This two-year postdoc is an exciting opportunity for an early career researcher to continue to develop their research skills and grow their research pipeline in an interesting and rich field context.
You will work closely with Dr Rebecca (Bex) Hewett on a longitudinal study in partnership with the Social Innovation Academy ( SINA ), a network of academies supporting disadvantaged young people to become social entrepreneurs. The fieldwork in this project will take place in one or more SINA academy; based across multiple African countries (originating in Uganda), Nepal, and soon Germany.
This position offers you an intellectually open environment, strong methodological support and the freedom to develop an independent research trajectory while contributing to a coherent, high‑impact project. If you enjoy working with rich data, care deeply about theory, and want your work to have both scholarly and societal impact, this role is for you.
As a postdoctoral fellow you will be part of the department of People and Organisations () at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) (). We are an exceptionally supportive, research-focused, international group of faculty and PhDs.
We take pride in our supportive, high-performance research culture. Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) ( ranks third in Europe in terms of 2020-2024 UTD top journal output. RSM’s faculty members routinely publish in top-tier journals like the
Academy of Management Journal ,
Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Management, Organization Science and
Management Science . Additionally, RSM faculty members regularly serve as editors and associate editors of top journals like
Academy of Management Journal ,
Academy of Management Review ,
Journal of Management and
Journal of Management Studies . We are also proud of our outstanding PhD programme, which has a strong record of placements at institutions like MIT, INSEAD, HEC, Cambridge University (Judge), University of Warwick, University of South Carolina (Moore), Aalto University, BI Norwegian, and McGill University.
Job description SINA provides a rich empirical context to explore many potential questions, puzzles, and phenomena. Our research could draw on democratic organisation and participation, the experiences of young people, their learning processes, community dynamics (within SINA and more broadly), social entrepreneurship, the functioning of this network organisation as a whole, or social and institutional dynamics in the local context. Bex Hewett became interested in SINA via their strong focus on decentralised organising and the principle of “freesponsibility” (freedom and responsibility) that both guide the learning experiences of young people. Bex has a particular interest in exploring process and system dynamics.
The focus of the project will be driven partly by the interests of the successful candidate, with SINA as active partners in the research. We will work together to co-create research questions, study design, and developing conclusions. Throughout the project you will be working closely with Bex and collaborators at RSM and elsewhere (TBD based on the decided focus of the project). The research culture and resources set by RSM’s research institute, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) (), aim to provide you with the best conditions in which to conduct outstanding research.
The project aims to create scholarly impact (via conference presentations and high impact journal publications); practical impact via recommendations to SINA; and broader societal impact via knowledge dissemination activities.
The ideal candidate has experience conducting organisational ethnography, or at least minimum ethnographic methods (including field observation and interviews). In addition to having the required strong social and communication skills essential for ethnographic work, you will bring your experience to actively contribute across the research process, including; data collection (e.g., observation, interviewing), data management (field-note taking, archival record management), analysis, theory development, and writing papers for leading journals. It would be beneficial if you have experience of fieldwork in the Global South, particularly in one of the countries in which SINA operates, but this is not essential. We encourage you to initiate new research questions, explore methodological innovations, and develop an independent research profile that complements the broader project.
Requirements
You will bring your experience of qualitative methods to explore process and/or system dynamics across a range of potential phenomena in the context of SINA as a field site.
For this position:
- You possess a doctorate degree in management, organisation studies, sociology, anthropology, political economy, or other related qualitative, social science domains.
- Your PhD research made use of ethnographic methods.
- You have completed your PhD, or you may be in your final year of dissertation research with a clear plan for completion.
This is a part-time (80%) temporary position with a contract for 30.4 hours per week starting early 2027 (date to be mutually agreed). The contract duration will be for two years. There may be the possibility to extend the contract to 100% via a small teaching load, but this is not guaranteed.
Contract terms
We offer you an internationally oriented and varied position in an enthusiastic team, with excellent employment conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU).
This position is 0.8 FTE, and the start date is early 2027. You will be based at Campus Woudestein in Rotterdam at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM).
The salary depends on your knowledge and experience, and for a full-time appointment (38 hours) would amount to between €4,925 and €6,682 gross per month (Scale 11), in accordance with the CAO-NU.
The contract will be entered into for a period of one (1) year and, if proven suitable and continued in the same position, under unchanged (financial and/or organisational) circumstances, will be extended for a second year.
Everything else we have to offer can be found below:
- Everything you need for a good work-life balance : working from home by arrangement, 41 holiday days based on a 40-hour working week, 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end bonus, and a significant discount on a membership at our campus sports centre .
- A sustainable, inclusive and diverse working environment ( with an open culture where you can be yourself and we look out for one another and for the world. Take advantage of our cycling allowance, for example, or participate in networks such as Young@EUR , Fame , or QuEUR.
- Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget and free access to our university library .
- A good pension with ABP to which we contribute two-thirds, discounts on various collective insurance schemes with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, Allianz, and a commuting, working-from-home and internet allowance.
- Combining your job with parenthood, or is this something you're planning for the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid supplementary birth leave for partners, and there is a childcare facility on campus (childcare at your own expense).
- Moving to the Netherlands for a job at EUR? You may be able to make use of the Expat Scheme if you meet the requirements of the Dutch Tax Authority, and our Dual Career Programme also helps your partner find a great job.