Postdoc Position in Human Geography: Money as Infrastructure

1. Introduction

The Department of Geography, Planning and Environment is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to develop and carry out an independent research project on the theme of ‘Money as Infrastructure: the struggle over the means of money circulation in a cash/cashless world’. 

2. Job description

The project is funded by an incentive grant and will be supervised by Dr Harry Pettit. The project aims to examine the role of changing infrastructures of money circulation in mediating social relations and inequalities. In many economies across the world, there has been a dramatic shift towards digitalised cashless payment systems. However, this transition is far from uniform. Many governments are promoting policies to protect the use of cash, while in some contexts cash is resurging due to failures in banking and digital payment systems.

The means by which money circulates through the economy has a huge impact on social justice. However, there remains a scarcity of knowledge regarding the consequences of the physical and digital infrastructures of money. How do these infrastructures transform relations between different economic actors? What forms of extraction and exploitation, alongside resistance and survival, are opened up by physical and digital infrastructures of money circulation? 

Dr Harry Pettit focuses on these questions in Beirut, Lebanon, which has seen the reemergence of a cash economy after a financial crisis which began in 2019. 

You will conduct an ethnographic research project into a set of actors either in Beirut, Lebanon, or another context (in the MENA region or beyond), and investigate the social relations and inequalities produced through circulations of money. You will conduct this research independently, with the project designed to be open to suit the specific desires of the postdoctoral researcher. You will also work in collaboration with Harry Pettit, for example through co-writing publications, organising workshops or panels at academic conferences, and non-academic outputs and activities. You will also contribute to departmental teaching/supervision, again in collaboration with Harry Pettit, within the range of your expertise.

This postdoctoral researcher position involves 20% teaching duties (including thesis supervision).

3. Profile

• You have, or are close to completing, a PhD in Human Geography, Anthropology, or Sociology (or a related discipline).
• Your research interests include the anthropology of money, critical economic geography, economic anthropology, care practices, critical infrastructure studies, mobility/circulation, labour relations, and debt relations, as evidenced by peer-reviewed publications.
• You have a strong command of ethnographic research methods.
• You are fluent in English (excellent oral and written communication skills), and Arabic (excellent oral and written communication skills).
• You can work both independently and in collaboration with others.
• You are able to teach classes related to economic and urban geography, with an emphasis on care and the development of capitalism.

Desirables:

• You have experience conducting fieldwork in Beirut, and/or cities in the MENA region.
• You have experience teaching and supervising undergraduate students.
• You have experience conducting research in a way that is connected to social struggles, as demonstrated through public engagement and outreach activities.

4. We are

As part of the Geography, Planning and Environment department (GPE), the Human Geography Chair Group is a growing, dynamic and collaborative collective of engaged scholars. Our teaching activities specialise in Urban and Cultural Geography, Border Studies and Migration, Geopolitics of Conflict and Energy, as well as Critical Economic Geography. Our teaching programmes are informed by our research agendas. Our current group of Geographers at Radboud University has substantially enriched conceptual, methodological and empirical debates on, among others, urban public space, (b)ordering of spaces, regional economic innovation systems, migrant transnationalism and mobility/immobility, cross-border governance, processes of securitisation, geographies of outer space, geographies of care, capitalist extraction, energy and coloniality, and decolonial scholarship. We feel committed to a critical and constructive approach to research that addresses topical debates, is theoretically incisive, methodologically innovative and justice oriented. These values are reflected in our teaching practices.

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 33 months.
• Your salary within salary scale 10 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Support Service. The Dual Career Programme assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. Our Family Support Service helps you and your partner feel welcome and at home by providing customized assistance in navigating local facilities, schools, and amenities. Also take a look at our support for international staff page to discover all our services for international employees.
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. 

6. Practical information and applying

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Dr. Harry Pettit. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.

The interviews will take place on Monday 9 June. You will preferably start your employment on 1 September 2025.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates. If you wish to apply for a non-scientific position with a non-EU nationality, please take notice of the following information.