Research Fellow

Sustainable Industrial Ecosystems

University of Surrey - Department of Sociology

Grade Level 4

Ref. 7613

Salary Range - From £28,983 Salary Range - To £32,620

Close Date Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Evolution and Resilience of Industrial Ecosystems programme (ERIE) is a new project funded by EPSRC under its ‘Complexity Science for the Real World’ theme that will address a series of fundamental questions relating to the application of complexity science to social and economic systems. The research aims to embed cutting-edge complexity science methods and techniques within prototype computational tools that will provide policymakers with realistic and reliable platforms for strategy testing in real-world socio-economic systems.

We are now looking for a researcher to focus on one of the case studies. The work will involve building a picture of the development of industrial symbiosis in the South Humber Bank region, and identifying potential future developments. This will include analysis of the actors involved in the networks, their decision making strategies, and their interactions (e.g. material, energy, and information flows; economic transactions; collaboration/competition). It will involve working with modellers to develop appropriate agent-based models of the system, which will ultimately be used for interactive exploration of policy options.

This role may appeal to someone with a background in economic geography, industrial ecology or a related discipline. It represents an opportunity to develop a substantial base of empirical work to support research and build on the theoretical foundations in these fields. Interaction with stakeholders will be core to the work: experience in and enthusiasm for managing stakeholder interaction is considered essential. An excellent publication record, the ability to innovate and the ability to work in a multidisciplinary environment are requirements for the post, which will be available from July for two years.

ERIE is a collaboration between the University of Surrey’s Departments of Computing, Mathematics and Sociology, and the Centre for Environmental Strategy. This post is one of four funded from the programme.

For informal discussions about the post, contact Professor Nigel Gilbert at n.gilbert@surrey.ac.uk or Dr Lauren Basson, at l.basson@surrey.ac.uk.

To apply on line, please visit http://www.surrey.ac.uk/vacancies. Alternatively please contact Rebecca Varcoe via email on r.varcoe@surrey.ac.uk or by telephone on + 44(0)1483 689646 quoting reference 7613. To send an application, please post to Rebecca Varcoe, HR Assistant, Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH UK.

The closing date for applications is 20 June 2010.

The interview board will be held on Thursday 15 July 2010.

The University is committed to an Equal Opportunities Policy