Position: Research Lead

Organization: South Asian University 

Location: Department of Sociology, South Asian University (SAU), New Delhi, India

Research context

This is a full-time research position and we are looking for a motivated scholar with expertise in sociology of South Asia preferably with a specialisation in medical anthropology and migrant labour or workplace anthropology.

The successful applicants will participate in project activities pertaining to the project AMR and Labour Migration Across Boundaries (AMR@LAB) (https://projects.au.dk/amrlab). This is a collaboration between Aarhus University (Denmark), University of Delhi’s Patel Chest Institute (VPCI) (India), BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS) (Nepal) and of course South Asian University (Delhi).

The coronavirus pandemic was a stark reminder of the central role health plays in the lives of ordinary citizens but especially the marginalized people coming from peripheral spaces such as the migrant labour living across the health care boundaries. Even before the pandemic, research has widely documented how ordinary infections have been projected to become the most common cause of death by 2050 due to the increase globally of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The project AMR@LAB addresses the increasing global problem of AMR with a particular focus on the vulnerable category of labour migrants working in northern India and southern Nepal. The project documents and analyses what makes it possible to link individuals, pathogens, workplaces, medicines and service providers into a comprehensive multi-scalar analysis of the dynamics between these actors as drivers of or barriers to development and transmission of AMR. This approach creates a shared analytical platform across the disciplines of anthropology, microbiology, public health and pharmacology that otherwise tend to work independently. AMR@LAB furthermore questions dogmas in global health policies that tend to separate drug-resistant tuberculosis (DRTB) from AMR more broadly; public from private healthcare; and occupational health from risk of infection. These are explored through a focus on mobility across boundaries that define healthcare delivery. Workplace ethnography will comprise a core part of field research for this project

Knowledge exchange

The successful applicant(s) will be expected to exchange knowledge with various sectors of society and to contribute actively to public debate in areas related to the position, including in India and Nepal.

Qualifications

Applicants for this position must hold a PhD degree in sociology or a related field, or document by way of a  signed statement by the main supervisor that a PhD thesis has been or will be submitted no later than 1^st December 2022 with an expectation of a successful outcome.

Applicants must document:

• doctoral-level experience of ethnographic fieldwork in one or more of the fields of sociology/anthropology of medicine, migration or labour including workplace ethnography, preferably in India or South Asia

• an interest in the sociology/anthropology of infectious diseases and migrant health

• knowledge of relevant software (Nvivo, SPSS, Gephi)

• an international research profile

• fluency in written and spoken Hindi and English are required. Knowledge of regional languages in the fieldwork areas will be desired.

Assessment

*The research activities will be evaluated in relation to the actual research time. We therefore encourage applicants to specify any periods of leave they may have had without research activities (e.g. maternity/paternity leave), so we can subtract these periods from the span of their academic career when evaluating their productivity.

*Please upload a maximum of five publications alongside your application.

*Only submitted publications will be assessed; a list of publications is not sufficient. As a result, applications without submitted publications will not be assessed.

*Professional references or recommendations should not be included. Applicants who are selected for an interview may be asked to provide professional references.

*The application must be submitted in English.