Gendered perceptions of climate change impacts

The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) offers one fellowship available to candidates who would like to pursue their PhD studies at the institute within the the Strategic Research Programme ICTA-UAB, Units of Excellence ‘María de Maeztu’ Programme (MDM-2015-0552). The position is related to the call “Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores 2019” of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICIU). Deadline for pre-applications at ICTA-UAB is 15th September 2019 (details below). The successful candidate will be hosted at ICTA-UAB (Campus Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain) and will develop her/his PhD training in the project “Gendered perceptions of climate change impacts” supervised by Prof. Victoria Reyes-García and Patrizia Ziveri.

About the project

While climate change is a global phenomenon, its impacts are unequally distributed across ecosystems and social groups. Communities are differently affected by climate change, not only because climate change impacts are highly place-specific, but also because climate change affects them through specific pathways largely mediated by local economic systems and culture. Moreover, perceptions of climate change impacts are likely patterned by individual demographic characteristics, with youngsters and elders and women and men likely observing different local climate change impacts. Specifically, because of their different roles and responsibilities in household production and reproduction, women and men might observe different changes in the physical, biological, and socioeconomic systems and differently perceive the impact of these changes on their livelihood. Individual’s ability to respond to threats and impacts as well as their capacity to harness resources to adapt is also often compromised by gendered roles, statuses, and capacities, which, themselves also intersect with other identities such as race and ethnicity. This PhD project will study gendered perceptions of climate change impacts with a particular focus on marine fisheries and aquaculture in target regions in both developed and developing countries. Data on perception of climate change impacts will be collected at the individual level, with a purposive sample targeting women and men. The PhD student will 1) conduct a literature review on gendered perceptions of climate change impacts; 2) analyze gendered patterns in local perceptions of climate change impacts using the LICCI data set (www.licci.eu); and 3) collect and analyze primary data on climate change impacts, climatology, catch data from industrial and artisanal fishing activities and post-harvest fresh fish processing and distribution in a case study featuring fisheries and aquaculture sector from Liberia (west Africa).

About ICTA-UAB María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence

ICTA-UAB is implementing a Strategic Research Programme intended to consolidate its scientific capabilities, contribute to the leadership of Spanish research and act as an international pole of attraction for talent. The plan addresses major global environmental and sustainability challenges related to anthropogenic climate change, focusing on establishing the current state of knowledge on climate change and its socio-economic impacts, and on putting forward transformative solutions at the local and regional levels.

Eligibility criteria

Applicants should meet the requirements for the Spanish government’s PhD call “Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores 2019” by the MICIU. As the call has not been published yet (expected October-November 2019), you may read the 2018 call to get detailed information about it.

At the time of submission, the candidate:

• Should have not received funding from the Spanish Programme for Research with the aim to pursue his/her PhD studies.
• Should hold a degree that would formally entitle him/her to embark on a doctorate for the academic course 2018-2019 (MSc Degree). It is preferable to have a master’s degree in political ecology, ecological economics, environmental studies, rural development or development studies.
• Should have not been granted any other PhD scholarship with a duration of 12 months or more, and she/he should not have a PhD degree.
• Should be in the position to be legally accepted in the UAB’s Environmental Science and Technology PhD Programme: http://ictaweb.uab.cat/formacio_detalls.php?id=6K.
• Advanced Spanish and English speaking and writing levels required, with additional languages being an asset.
• Basic statistical analysis skills also required, and experience working in rural environments desirable.

Responsibilities

The selected candidate would register in the Environmental Sciences and Technology PhD Programme of the UAB and she/he should be ready to start the fellowship in 2020, ideally as soon as she/he receives the Spanish government’s grant (probably in the spring of 2020). She/he will be responsible for collecting data for the project and develop her/his PhD independently, with the support of the project’s supervisors and the Laseg’s research group. She/he will also be expected to participate in the activities organized in the framework of María de Maeztu Research Programme and will have to present intermediate and final research results at ICTA-UAB seminars/workshops and at international conferences.

Hiring conditions

Hiring conditions are set by the Spanish MICIU, and they will be detailed in the Call for “Contratos predoctorales 2019”. Here are the main features for the previous call (note that quantities may slightly change):

• 4-year PhD fellowship with an annual evaluation. The gross salary will be approximately 16.422€ (excluding social security). In the case the PhD is completed and defended in 3 years, the fellowship will be renewed and converted into a postdoctoral fellowship (gross salary 19.000€, excluding social security).
• The programme also includes a travel package to undertake research visits to other research centres during the duration of the fellowship.

Application procedure

Interested candidates should send the application to the ICTA María de Maeztu Management Unit (pr.mdm.icta@uab.cat) by 15th September 2019, 5 pm CEST, to receive full consideration. The application should include:

• A letter of interest (maximum 1000 characters).
• An updated Curriculum Vitae, including relevant jobs, activities, trainings, publications, etc. (if any).
• A statement declaring that the applicant has not benefited from a grant previous to August 2019 to pursue her/his PhD studies of a duration of more than 12 months.
• Proof of her/his MSc Degree.
• The names, email addresses and telephone numbers of two confidential referees whom we might contact.

Please send your application to pr.mdm.icta@uab.cat as an attachment (in one single pdf-file) with “PhD Gender” as subject. There will be a pre-selection of candidates, including an interview phase in early October. The three most suitable candidates will be invited to apply to the Spanish government fellowship call, which as noted above will open in October-November. The best among the three pre-selected candidates will be chosen by the MICIU and the project supervisors, and they will be informed about their application’s outcome by the end of 2019.