Call for Expressions of Interest: Ph.D studentships in “Outscaling a
citizen science approach to climate change using agrobiodiversity”
Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University
Deadline for application:
2 December 2015
Preferred start of position:
5 January 2016
The Pennsylvania State University Department of Geography in
conjunction with the CGIAR’s Bioversity International is pleased to
announce the new availability of two project-defined Ph.D studentships
for the research project “Outscaling a citizen science approach to
climate change using agrobiodiversity.” These two institutions are
co-funding full studentships with entry at either the PhD level (4
years, with Master’s) or the Master’s level (5 years, with Bachelor’s).
The students will be co-advised by Dr. Karl Zimmerer (GeoSyntheSES Lab,
Penn State) and Dr. Jacob van Etten (Bioversity). Applicants must have a
degree in geography, anthropology, environmental science, ecology, or a
similar field and have broad interests in engaged critical approaches
to the integrated environmental/agricultural sciences and social
sciences. Carrying out significant field research is essential.
Background and specialized knowledge in sciences applied to geospatial
systems, plant breeding, and food production are also of interest.
The first studentship is entitled “New Cognitive Geographies of
Citizen Science-I: Seed Systems and Spatiotemporal Reasoning.” The focus
of this research is related to how citizen science approaches influence
the understanding and comparative reasoning capacities of participants
across the landscapes of production and potentially consumption in space
and time.
The second studentship is entitled “New Cognitive Geographies of
Citizen Science-II: Social Practice, Institutions, and Transformation.”
This research will focus on the situatedness of landscape and spatial
cognition in social interactions and institutions of agriculture and
citizen science including systems of research-and-development,
innovation, and new technologies.
Each studentship will also be provided with summer travel funds for
research. Responsibilities will include thesis research combining
original fieldwork and theoretical contributions focused on the
studentship and sustained general contributions to the project
“Outscaling a citizen science approach,” in addition to the standard
expectations of the graduate program. Students will benefit from and be
located in existing research groups including the GeoSyntheSES Lab and
Bioversity’s Citizen Science network. The PhD study will involve
comparative case studies in India, Ethiopia and/or Central America, with
field support from Bioversity International.
These studentships are designed to provide highly relevant research
that will determine how science can better facilitate appropriate
understanding of climate adaptation in complex, dynamic systems and how
innovation systems can be transformed to allow for transformative
climate action. Interested candidates should first send their
Expressions of Interest comprised of the CV and a brief 1-page statement
describing their research interests and qualifications to Karl Zimmerer
(
ksz2@psu.edu) and Jacob van Etten (<
j.vanetten@cgiar.org>) by
December 2, 2015. Full applications must be submitted by
December 5, 2015 through the Graduate application process of Pennsylvania State University (
http://www.gradschool.psu.
edu/prospective-students/how-
to-apply/new-applicants/). Further information on the Penn State Department of Geography graduate program is available at
http://www.geog.psu.edu/.