A postdoctoral fellowship in Social Anthropology is available at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo.
The position will be part of the convergence environment Cargo Crime: (Il)Licit Seaborne Transport and the Energy Transition, led by Associate Professor Hege Høyer Leivestad, and funded by UiO: Energy and Environment (2025-2030).
Cargo Crime focuses on the emerging issue of green maritime crime and is a collaboration between the Department of Social Anthropology, the Department of Mathematics, Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law and the Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Oslo. Maritime shipping of goods and raw materials is vital to the global economy, but the environmental repercussions of cross-border cargo crime remain significantly understudied. Illicit activities in shipping are often closely intertwined with legal trade, while law enforcement efforts at sea are limited and complex.
See (Il)Licit Seaborne Transport and the Energy Transition (Cargo Crime) – UiO:Energy and Environment.
The position is available for a period of 4 years. 25 % of the position is devoted to research management and other career-promoting tasks. The expected start date is no later than 1 September 2026. The location of employment is Oslo.
More about the position
The postdoctoral fellow will conduct research on transnational waste trafficking (such as electronic waste, scrap cars, paper and plastic waste, and hazardous materials). While there is a legal trade in waste exports, waste is also a profitable product for illicit activities and organised crime. Finding loopholes in transnational jurisdiction is relatively easy, and while penalties for this type of crime are low, the environmental impacts are often massive.
The applicant will independently design and pursue their own research project described in the research plan, which should be submitted as part of the application.
The postdoctoral fellow will also carry the main responsibility for organizing workshops, team-based fieldwork trips, an online speaker series and other joint activities in the convergence environment. The postdoctoral researcher will work closely with the other project researchers in the convergence environment. They will jointly pursue publications and creative forms of public dissemination.
The postdoctoral fellow will conduct a total of 6-8 months of ethnographic fieldwork in/around cargo ports. Fieldwork should ideally be carried out in one waste-sending and one waste-destination country, depending on the candidate’s regional/language competencies. In Europe, potential ports could be those of Hamburg or Rotterdam. Turkey has recently emerged as the primary hub for waste trafficking from the EU. The Port of Tema (Ghana), the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia), or the Port of Jakarta (Indonesia) could serve as sites. These are suggestions only with the final decision depending on the candidate’s regional expertise. For questions regarding ports and selection of field site(s), please contact the Project Leader, Hege Høyer Leivestad – Department of Social Anthropology