2 Postdoctoral Positions in Environmental Histories with a focus on Denmark/Mexico

2 Postdoctoral Positions in Environmental Histories with a focus on Denmark/Mexico, to be located at the Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University

The Department of Anthropology, School of Culture and Society, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University invites applications for 2 fixed-term postdoctoral positions in Environmental History, each for 2 years in duration. One position will be focused on Denmark; the other Mexico. The appointments begin on 1st January 2026 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The university is keen for its staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified applicants regardless of their personal background.

Research context

The successful applicants will join the ERC-funded project FILTERSCAPES – Filtering Futures: Contaminant Flows, Landscape Governance and the Making of New Anthropological Knowledge for Planetary Health led by P.I. Professor Ciara Kierans. The project focuses on contaminating flows in water ecologies as a critical problem for planetary health. It adopts filtration as a conceptual lens to analyse ecological, infrastructural and embodied filtering relations in Danish and Mexican river basins.

We are looking for two innovative environmental historians, with a completed PhD in environmental history, historically-oriented anthropology or related fields, and with experience working in the Danish or Mexican context. Interdisciplinary cross-overs with ethnographic-anthropological research and Geographical Information Systems and forms of environmental mapping are advantages, but not requirements.
                                           

The position

Both positions will run for two years. The successful applicants are expected to:

• develop research focusing on riparian filter histories in either Denmark or Mexico to include, e.g. changes in land-water usage, drainage projects and wetland exploitation; shifts in land ownership; changes to population growth and health; changes to sanitation, sewage, waste and water treatment; the emergence of hydrocracies, bureaucratic infrastructures, policy formations, systems of government and land-water management, working in close collaboration with the project P.I. and team
• present their research at national and international events and publish results in peer-reviewed international scientific journals in a timely fashion, actively participate in the daily on-site working environment at Aarhus University
• collaborate with team members, for instance, by co-authoring articles and reviewing relevant literature
• initiate and help to organise research workshops, conferences, seminars, and other activities
• demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinarity, e.g. a willingness to think with scholars working in other intellectual traditions
• demonstrate experience of and familiarity with the Danish or Mexican context,
• demonstrate a commitment to public engagement in the Danish project and to locally engaged research practices in the Mexico project
• engage with research environments at AU beyond the project itself, including the AU Centre for Environmental Humanities and the Department of History, by participating in events and presenting own work.

Applicants for the positions must hold a PhD degree in history or document equivalent qualifications and must be able to document:

• expertise in environmental history
• an interest in interdisciplinary and collaborative working
• a research profile of high international quality
• the ability and willingness to engage in close collaboration with the team and the local research environment
• fluency in written and spoken English and Danish for the Danish project and English and Spanish, for the Mexican project.

Application material and procedure

The applicants are asked to submit:

• a project description (maximum three pages) in which they indicate how they will contribute to the overall project. The project description should ideally demonstrate excellent knowledge of relevant literatures
• a description of the historical research methods and time periods with which the applicant has experience
• a concise statement of motivation for applying for the position (maximum one page), and
• a maximum of two publications or submitted papers (please note that a list of publications is not enough; the papers must be uploaded with the application).

Professional references or recommendations should not be included. Applicants who are selected for an interview may be asked to provide professional references.

The application must be submitted in English.

Only submitted publications will be assessed; a list of publications is not sufficient. As a result, applications without submitted publications will not be assessed.

The research activities will be evaluated in relation to the actual research time. We therefore encourage applicants to specify any periods of leave they may have had without research activities (e.g. maternity/paternity leave), so we can subtract these periods from the span of their academic career when evaluating their productivity.

For further information about the positions or the overarching project, please contact Professor Ciara Kierans (ciarakierans@cas.au.dk)

For further information about the application procedure, please contact HR support on e-mail iks-hr-sag@au.dk.

The work environment

The Department of Anthropology offers a welcoming atmosphere, a close-knit and collegial environment, a superb student population, explorative and internationally orientated research and teaching environments, and good possibilities for career development, project funding, and administrative support at the school and the faculty levels.

The Department of Anthropology is one of Europe's largest and most vibrant teaching and research environments within its field. Scientific staff currently consists of 27 associate and full professors, 13 assistant professors and postdocs, and 28 PhD-fellows, we are also the temporary home of a number of visiting and affiliated researchers.

We are an open and dynamic community of staff and students that explores the fascinating diversity of the worlds that humans inhabit and addresses the burning issues of our time, developing new theoretical and methodological approaches along the way in order to understand and tackle them. We have broad collaborations with various disciplines, including philosophy and history of ideas, biology, and medicine and host numerous externally funded research projects. Our research is critically engaged attending to contemporary issues on a local and global scale while seeking to push the boundaries of the state-of-the-art within our field. See a more detailed description of our research activities here: Research. The department is located at the Moesgaard Campus in the beautiful woodlands south of the city of Aarhus, adjacent to Moesgaard Museum.

Read more here: https://cas.au.dk/om-instituttet/afdelinger/antropologi

The School of Culture and Society

At the School of Culture and Society, the object of research and teaching is the interplay between culture and society in time and space:

• From the traditional disciplines of the humanities and theology to applied social research
• From Antiquity to the issues facing contemporary societies
• From local questions to global challenges

The school’s ambition is to produce compelling research with an international resonance and to offer teaching and talent development of the highest quality. The school has a broad cooperative interface with society as a whole, both in Denmark and abroad, and contributes to social innovation, research communication and further and continuing education.

For further information about the school, please see School of Culture and Society - Aarhus University (au.dk).

International applicants

International applicants are encouraged to check Family and work-life balance in Denmark (au.dk) and Attractive working conditions (au.dk) for further information about the benefits of working at Aarhus University and in Denmark, including healthcare, paid holidays and, if relevant, maternity/paternity leave, childcare and schooling. Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including a Relocation and onboarding services for international AU staff and career counselling for expat partners. For information about taxation, see Taxation aspects of international researchers’ employment by AU.
 

Read more at arts.au.dk/en

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/