Thursday 15 December 2011

Interesting blog on Quantified Self

Interesting blog on Quantified Self where one can learn on how to influence and change our behaviour by better understanding of the status quo through numbers. Behaviour includes anything from time management to weight management and more... Check this our on http://quantifiedself.com/

Friday 2 December 2011

Ägandet på väg ut...

Mina tankar kring ämnet

följ länken - http://www.ingenjoren.se/2011/11/14658/

Thursday 9 June 2011

3 PhD positions are being offered at ICIS in Maastricht

1. PhD project: Globalisation, complexity and sustainability
2. PhD project: An integrated, dynamic sustainability assessment of CSP and CCS
3. PhD project: Homo Sustinens: Towards a footprint of 1.0


Deadline for application is August 1, 2011. The positions are for 4 years, for students
• With an outspoken interest in and proven qualifications for doing research and fieldwork.
• Willingness and proven ability to work interdisciplinary.
• With strong analytical capacity and able to formulating views, ideas and concepts based upon complex information, and constructing conceptual frameworks or models.
• With excellent written and verbal English language skills.


A description of the positions can be found at http://www.icis.unimaas.info/3-phd-positions-sustainability-science/


Rene Kemp
Professor of Innovation and Sustainable Development, ICIS, and Professorial Fellow UNU-MERIT.
Tel +31 43 3884405 / 4685
http://kemp.unu-merit.nl/

Saturday 21 May 2011

4 PhD Studentships (3 years full-time) in the UK

UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE BUSINESS SCHOOL


4 PhD Studentships (3 years full-time)

Studentship (current): 13,590 pa; plus fees paid

Start Date: September 2011 for three years full-time study



The University of Hertfordshire is internationally recognised for its research in a range of subject areas. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 80% of our research and all of our doctoral programmes in the Business School were judged as being of international significance. The School has one major Research Centre, CRoMES (Centre for Research on Management, Economy and Society) which has a track record of critical approaches to research in Business, Economics and Management.

We wish to build on our success and strengthen core strategic research areas by offering 4 fully funded studentships to UK/EU fee status students who are well qualified and highly motivated. Potential projects might fall into one of the following indicative and not exclusive areas:

• Economics and business in the context of globalisation (e.g. international development, international competitiveness, migration and rising economies).

• The sociology of work and employment, industrial relations or employment relations

• The impacts of knowledge, innovation and ICT on Small & Medium Enterprises

• Organisational Evolution

• Critically informed research on Finance and Accounting

• Public policy and marketing aimed at achieving a shift towards a "green economy"

• The creative and cultural industries, especially work and employment, emerging business practices and new technologies.

• The development of statistical methodologies to answer real-world business problems

The studentships include full home fees and a tax free bursary of £13,590 per annum and are available to candidates with 1st/2.1 honours degree and/or a Master’s qualification, or equivalent research experience.

Closing date for applications: 6th June 2011 Interview Date: 22 June 2011

The applications should include: A copy of your CV, a completed application form for the research studentship, a completed postgraduate application form, including your research proposal, two academic references, and copy of your results transcript from your previous studies in higher education.

For application packs and inquiries regarding research degrees please contact: Ms Janice Turner ssahri.res@herts.ac.uk . All application documents should be sent in electronic form by 16.00 on 06/06/11 by email to: Ms Janice Turner ssahri.res@herts.ac.uk

For information on research at the Business School and other academic queries you may contact: Dr Hulya Dagdeviren (h.dagdeviren@herts.ac.uk) or Dr Mariana Dodourova (m.dodourova@herts.ac.uk)



If you do not hear from us by 20/06/2011, please assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Collaborative Ways of Living and Consuming

Feel free to contribute to dsicussion about collaborative consumption and its potential in Sweden and other countries. What are the drivers/triggers or enablers for Collaborative Ways of Living and Consuming and which personal or institutional factors may act as barriers for wider dissemination of these kinds of practices, schemes and social innovation businesses? http://medea.mah.se/2011/04/collaborative-ways-of-living-and-consuming/

Thursday 31 March 2011

Two 2-year postdoc opportunities at the University of Twente in the field of “Regional development of bioenergy” and “Smart Energy Systems”

Post-doc: Regional development of bio-energy


The challenge

The University of Twente has recently started a regional innovation program on bio-energy with financial support from the Province of Overijssel. This multidisciplinary program focuses on the production and application of heat, electricity, fuels, chemicals and products from biomass and contains both a technical and a socio-economic component. The overall aim of the two year project is to accelerate uptake of biofuels and bio-energy to enhance socio-economic development in the province of Overijssel. Eight post doc projects will work on the technical side of bio-energy and two post doc projects will focus on the socio-economic impact of bio-energy innovations in the region.

The aim of the socio-economic project is:

• To develop a bio-energy roadmap for Overijssel

• To develop and test new biobased business models for the region

• To analyse innovation models applied in the region

• Monitoring the sustainability impacts of bio-energy in the region


The post-doc will be part of an active and internationally recognised multidisciplinary research team. They will be collaborating with the technology affiliated post docs and senior members of several research institutes of the University of Twente on the following key tasks

• Conducting research on the project themes

• Publication of research results in peer reviewed journals

• Contributing to developing and elaborating the research agenda on bio energy

• Preparing (inter)national research proposals

Your profile

For the socio-economic project we are recruiting a full-time post-doctoral candidate with a degree in one of the social sciences, economics, law, science technology studies or technical sciences with a strong interest in questions related to technology in society. The successful candidate will have a good track record of academic publications and will demonstrate a motivation to work in a multi-disciplinary team in an academic environment. They will be enthusiastic with good communication skills and with strong written and spoken English.

Our offer

We offer an exciting and challenging position in an inspiring multidisciplinary environment. As a postdoctoral researcher you will be appointed in a full-time position (38 hours/week) for a period of two years. The salary will amounts to a maximum of € 4.374 gross per month (in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities). Furthermore, the University of Twente offers additional attractive employment conditions.

Information and application

For more information on this position, please contact Dr. Maarten Arentsen : m.j.arentsen@utwente.nl ; Phone: 0031 53 489 5772. Cell phone: 0031 6 456 960 84.

To apply for this position, please fill in the application form including your resume and list of publication, through the link below, before 22 April 2011.

Post-doc: Smart Energy Systems

The challenge

An integrated project on Distributed Electricity Generation in combination with Electricity Storage (DGES) is looking for a post-doc with a socio-economic background to work on an exciting new project. DGES holds significant promise for climate change mitigation through its potential for improving efficiency of electricity production and consumption through continuous remote optimization of all electricity production, storage and consumption units in the system. In contrast to a conventional electricity system, DGES is ‘smart’ and operates both ways, using feedback from appliances to improve balance and energy efficiency. In combination with renewable electricity production (wind, solar and biomass) DEGS holds the promise of a really sustainable electricity system for the future. But there are still many questions with respect to the functioning of DGES. For example, on the technological side, dependable ICT hardware and software needs to be developed, tested and applied to streamline the production and demand of the electricity networks. The challenging issues on the non-technical socio-economic side include regulatory regimes, business models, user psychology and privacy, governance and social dynamics.

The promises and challenges of DGES are currently being explored in a multidisciplinary setting at the University of Twente in coordination with industrial and academic partners. Part of this research is the joint technical and non-technical Route 14 project on Smart Energy Systems.

In collaboration with a technology affiliated post doc and senior members of several research institutes of the University of Twente, the successful candidate will be engaged in realising the project goals:

• Establishing a multidisciplinary research agenda on smart energy systems and energy storage at the University of Twente in collaboration with the university research institutes

• Preparation of (inter)nationally funded research projects, including EU FP7 calls.

• Developing structural collaboration with (energy) industry, governments and other relevant organisations to initiate pilots and field labs.

• Linking with international networks on the theme, e.g. EIT theme Smart Energy and Eseia (European Sustainable Energy Innovation Alliance).

• Maintaining outputs of high quality publications in international journals.

Your profile

For the non-technical part of the project we are looking to recruit a full-time post-doctoral candidate for a period of two years with a degree in one of the social sciences, economics, law or science technology studies and who is interested in questions related to technology in society. The successful candidate will have a good track record of academic publications and will demonstrate a motivation to work in a multi-disciplinary team in an academic environment.

Our offer

We offer an exciting and challenging position in an inspiring multidisciplinary environment. As a postdoctoral researcher you will be appointed in a full-time position (38 hours/week) for a period of two years.The salary will amounts to a maximum of € 4.374 gross per month (in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities). Furthermore, the University of Twente offers additional attractive employment conditions.


Information and application

For more information on this position, please contact Dr Maarten Arentsen :

m.j.arentsen@utwente.nl. Phone: 0031 53 489 5772 . Cell phone: 0031 6 456 960 84

To apply for this position, please fill in the application form including your resume and list of publication, through the link below, before 22 April 2011.

Monday 21 March 2011

post-doc position in Barcelona for anthropologists/archaeologists/ecologists

Research Associate needed

Social and environmental transitions: Simulating the past to understand human behaviour. www.simulpast.es

Duration of contract: September 2011- August 2015

Duration of field work: January 2012-December 2012

How and why hunter-gatherer groups persist in arid margins, in spite of available farming technology and proximity of an urban society? In other words, what are the key elements that characterise the differential adaptive performance in arid margin between hunter-gatherer and agriculturist societies? To answer the questions a group of archaeologists, computer scientists, and anthropologists will work together to collect archaeological and ethnographic data that will be used to calibrate potential scenarios through computer modelling. To carry out the ethnographic part of the study, a research associate is needed to work at the Ethnoecology Laboratory (http://icta.uab.es/Etnoecologia/mission.htm).

Responsibilities: The research associate will be responsible for collecting data for the project and preparing it for analysis. Data collection would include a range of methods from participant observation, semi-structured interviews, mapping of the land and resources used to surveys on household economics, use of natural resources, and landscape management. Data would be collected during a 12-month period of field work among a semi-nomadic pastoralist society in Gujarat (NW India). The research associate could optionally register in the PhD program of ICTA-UAB (http://icta.uab.cat/formacion/doctorat.jsp).

Profile: Candidates should have an official master’s degree or a PhD in a relevant discipline (i.e., anthropology, ecology, geography) and be fluent in English. Proven ability to work in interdisciplinary and multicultural groups, courses in statistics and research methods, and/or fluency in Hindi and/or Gujarati will be strongly valued. Candidates should also be comfortable with the idea of living in harsh conditions (e.g., heat, mosquitoes, monotonous diet) and tolerance for bouts of medical problems common in the field (e.g., parasites). Candidates should also show interest to learn from other cultures. Previous field experience would be highly valued. If the candidate decides to opt for a PhD, s/he would be encouraged to pursue his/her own research plans and collect data for a dissertation.

Contract terms: The contract terms will depend on the qualifications of the candidate. We offer a full time contract for four consecutive years (the first three-months will be a probation period) if the candidate has a master (about 1.200€/month). We offer a full time contract for 2.5 consecutive years (the first three-months will be a probation period) if the candidate has a PhD (about 1.800€/month). The research associate will be hired by UAB and they will work at the Ethnoecology Laboratory, but in close collaboration with members of the SimulPast project (www.simulpast.es). Medical insurance and expenses while in the field associated with the project (i.e., translators) will also be paid for. The project will also cover two round-trips from Barcelona to the field site. Field work is scheduled to begin in January 2012, but familiarization with the project, the bibliography of the area, and coordination with other team members will start in September 2011. A first field trip for inspection will take place during October 2011.

To apply: Interested candidates should contact Victoria Reyes-García (victoria.reyes@uab.cat) by May 15, 2011 to receive full consideration. The application should include a letter of interest, a current CV, and a list of 2-3 professors familiar with the candidate that might write letters of recommendations (letters will only be asked for short-listed candidates). Candidates will be notified of the decision by June 15.

This project is funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation through a CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010