Deadline: Applications received by May 31, 2023, will receive full consideration. Expected to begin Fall 2023, preferably by September 1, with some flexibility on start date. For more information on the Collective or the positions, please contact Kim Marion Suiseeya: (kimberly.suiseeya@northwestern.edu)
Kim Marion Suiseeya (Political Science, Northwestern University) and Josiah Hester (Computer Engineering, Georgia Tech) co-direct the STRONG Manoomin Collective. The Collective supports Indigenous-led, data-driven resilience strategies through sovereignty-affirming and culturally empowering collaborative research. We currently have two funded projects, (1) “Strengthening Resilience of Ojibwe Nations across Generations” and (2) the Coastlines and Peoples Hub’s “Research for Indigenous-led, Collaborative Environmental Governance (RICE-Gov),” each seeking a Postdoctoral Scholar in the field of Indigenous environmental governance (1 position/project). These are two-year positions with the possibility of renewal. More details about each position below.
We are seeking researchers with a PhD in Political Science, Sociology, Human Geography, Anthropology, or related social science disciplines. The search is open to ABD candidates close to degree and PhDs who received their degrees no later than 2020. The Postdoctoral Scholars will be part of a large, multi- and transdisciplinary research collective that co-produces tribally driven research to support long-term resilience to climate change. Successful candidates for the positions will conduct field-based, empirical research in the Western Great Lakes region of the United States.
Excellent candidates for these positions will demonstrate a strong commitment to Indigenous and/or decolonizing methodologies; experience co-producing and/or collaborating with Native Nations and Indigenous communities; subject area expertise in Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, environmental governance, and/or resilience; and experience with a variety of qualitative and/or participatory methodologies, including empirical environmental justice analysis, ethnography, interviewing, surveys, focus groups, and/or institutional analysis. Applicants should demonstrate interdisciplinary literacy and be familiar with or willing to learn approaches to integrate Indigenous Environmental Governance frameworks, cyberinfrastructure, and advanced data science.
In addition to relationship building, collaborative data collection and analysis, and mentoring, the postdoctoral researchers will be expected to:
- Contribute to research papers for publication
- Conduct literature reviews
- Present research for multiple audiences, including Indigenous communities, academic conferences, policy audiences, and the general public
- Contribute to project management, including supporting project reporting, coordination, and communication
Finally, successful applicants are expected to uphold the Collective’s commitment to respect the rights of Native Nations and Indigenous communities in making decisions related to why, how, and by whom knowledge, information, and data are collected, used, or shared.
Applicants should indicate which of the positions they are applying for (either one or both). Details provided below. Both positions are open to ABD candidates close to degree and PhDs who received their degrees since 2020. Expected to begin Fall 2023 with flexibility on start date.
Review will begin immediately and continue until the positions are filled. Applications received by May 31, 2023 will receive full consideration. To apply, please submit your cover letter, CV, writing sample, and three contacts for references.
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Postdoctoral Researcher: Strengthening Sovereignty for Resilience
Strengthening Resilience of Ojibwe Nations across Generations project (STRONG; PI: Suiseeya) is a tribally driven effort whose vision is to enhance disaster anticipation, preparation, mitigation, and response in Indigenous communities by building and deploying cyberinfrastructure that integrates Indigenous knowledge, advanced sensing technologies and data systems in ways that support and strengthen Ojibwe Nations’ sovereignty and resilience to climate change. During STRONG’s planning efforts, Ojibwe Nation leaders made clear that their ability to effectively implement resilience strategies requires recognition of their sovereignty and respect for their authority, legitimacy, and credibility to govern and to exercise treaty rights by the US and state governmental agencies. To strengthen resilience, these leaders identified the need to collect and integrate new environmental data within a culturally appropriate resilience framework. The STRONG project aims to understand the relationships between Indigenous sovereignty and resilience to climate change and support co-development of governance frameworks and tools to strengthen resilience.
The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to conduct field-based research to understand the empirical relationship between sovereignty and resilience. The research will involve working with partner Native Nations and communities to analyze how multi-level governance systems shape sovereignty and resilience practices, experiences, and outcomes; and exploring how multi-modal data can inform and strengthen sovereignty. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to use multiple, mixed methods including archival research, interviews, focus groups, empirical environmental justice analysis, and institutional analysis to assess sovereignty and wellbeing, and inform development and measurement of sovereignty-affirming resilience indicators. Ideally, the candidate will also contribute to development of STRONG’s decision-support cyberinfrastructure, Noondawind, a dynamic online community that supports Ojibwe analysis and interpretation of socio-ecological data for asserting sovereignty.
Postdoctoral Researcher: RICE-Gov
Research for Indigenous-led, Collaborative Environmental Governance (RICE-Gov) is part of the NSF-funded Coastlines and Peoples (CoPe, Award No. 2209226, PI: Hester) Research Hub examining manoomin (wild rice) resilience in the Western Great Lakes region of the United States. Central to Ojibwe lifeways and resilience, manoomin is also a keystone sentinel species for understanding and conserving Great Lakes coastal wetlands. As part of a broader tribally driven research initiative at Northwestern University, the Hub seeks to support Indigenous-led, data-driven resilience strategies for manoomin and increase participation of Great Lakes Indigenous Peoples in science through culturally empowering and sovereignty-affirming collaborative research.
Currently, hundreds of Tribal, governmental, private, and community agencies and organizations govern the manoomin range using a complicated, sometimes overlapping and often competing set of public and private treaties, laws, regulations, policies, and norms, all of which operate at different governance levels. As part of the Hub, RICE-Gov aims to understand how such fragmented governance presents challenges and opportunities for advancing manoomin resilience.
The postdoctoral research will be expected to conduct field-based research to understand the governance dynamics around manoomin. The research will involve analyzing the institutional landscapes for manoomin governance, identifying opportunities for integrating sovereignty-affirming knowledge practices into policy-making, and develop strategies and capacity-building plans for translating real-time data into real-time governance for manoomin resilience. The postdoctoral researcher will be expected to work with tribal partners to convene iterative workshops focused on strengthening reciprocal relationships through understanding the human and social dimensions of manoomin environments (2) support development of virtual interfaces and opportunities for collaboratively analyzing scientific knowledge and Indigenous knowledge to inform multiple evidence base (MEB) policy-making; and, (3) proactively and responsively analyze governance architectures and policy options to contribute to development and realization of an Indigenous Environmental Governance framework that convenes relatives and responsibilities for advancing manoomin resilience across the region.
Mentorship and Training Opportunities
Successful candidates will join a university with a broad, interdisciplinary community of scholars affiliated with programs such as the Center for Diversity and Democracy (CSDD), the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the Institute for Policy Research (IPR), the Global Poverty Research Lab, the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR), the Environmental Humanities workshop, and the newly established graduate Environment Cluster whose research and pedagogy engages themes related to environmental justice and policy. Additionally, successful applicants will each work with PIs to co-create a mentoring plan and individual development plan (IDP) to support each Postdoctoral Scholar in advancing their career goals. In addition to diverse opportunities to publish interdisciplinary work with diverse teams, team member will have the opportunity to present their work to broad networks in academia, national labs, and with funding agencies. Trainees will also have opportunities to mentor graduate and undergraduate students, participate in professional development programming through NU’s Graduate School and the Searle Center for Advanced Learning and Teaching.
The Northwestern campus sits on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations. We acknowledge and honor the original people of the land upon which Northwestern University stands, and the Native people who remain on this land today. We also acknowledge and honor the University’s historical relationship with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. We are committed to building an intellectually vibrant, culturally inclusive, and academically diverse community of faculty, and we welcome applications from scholars of diverse backgrounds and those historically underrepresented in the academy.
Northwestern requires all staff and faculty to be vaccinated against COVID-19, subject to limited exceptions. For more information, please visit our COVID-19 and Campus Updates website. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States, but the University will consider applicants who require sponsorship for employment visa status.
