PhD candidate on forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands at KITLV / KNAW

PhD Opportunity: Forest Conservation in the Thai-Myanmar Borderlands at KITLV / KNAW

The Project

The project Tracing Evolutionary Pathways in Climate Adaptation in Southeast Asia (TRACE) is a European Research Council-funded Advanced Grant (ERC Adv) led by Prof. Diana Suhardiman and hosted by the KITLV in Leiden. TRACE investigates how evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation are created, sustained, and changed over time. The project explores which actors and symbiotic relations connect various place-based knowledge systems and past knowledge (re)production processes with present and future adaptation strategies. It examines the institutions, local institutional rules, arrangements, and practices that serve as cultural and institutional foundations (re)shaping climate adaptation practices over time, and analyzes the forces and conditions that shape types of agency and political spaces of engagement crucial for the creation, sustenance, and reproduction of locally nested inter-scalar adaptive networks.

We address these questions by focusing on and collaborating with communities living in four interrelated socio-ecological systems in Southeast Asia:

• Upland cultivation in Laos
• Irrigated agriculture in Indonesia
• Forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands
• Sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines

Each of the four PhD candidates will identify and trace evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation of one specific socio-ecological system. The project team consists of a principal investigator and two Postdoc researchers studying grassroots adaptation strategies, and is now seeking 4 PhD candidates to join the team. Each PhD candidate will also engage with the respective country researcher team. This research project is led by KITLV in collaboration with various partners in the Global South, including national universities and civil society organizations in Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

The Position: PhD candidate to work on forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands

The 4 PhD candidates will carry out historical and/or ethnographic research to connect grassroots knowledge systems, cultural values, and agency shaping of the past, how they have evolved over time, and how they are translated to present and future adaptation strategies. With Southeast Asia as the geographical focus, each PhD candidate will identify key knowledge systems and institutional nodes, and trace evolutionary pathways of local communities’ adaptation strategies in specific socio-ecological systems. Treating climate adaptation as an integral part of livelihood (re)making, each PhD candidate will examine how processes of knowledge (re)production are embedded in existing power relations and contribute to the development of transdisciplinary concepts and grassroots ontological frameworks in climate governance research.

What will you do?

Within the research project, you will work on your PhD research. You will address the project’s main research question of how evolutionary pathways of communities’ adaptation strategies are (re)shaped by the politics of knowledge reproduction, cultural values, and agency shaping. Your project will include a comprehensive literature review and extensive fieldwork (a total of 1 year) on forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands. During this time, you will collaborate with country researchers by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews, documenting oral histories, engaging in participant observation, collecting relevant written and audiovisual material, and/or employing other methods in which you are experienced (as outlined in your research proposal).

You will also collaborate within a team context, which includes four PhD candidates, a Principal Investigator, a Postdoctoral Researcher, and a Research Coordinator. This collaboration will involve the co-organization of academic and public events, both in the respective countries where your research takes place and regionally as part of the project’s cross-learning process and regional network formation.

Job requirements

• A Master in Social Sciences, specializing in the fields of Human Geography, History, Natural Resource Governance, Anthropology, and/or Development Sociology
• Experience in conducting ethnographic field research in natural resource governance, particularly in the context of forest governance in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands
• Experience and good track record in communities’ engagement in Karen state and in particular the Salween Peace Park
• Experience in conducting:
  • in-depth, qualitative, participatory research methods; or
  • multiple level institutional and policy analysis; or
  • historical research through oral history
• Willingness to learn how to do systematic archival research to identify and trace knowledge systems of the past and how they have evolved over time, including how they are embedded in governance structure, cultural values, and power interplay
• Willingness to learn how to work with large databases to understand long term patterns related to (but not necessarily limited to) climatic change (e.g. rainfall pattern, food production patterns, forest covers, and land use change)
• Strong interest in collaborating with local communities and other key partners in the country you will be working in (e.g. national universities, civil society organizations) in co-designing and conducting the research
• Fluency in at least three of these languages: English, Karen, Burmese
• You are a team player and have strong affinity to work in interdisciplinary and multi-cultural (research) teams

About the KITLV
The Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV-KNAW) is an Academy research institute. The KITLV conducts interdisciplinary and comparative historical research, focusing on Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on Indonesia and the ‘Dutch’ Caribbean. It is particularly interested in issues such as state formation, violence and citizenship, processes of mobility, and the formation of ethnic and national identity. KITLV is active in the humanities, social sciences, and comparative area studies and works closely with Leiden University.

Terms of employment
Depending on education and experience, the minimum salary is 3,059 and the maximum salary is 3,881 gross per month for a full-time appointment (scale P cao Nederlandse Universiteiten/KNAW). This is exclusive of 8% vacation allowance, 8.3% year-end bonus, travel allowance, internet allowance, home working allowance, and pension accrual with ABP.

The KNAW offers its staff an excellent package of secondary benefits. A package that meets the different needs of employees depending on their stage of life, lifestyle or career ambitions. For example, by working an extra two hours a week, it is possible to increase the number of days off from 29 to 41 days a year (with full-time employment).

Applying for a Certificate of Good Conduct can be part of the employment procedure.

For questions you can contact Prof. dr. D. Suhardiman at suhardiman@kitlv.nl.

Also note that there is currently an acute shortage of housing in the Netherlands, and the institute is unable to provide accommodation. While we can offer advice on searching for housing, a proactive approach on your part is essential.