DPU summerLab 2022 Special Research Fellowships series launched

After a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are restarting our travelling patterns while reviewing and expanding our format. We offer the opportunity to a series of researchers to work in the field for an extended period, with the support of local partners. The researchers will contribute to solidify and expand a research agenda that each partner has been developing along with the DPU, in a collaborative fashion.

Applications are currently open for the fellowships in Cali and São Paulo, whereas we will share the call for Berbera and Zeila in a few weeks. All DPU alumni, and DPU and UCL current PhD students, are eligible to apply. The financial support for the Research Fellows is: 4500 GBP for Cali; 4500 GBP for São Paulo. This amount is meant to cover travel costs, living allowances (accommodation, meal, transportation), visa as and if applicable and medical insurance. Duration of the fellowships is one month (starting in mid-November), plus up to one month for finalisation of deliverables. Full details are available in the Role Descriptions on the DPU summerLab webpage. 

In Cali, we are happy to partner with Universidad del Valle, one of the most influential public universities in Colombia. DPU and Universidad del Valle have recently collaborated on the Gridding Equitable Urban Futures in Areas of Transition (GREAT), a three-year research project (led by Lancaster University) that aims to generate change in informal off-grid settlements located in Cali (Colombia) and Havana (Cuba). The research in Cali is focusing on four ‘barrios populares’ (‘popular neighbourhoods’, informal settlements understood as areas of transition), through three thematic PublicLabs: Mobility and Transport, Zero Waste and Neighbourhood Upgrading Policy. So far, GREAT has managed to build a strong network of community, public and private actors to work on the development of the first neighbourhood upgrading programme with an intersectional approach to be implemented in the four settlements GREAT focuses on. The Research Fellow will support the agenda of the PublicLabs, analysing and interpreting existing data, producing a series of qualitative georeferenced maps – on emotions and perceptions, for instance – and liaise with relevant stakeholders through participatory research methods.

In São Paulo, our partner will be the Fundação Escola de Sociologia e Política de São Paulo (FESPSP), a partner of DPU, The Bartlett and UCL in both teaching and research activities. FESPSP is Brazil’s first undergraduate Social Sciences school, and hosts a postgraduate programme as well, with more than ten courses. It is a reference in MBAs in public policy. FESPSP provides support to governments, non-profits and companies, helping them formulate, implement and evaluate social policy as well as urban and infrastructure policy. The Research Fellow will be part of FESPSP’s research group on Sanitation and work alongside a local student – financially supported by DPU, too. S/he will contribute to further expand a cross-departmental research initiative at UCL (see here for instance, as an example amongst a wider series of projects) that is concerned with mapping linkages between sanitation and the sustainable development goals, to raise the importance of sanitation and promote integrated approaches and benefits. The Research Fellow will carry out grounded work in São Paulo, and dialogue with local stakeholders, mapping the synergies, risks and trade-offs between sanitation and the SDGs.

We thank our partners for the effort that have, and will, put in this initiative, and DPU colleagues Dr Catalina Ortiz and Dr Pascale Hofmann for their inputs, supervision, and engagement with partners in, respectively, Cali and São Paulo. We look forward to a rich experience of knowledge co-production.

Deadline for application is Monday 17 October at 1pm. For further information and clarification, please contact the DPU summerLab programme coordinator Dr Giorgio Talocci at giorgio.talocci.11@ucl.ac.uk