KU Leuven is offering a PhD position as part of the project “Tourism and Rural Liveability in Remote Locations: Studying Tourism Impacts from a Socio-Spatial Systems Perspective.” This project aims to understand how tourism can develop symbiotically with the socio-economic, cultural, and landscape contexts of rural areas in Georgia and Argentina.
The selected candidate will focus on community-based research concerning social relations, tourism impacts, and institutional/governance relations in the case study areas. Key responsibilities include:
— Conducting participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and focus group conversations to study social community relations and tourism development
— Gathering household-level quantitative data and conducting semi-structured interviews to understand tourism livelihoods
— Focusing on expert interviews with policymakers, community elites, and local/ethnic institutions to study tourism governance and its institutional embedding.
Ideal candidates should have:
— A master's degree in anthropology, geography, social or political sciences, tourism studies, or a related discipline
— Strong proficiency in social theory and analysis
— Experience with qualitative research methods and tourism anthropology/geographies
— Excellent communication skills in both written and oral form
— The ability to think and collaborate across academic disciplines
— Experience with fieldwork and primary qualitative data gathering and analysis
— Proficiency in Spanish and/or Georgian is a plus.
This is a full-time doctoral position initially for one year, extendable up to four years after positive evaluation. The successful candidate will also assist in teaching the department’s courses (±10% of the working time). The start date is around October 1st/November 1st 2024, but minor adjustments can be discussed.
The successful candidate will be part of the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Division of Geography and Tourism within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. The position offers support for participation in international academic conferences and publishing in scientific journals. Career guidance and research-oriented skills development through courses via the Doctoral School will be provided.
Interested candidates should apply by August 29th, 2024. Required documents include CV, names and contact details of two references, and a cover letter (max. 2 pages) discussing your interest in the position, relevant experience, and fit with the project.
Find more information about the position on the KU Leuven's website.
