진학프로석·박사 채용 접수 플랫폼

This 5-year postdoctoral position forms part of the ERC Consolidator project FRONTCAT (Frontier Cats: Reimagining Multispecies Governance and Care Ethics beyond Post-politics) and leads Subproject 1: Cats, Populism, and Multispecies Post-Politics: The Rural–Urban Divide. The postdoc will examine how cat-related conflicts mediate tensions between rural and urban stakeholders, how populist narratives critique expert-led and perceived “post-political” interventions, and how ecological expertise and animal-welfare principles become contested in multispecies governance. The role combines rural sociology/anthropology, political ecology, and human–animal studies, with a strong methodological emphasis on multi-sited ethnography.

Scientific objectives
The postdoc will address, among others, the following research questions:

• • In what ways do cats mediate tensions between rural and urban stakeholders, influencing populist political narratives against perceived expert-driven interventions in their management?
• • How do perceptions of ecological expertise and animal welfare shape rural–urban divides, and how are these tensions expressed through multispecies governance?

Core responsibilities and tasks
The postdoctoral researcher will be responsible for designing and executing a coherent research programme across several field sites in Spain, including:

Task 1.1 – Field site identification and research design

• • Identify rural and urban field sites in Spain where cat-related tensions are salient, using a combination of online reconnaissance and in situ scoping.
• • Establish an ethically robust research plan and sampling strategy across multiple stakeholder groups, including but not limited to: farmers, hunters, ecologists, public officers, and environmental and animal welfare NGOs.

Task 1.2 – Ethnographic and interview-based research

• • Conduct multi-sited ethnography combining participant observation, interviews, and walkabout methods across rural and urban settings.
• • Carry out stakeholder interviews (life stories, semi-structured interviews, walkabouts) to capture local perspectives, moral economies of care, and rural–urban dynamics.

Task 1.3 Discourse analysis

• • Analyse interview transcripts, policy documents, media, and advocacy campaigns using discourse analysis to examine how outdoor-cat practices, biodiversity claims, and animal welfare principles are framed, contested, and mobilised.

Outputs and deliverables
The postdoc is expected to lead or co-lead four peer-reviewed publications aligned with project outputs:

• • Multispecies post-politics and cat governance controversies (O1.1)
• • Rural populism and rural–urban antagonisms in socio-ecological conflicts (O1.2)
• • Methodological paper on integrating digital ethnography into multispecies studies (O1.3)
• • Hidden transcripts and digital mediation of resistance and legitimacy (O1.4)

The postdoc will also contribute to project-wide activities, including internal workshops, PhD supervision, cross-WP integration, and dissemination (academic and stakeholder-oriented).

Required qualifications

• • PhD in Sociology, Social Anthropology, Human Geography, Political Ecology, Environmental Humanities, or a closely related field.
• • Demonstrated expertise in rural studies and human-animal studies; populism research will be strongly valued.
• • Proven ability to conduct qualitative fieldwork (participant observation, interviewing, life stories) with, among others, the abovementioned stakeholder groups.
• • Strong analytical writing skills and evidence of publication potential (peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, or equivalent).
• • Fluency in Spanish sufficient for fieldwork and interviewing; good working proficiency in English for academic writing and collaboration.

Desirable skills and experience

• • Experience working with contested policy arenas and stakeholder conflicts (e.g., biodiversity governance, animal welfare debates, rural livelihoods).
• • Capacity to work across disciplines and contribute to team-based comparative research designs.
• • Familiarity with research ethics in socio-ecological, human-animal sensitive contexts.

What we offer

• • A full-time 5-year postdoctoral position embedded in a well-resourced ERC research programme, covering fieldwork expenses.
• • Intellectual leadership over a defined subproject with clear publication pathways and strong international visibility.
• • An interdisciplinary environment at SOCIALPAT (IPNA-CSIC) with opportunities for collaboration across political ecology, STS, rural sociology, and gender studies, as well as engagement with stakeholders and policy arenas.

Work location and mobility
The post will be hosted at IPNA-CSIC (Tenerife, Canary Islands), with fieldwork across multiple rural and urban sites in Spain and occasional travel for project meetings and dissemination activities in the field sites and on international conferences.

Application materials

• • Brief CV with publication list (4 pages max.)
• • Short letter describing fit to the position and relevant research experience (1 page max.)