ESR4: Production of core-periphery relations through the social nexuses of economic agents settled in backward regions (Békéscsaba, Hungary)

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Host: Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Békéscsaba/Hungary

1 PhD position, full-time

Duration: September 2014 – August 2017

Core-periphery relations are constantly shaped by social interactions between various agents reflecting their specific institutional environments. In this conceptual framework, the project aims at understanding how (i) the relationships of economic agents anchored  in “peripheral” spaces to the actors of core regions, and (ii) the embedding the former group into various local and non-local networks reflect, reproduce or counteract the peripherality of the region under study. Therefore, it will support the development of an open, reflexive approach towards researching the production of core–periphery nexus through economic relations with a special focus on the multiple embedding and cross-scalar nature of the latter. To better understand how these processes are shaped by different national contexts, the project will  include comparative studies targeting (eastern) Germany and Hungary. It will combine qualitative and quantitative methods to ‘excavate’ social relations in backward regions and make use of existing research capacities of Social Impact and the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography.

The fellow will be integrated in the PhD programme “Spatial patterns and changes of social and economic processes” at the University of Szeged.

Secondments are foreseen at Social Impact in Potsdam/Germany and at the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig/Germany.

Tasks:

–          Transdisciplinary and culturally widespread review and analysis of related theories and concepts;

–          Analysis: policy contexts (critical discourse analysis; expert interviews; transnational comparative study                     HU/DE); sociospatial inequalities (HU and EU regional data/quantitative methods);

–          Empirical studies/a regional case study (HU) focused on social relations of the local economy (interviews;                 focus groups; participation in local events; local project and firm history);

–          In the first year, improvement Hungarian language skills to support empirical study.

Requirements:

–          Masters’ degree in social sciences, or geography or another discipline corresponding to the topic of the                     project

–          good knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods experience in setting up a research plan,             and an ability to work independently according to a well-defined schedule;

–          fluent in English,  basic knowledge of Hungarian

–          German language skills will be an asset

The fellow should contribute to the outreach of the project, especially by:

–          elaboration of a PhD thesis

–          participation in project and WP monographs, joint publications in high ranked journals

–          active participation at scientific conferences, policy workshops etc. at national and EU level

–          participation in media communication, in development of a web-based glossary, in creation of video clips                and podcasts and in spreading project information on EU level using European Commissions’                                       communication tools