Call for applications for an Aspiration Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Victoria
Starting date: 1 September 2022, or sooner
Duration: 2 years
Project: Just incomes and public policy
The project: Just incomes and public policy
In the context of a larger project that formulates a theory of just incomes, one of the central questions is that of devising policy instruments to implement an ideal of distributive justice. In the context of global pressures on progressive tax schedules, new tools need to be developed to reduce unjust income inequalities in innovative ways by addressing both poverty and excessive income and wealth.
Specifically, these tools need to tackle the feasibility constraints faced by progressive policy reform both due to the global mobility of capital and, to a lesser extent, labour and due to the differential bargaining power this mobility bestows in renegotiating the social contract. Against this background, global cooperation is a necessary condition to make progressive policies feasible.
The research interests of the postdoctoral fellow are expected to fit into this broader context. The fellow will be required to have a background in political philosophy / political theory and to be familiar with global theories of justice in order to fit into the larger normative orientation of the project. Given the interdisciplinary character of the project, competences in public policy questions and in economics will be considered an asset.
The institutional context:
The postdoctoral fellow will have a double affiliation with the
Centre for Global Studies and the
Philosophy Department. The Centre has a mandate to promote collaborative, multidisciplinary, and cross-regional research and engage in connecting research in the field of global studies to local, national, and international communities. The Philosophy Department houses several faculty members with a research interest in questions of distributive justice. The fellowship falls under one of the five impact areas, namely
social justice and equity, targeted by the
Aspiration 2030 Research Strategy of the University of Victoria. The postdoctoral fellow will be supervised by Peter Dietsch (philosophy) in the context of his SSHRC grant “Just income – towards an economic theory of distributive justice.”
Selection procedure:
The selection procedure will take place in two stages:
For STAGE 1, deadline January 10, 2022:
- Your CV
- An article published or written in the last three years
- A summary of the proposed research project (1000 words max.)
- A transcript of your graduate studies
- 2 letters of reference (to be sent directly to pdietsch@uvic.ca)
- An indication of any available complementary external funding
For STAGE 2, deadline February 1, 2022:
Only one candidate will be retained for Stage 2 and selection at the university level. Please refer to the information about Funding Stream 1 available
here. Results will be announced in March 2022.
General rules:
- Candidates must have obtained their PhD within 2 years prior to the starting date, unless Special Circumstances (delays) apply.
- The PhD defense must be completed before September 1, 2022.
- Postdoctoral fellows who currently hold or have previously held a postdoctoral appointment at UVic are not eligible.
- See here for other conditions.
The position offers:
- A gross salary of $50,000 per year.
- An individual work station at the Centre for Global Studies.
- Access to the university services of UVic (libraries, etc.).
- Assistance for the organisation of the stay.
The fellow is expected to:
- Pursue the research project they submitted.
- Participate in the academic activities of the Centre for Global Studies and the Philosophy Department (conferences, seminars, etc.).
- Be present at the Centre for Global Studies on a regular basis (Covid-19 regulations permitting).
- Teach one course in the Philosophy Department during the second year of the fellowship.
- Apply for one source of funding external funding a year (unless successful in the first year).
Selection criteria:
- The quality of the research proposal and the candidate’s past record.
- The fit with the just income project and with the institutional context.
- Preference will be given to postdoctoral candidates who advance Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in their respective discipline(s).
