The Project “Forest citizenship for disaster resilience: learning from COVID-19” and the Department of Sociology at Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) are receiving applications for one postdoctoral (PD) scholarship to develop research on forest citizenship in Amazonia. This scholarship is associated with the Trans-Atlantic Platform, supported by FAPESP Grant 2021/07558-3, directed by Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Constante Martins in Brazil, Luke Parry in the United Kingdom, and Peter Newton in the United States. The main goal of this postdoctoral fellowship, which was pre-approved by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), is to investigate how forest peoples, notably rural communities and riverine populations, have made use of specific practices and actions to face the pandemic of COVID-19, and how the strategies adopted by these social groups - outside the established institutional circuits - have been constituted as important instruments for the maintenance of their ways of life.

Presentation

The Project “Forest citizenship for disaster resilience: learning from COVID-19” and the Department of Sociology at Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) are receiving applications for 1 (one) postdoctoral (PD) scholarship to develop research on forest citizenship in Amazonia. This scholarship is associated with the Trans-Atlantic Platform, supported by FAPESP Grant 2021/07558-3), directed by Prof. Dr. Rodrigo ConstanteMartins in Brazil, Luke Parry in the United Kingdom, and Peter Newton in the United States. The main goal of this postdoctoral fellowship, which was pre-approved by the Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), is to investigate how forest peoples, notably rural communities and riverine populations, have made use of specific practices and actions to face the pandemic of COVID-19, and how the strategies adopted by these social groups - outside the established institutional circuits - have been constituted as important instruments for the maintenance of their ways of life.

Profile

Candidates must hold a PhD degree in Sociology or Social Sciences (with an emphasis in Sociology), obtained within the last 5 years ago and have an excellent academic history transcript. Candidates are expected to have international experience and a track record in fieldwork with rural and riverine communities. The candidate selected must be based in São Carlos (SP).

Activities

Among other activities, the selected candidate will participate in field research in the Amazon (participant observation, drawing on oral histories, and structured interviews) and will take part in the meetings and seminars coordinated by the Ruralities, Environment and SocietyResearch Group (RURAS) at UFSCar. They will also work on the elaboration of reports, manuscripts for publication, and presentation in national and international congresses.

Finally, in accordance with FAPESP Rule n.05 of July 2012, the selected fellow must participate in teaching activities at the Sociology Department. The postdoctoral scholarship is granted by FAPESP to foster excellence in research centers by engaging young scholars in teaching, research and extension.

Fellowship

The fellowship is scheduled to start on 1st of August 2022 and will last until 31st of July 2023. The fellowship can be renewed for 12 more months, depending on evaluation by the project team and external evaluation by FAPESP reviewers. The selected candidate will receive a (non-taxable) monthly fellowship in the amount of BRL$ 8.479,20 and a grant, equivalent to 10% of the annual value of the fellowship, which should be spent on items directly related to the research activity. FAPESPregulates how the grant can be spent (http://fapesp.br/rt). 

Application

The call is open until 30th May 2022.

Applicants should send an email with the subject “Postdoctoral fellowship” to Rodrigo Constante Martins [rmartins@ufscar.br] containing the following documentation:

• Curriculum Vitae (in English or Portuguese) or Lattes Curriculum (forresearchers based in Brazil);
• Letter of interest (maximum of 3 pages), which should relate the applicant's research and training trajectory to the the main theme of the fellowship aspresented in this call – in English or Portuguese;
• Graduate school transcripts;
• Certificate of Ph.D. degree awarded

The candidate for the Postdoctoral Fellowship must have completed the Doctorate lessthan 5 (five) years ago and have an excellent academic history transcript. 

Selection Process

The selection of candidates will be conducted in two stages. The first phase will consist of the analysis of the documents delivered and will be eliminatory. The documents will be analyzed by the Principal Investigators of the thematic project according to the following criteria:

• documentation is complete and meets FAPESP’s requirements,
• candidate’s experience in the field, 
• adequacy of the candidate’s interest in the research topic.

Candidates approved in this phase will be invited to a virtual/onlineinterview, an instrument of the second stage of the evaluation, which will take placebetween 13nd and 16th of June, 2022.

The virtual platform on which the interviews will be conducted will be informed to the candidates by email. For more information on the requirements for the candidate andthe commitments and activities required by FAPESP, please go to https://fapesp.br/en/postdoc.

Schedule

Information on the selection process will be published on the RURAS Research Groupwebsite: www.ruras.ufscar.br

Acceptance of the scholarship will still be pending FAPESP's analysis of the research project and plan of activities, to be prepared after approval.

Jury

• Fábio José Bechara Sanchez, Professor at the Post Graduate Program in Sociology. Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR), Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 
• Joelson Gonçalves  de Carvalho, Professor at the Post Graduate Program in Political Science. Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR), Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 
• Rodrigo Constante Martins, Professor at the Post Graduate Program in Sociology. Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR), Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, Brazil.