Aalto University is where science and art meet technology and business. We shape a sustainable future by making research breakthroughs in and across our disciplines, sparking the game changers of tomorrow and creating novel solutions to major global challenges. Our community is made up of 13 000 students, 400 professors and close to 4 500 other faculty and staff working on our dynamic campus in Espoo, Greater Helsinki, Finland. Diversity is part of who we are, and we actively work to ensure our community’s diversity and inclusiveness. This is why we warmly encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to join our community.

The Aalto School of Arts, Design and Architecture (ARTS) is a Nordic leader in higher education for design, fashion, games, media, architecture, film, art education and fine art. We produce world-class research e.g. in design, digital media and visual culture, art education, urban planning and architecture. Our graduates innovate in and beyond their fields, drawing on over a century of tradition of our institution, a humane and forward-looking approach, and the latest technologies.

The Department of Design  (https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-design) is a community of creative and responsible researchers and design experts. We educate front-line design professionals and visionaries for established, changing and emerging fields of design.

NODUS Sustainable Design Research Group (https://www.aalto.fi/en/department-of-design/nodus-sustainable-design-research-group) is globally recognized for transdisciplinary design research to achieve sustainable futures. The research group is currently active in transition design, value-sensitive design, behavioural design and more-than-human design in the contexts of energy and mobility transitions and urban transformations.

We are now looking for a Doctoral Researcher, who is interested in the social justice of energy transition, to work in the EP-Nordic project (https://research.fi/en/results/funding/81440). Energy poverty is scarcely studied research field in Nordic countries, but recent energy crises demonstrated that vulnerabilities to energy poverty persist also here. EP-Nordic, funded by the Research Council of Finland, targets to identify and map energy poverty in the context of Nordic welfare states and produces appropriate ways for measuring its extent and depth. Doctoral Researcher can also partner in other relevant projects including ORSI (https://www.ecowelfare.fi/).

Your role and goals

The main duty of a Doctoral Researcher is conducting doctoral research, including research planning, literature reviews, conceptual work, interviewing vulnerable consumers, collecting and analysing research material (such as statistical and survey data), reporting and publishing results, and writing research articles and collaborating with other Nordic researchers. The target time for completing a doctoral degree at Aalto University is four years. Doctoral Researcher position also includes some teaching duties.

Your network and team
The person to be selected for the position will work at Aalto University's Department of Design in the NODUS research group. Your advisor will be D S c. (Tech.) Sini Numminen (www.sininumminen.fi) and a supervising professor will be Associate Professor Mikko Jalas.

Your experience and ambitions

An ideal candidate is able to broadly understand how societal, material and economic factors can be intertwined and connected with social injustices, and is highly motivated to conduct research on energy poverty. The person selected for the position of doctoral researcher is required to have a higher university degree in e.g. economics, social sciences, social policy, energy sciences and engineering, energy markets, geography or other relevant field. An applicant who is in the final stages of their master's studies can also be selected for the position. The position is suitable, for example, for a person who masters qualitative research methods and is interested in diverse household energy consumption practices. It is also possible, for example, to focus on quantitative methods and measured data analysis. Mastery of mathematical and statistical research methods and related tools, as well as knowledge of social, housing and energy policy within the framework of the research topic is considered an advantage. Successful completion of the job requires fluent written and oral knowledge in English. Further, the candidate must possess sufficient skills in Finnish in order to interview vulnerable Finnish consumers in their own language. Knowledge of Swedish and other Nordic languages is considered as an advantage. In the beginning of the employment, you will apply for the study right in doctoral studies at Aalto Doctoral Programme in Arts, Design and Architecture (https://www.aalto.fi/en/study-options/aalto-doctoral-programme-in-arts-design-and-architecture).

What we offer
We offer a meaningful and inspiring work environment. We spark the game changers of tomorrow, and renew society with research-based knowledge, creativity and an entrepreneurial mindset. We work in a hybrid way, and the primary workplace is Otaniemi, Espoo. Life at the transformed campus is vibrant and filled with amazing architecture, calming nature, and a variety of cafes, restaurants, services and good connections along the metro line.

The starting salary of a doctoral researcher at Aalto University is approximately €3,000/month. Achieving the goals set by the degree increases the salary as the studies progress. A contract with the selected candidate will be made for 24 months, with a possibility for continuation. There is a six months trial period.

Schedule and applications

To apply, please share the following application materials with us through our recruitment site ("Apply now!”) no later than 15 August. Please include the following documents as PDF files (‘lastname_firstname_documentname.pdf’)

• Motivation letter
• Curriculum Vitae
• Master’s Degree certificate with a transcript of records
• A sample of academic text (max 20 pages)

Aalto University’s employees should apply for the position by using their existing Workday user account! Aalto University’s students and visitors should apply as external candidates with personal (not aalto) email.

The job can start on September 1, 2024, at the earliest, or when a suitable candidate is found. Interviews will be held since the beginning of August.
We reserve the right, for justified reasons, to leave the position open or to extend the application period.

For more Information

Please contact Postdoctoral Researcher Sini Numminen sini.numminen@aalto.fi (out of the office 1.-19.7.) and/or Associate Professor Mikko Jalas mikko.jalas@aalto.fi (out of the office in July).  Please note the holiday season and a delay with responding emails.
In questions related to the recruitment process, please contact HR Partner Katju Helminen, katju.helminen@aalto.fi (out of the office 1-28 July).

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