POSITIONS / DC3

Investigating and amplifying practices for circular design

Recruiting university

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT-EU), Barcelona (Spain)

Main supervisor

Professor Laurene Vaughan, School of Design, RMIT, Melbourne (Australia)

Co-supervisor

Professor Danae Esparza Lozano, School of Design, Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering (UVic-UCC), Barcelona (Spain)

Other co-supervisors/mentors and organisations

Cris Noguer (Holon, Spain) (mentor); Julie Hjort (Danish Design Centre, Denmark) (mentor); Dr Oliver Cotsaftis, School of Design, RMIT, Melbourne (Australia) (co-supervisor)

Duration

36 months

Required profile

A design researcher or professional with expertise in service design, strategic design, or design thinking, and preferably, knowledge or experience in sustainable transitions and co-design for public participation. A Master’s degree in design, policy studies, sustainability management, computer science, social sciences, or related fields is required.

Researcher’s mentality

We are looking for individuals who are open-minded, curious, enthusiastic, and precise. They should be proactive, capable of working independently, and enjoy collaborating within interdisciplinary fields and sectors. Strong personal motivation and flexibility for engaging in design research and in a dual doctoral degree is essential.

Desired skills

The ideal candidate should have an interest in design practices and the evolution of socio-technical systems, should be able to adopt a systemic perspective and be open to developing qualitative research methodology skills. Strong social and empathy-based skills, effective organisational and communication abilities, proficiency in spoken and written English, good academic writing skills, and visualization skills are highly valued.

Special objectives

To investigate and integrate studies of co-design, circular design and climate transitions to develop a basis for just circular transitions.
To develop case studies of examples of circular design.
To synthesise results and produce a conceptual framework for designers, businesses, government and civil society organisations to amplify opportunities for circular design.

Secondments

Danish Design Center (Denmark) (3 months) with mentor Julie Hjort to integrate studies of co-design, circular design and climate transitions to develop a basis for just circular transitions.
Holon (Spain) (6 months) to develop case studies and analysis investigating how practices for circular design are amplified and institutionalised, including Holon’s projects.

Gross salary

We offer full-time employment contract. The annual funding available to the university RMIT-EU for this position DC3 is 44.450,40 €. Please note: this is not the gross annual salary for the candidate. This figure refers to the total amount of funding available to the university that will hire the doctoral candidate, taking into account the living and mobility allowance funding from the EU MSCA as well as national laws. Applicants should be aware that their annual gross salary may well be significantly less than this amount, once the university has covered costs they incur such as pension and national insurance, subject to national laws. The annual gross salary the candidate receives will also be subject to tax, employment and pension deductions, depending on national employment laws.

According to the indications of the MSCA-DN program, the above amount may be increased by 660€ per month for researchers with family obligations.

This doctoral position is funded by the EU MSCA Programme.