Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Research on Practices in the Transdisciplinary Environmental Sciences

Research on Practices in the Transdisciplinary Environmental Sciences

The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) – located in Annapolis, Maryland – seeks proposals from PhD-level researchers to synthesize knowledge of the practices used in transdisciplinary team science and to characterize practices with respect to the challenges of integrating social and environmental sciences in the study of socio-environmental systems using theoretical, computational, and/or empirical approaches from the social sciences and elsewhere. In addition to leading independent synthesis research, this postdoctoral fellow will spend a portion of his/her time collaborating with several research teams also synthesizing practices of team science at SESYNC.

Research questions/topics could come from any of a wide range of disciplines and should advance the effectiveness of team research, as well as the scholarship of this topic. Examples of potentially relevant topics include (but are not limited to):
*Social science: What are effective leadership or facilitation practices for transdisciplinary team science in socio-environmental research?
*Information science: Can an ontology or thesaurus of key terms used for research integration and implementation in transdisciplinary team science be developed and then used to analyze the practices of team science in the socio-environmental domain?
*Environmental sciences: How do team research and implementation practices differ among different types of socio-environmental problems? How and why do they differ with practices in medicine, engineering, and other domains?

Appointments will be through the University of Maryland, and awardees must be based in our facilities in Annapolis, Maryland. This postdoctoral fellowship provides an annual stipend, full University of Maryland employee benefits, and a small annual travel allowance to attend meetings or to meet with collaborators.

Questions? Please email Dr. David Hawthorne at: dhawthorne@sesync.org

Visit http://www.sesync.org/opportunities/postdoc-team-science for complete details. Applications must be received by August 14, 2015.