Postdoc in Environmental Change

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Are you interested in the potential of citizens' assemblies and other democratic innovations to drive climate transformation? Come join us!

Work assignments

The Environmental Change division (tema Miljöförändring) at the Department of Thematic Studies is looking to hire a two-year postdoctoral researcher specializing in democratic innovations.

You will be part of the Formas-funded research project Democratic Innovations for Climate Transformation (2027-2029), which entails a systematic and interdisciplinary knowledge synthesis of how climate citizens’ assemblies and related democratic processes can contribute to system transformation. The project explores what the existing research literature tells us about the political impact of climate assemblies, how they might contribute to broader systemic transformations, and what this means for Swedish climate governance.

As postdoc on the project, you will take a leading role in carrying out the systematic literature review across academic databases and grey literature, following established standards for searching, screening, and quality assessment. You will contribute centrally to the comparative synthesis of findings across studies, and to identifying evidence gaps in how deliberative processes connect to system-level transformation. You will also help design and facilitate stakeholder dialogues with Swedish municipalities and practitioners, which ensures that the resulting knowledge is robust and genuinely useful for policy and practice.

You will work in close collaboration with the project’s principal investigator and a research team from LiU and Stockholm Resilience Centre. There is considerable room to help shape the project’s methodological choices and analytical framework, and to co-author academic outputs arising from the review and synthesis work.

As postdoc, you will principally carry out research. A certain amount of teaching may be part of your duties, up to a maximum of 20% of working hours.

Qualifications

To be qualified to take employment as postdoc, you must have been awarded a doctoral degree or have a foreign degree that is deemed to be equivalent to a doctoral degree. This degree must have been awarded at the latest by the point at which LiU makes its decision to employ you.

Your doctoral degree should preferably have been awarded no more than three years ago. If there are special reasons, a degree awarded more than three years ago may be accepted. Special reasons include sick leave, parental leave, trade union positions of trust, service in the defense, or other similar circumstances, as well as service or assignments relevant to the subject area.

We are looking for someone with a doctoral degree in social sciences, humanities, or related fields, and a demonstrated familiarity with the research area of democratic innovations – for example, deliberative democracy, citizens’ assemblies, participatory governance, or environmental/climate governance. Experience carrying out systematic literature reviews and others forms of qualitative content analysis is considered a merit. So is prior experience with stakeholder involvement and co-production through workshops and similar formats.

You are curious, rigorous, and comfortable moving between the fine-grained work of systematic screening and coding and the bigger-picture task of synthesizing what it all means. You enjoy working collaboratively, taking initiative, and are able to communicate complex research to non-academic audiences, such as policymakers and practitioners. A strong command of written and spoken English is required.

The workplace

You will be employed at the Department of Thematic Studies where you will be affiliated with the Environmental Change theme. You can read about the workplace here.

Beyond the project team and the Environmental Change theme, you will also have the opportunity to be affiliated with LiU's Green Democratisation Laboratory, a new research environment funded by Mistra (2026–2032) that explores how democratic innovations can strengthen public support for climate action amid accelerating climate change and political polarisation. This offers additional opportunities for intellectual exchange, collaboration, and engagement with a wider community of researchers working on green democratic theory, just transition, and participatory, deliberative, and arts-based methods.

The employment

This employment is a temporary full-time contract of two years. Starting date is Januari 1, 2027, or as soon as possible.

Salary and employment benefits

At Linköping University, salaries are set individually and differentiated, in accordance with the applicable collective agreements (RALS/RALS-T) and the university’s salary-setting guidelines.

More information about employee benefits is available here.

Union representatives

Information about union representatives, see Help for applicants.

Application procedure

Apply for the position by clicking the “Apply” button. Your application must be received no later than 27 November, 2026.

Applications and documents received after the date above will not be considered.

Please attach your selected research publications electronically, in pdf or word format, in the application template. Research publications, e.g. monographs, which cannot be sent electronically should be sent in three sets by mail to the University Registrar at Linköping University, University Registrar, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden. The publications must be received by Linköping University no later than the deadline for application.

Please note that printed publications will not be returned. They will be archived at Linköping University.

In the event of a discrepancy between the English translation of the job announcement and the Swedish original, the Swedish version shall take precedent.

We welcome applicants with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives - diversity enriches our work and helps us grow. Preserving everybody's equal value, rights and opportunities is a natural part of who we are. Read more about our work with: Equal opportunities.




We look forward to receiving your application!





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