lawns and its connection to current practice in lawn management and the social understanding of lawns.

The application should include your CV, a personal letter with description of relevant experience and qualifications, an explanation of your interest in this specific position, names and contact information to at least two reference persons, record of completed academic courses and copies of academic degrees. Selection of a candidate among qualified applicants is based on the written application, contact with references and an interview.

Place of work: Uppsala

Form of employment: Temporary employment. Postdoctoral Fellowship

Extent: Full time

Starting date: 1 March 2014

Application:

We welcome your application marked with Ref no. SLU.

Please submit your application to the Registrar of SLU, P.O. Box 7070, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden or registrator@slu.se no later than February 15, 2014.

SLU is an equal opportunity employer. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is a world-class international university in the life and environmental sciences, ranked in international surveys among the foremost universities in the world in its field. SLU is a research-intensive university that also offers a broad range of unique education programmes in fields such as agronomy, veterinary medicine, forestry, environmental economics and landscape architecture. SLU has just over 3,000 employees and 4,000 students, a turnover of just over SEK 3 billion, and operations throughout Sweden, with campuses at Alnarp, Skara, Umeå, Uppsala and elsewhere. The university has invested heavily in modern, attractive campus environments for research and education.