Post-Doc in Making and Design in Hospitals

Are you an ethnographer curious about hospitals? Do you have experience working with materials as a designer or maker, professionally or as an amateur? Looking for great work-life balance in a friendly and vibrant community of interdisciplinary scholars doing creative cutting-edge research? 

Job Description

The Department of Society Studies is looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to undertake exciting research about hospital practices. You will be part of a team doing research helping to address the escalating issue of clinical waste. The project is called The Upcycled Clinic: A global ethnography of material creativity in contemporary medicine. The focus of this European Research Council funded project is on hospitals and clinics, which have become sites of disposability in recent years. Attempts to address this can be top-down and technocratic, often still reliant on a mode of further production. The Upcycled Clinic takes a different route into the problem. It focuses on creative practices already happening in the clinic, involving making the most of existing materials. You will be part of a team conducting research around the world where such improvisations are highlighted due to different constraints.

The project focuses on the unexplored yet potentially insightful practices of material creativity where existing materials are being repurposed for another use. This post-doc will focus on creative spaces in or connected to hospitals, either formally or informally, such as makerspaces and design labs. Makerspaces have been studied critically and ethnographically by scholars (e.g. Richterich 2022) and the post-doc will build on such work to look specifically at hospital makerspaces and design labs, a yet to be explored site in social studies of medicine. 

The goal of this postdoc will be to examine what is happening in these experimental spaces, and the role of making and design spaces in/with hospitals more generally. One city has already been identified as a fruitful site for exploration: London where the Helix Centre at St Mary’s Hospital is situated, as well as important archives on material experimentation at the Wellcome and city makerspaces active during the pandemic. In your role you will design an ethnographic research project around this site and another of your choosing, depending on your own interests and contacts.

Relatedly, you will also work with the project team to develop making workshops to be co-designed in and for hospitals and other clinical environments. These workshops may relate to themes of upcycling, repurposing or other aspects of the project. In the social sciences, text and talk still takes priority over making (Jungnickel 2018). This project thus aims to expand social science methods, drawing inspiration from colleagues thinking otherwise with making, such as speculative sewing (Jungnickel 2023), design ethnography (Gunn, Otto and Smith 2013) and ethnographic experiments (Estalella and Sánchez Criado 2018). Thus one of the goals of the post-doc will be to help extend “making” as a guiding principle for a critical technoscientific engagement with medicine, one that considers radical reconfigurations that might result if the role of collaborators and the materials produced are thought about differently.

You will work in a team environment led by the Principle Investigator (PI) (Professor Anna Harris), along with three other post-docs, a project manager and research assistants. You will also receive guidance with your work by an external advisor and local advisors. Sharing research material and comparison with the other cases within this team environment will be part of the project, and there will be opportunities for visiting another research group for inspiration. 

As a postdoc on the project you will specifically be involved in:

• Designing your own research project within the scope of the larger study
• Conducting comparative ethnographic fieldwork in design labs and makerspaces in/connected to hospitals, in the UK and another site according to your own interests, contacts or networks, or working with the ideas we currently have for a second site (approx. 3 - 4 months each site)
• Publishing within 3.5 years with respect to the project, including academic articles, guidelines and training material (single and co-authored)
• Taking a leadership role in designing and documenting the making workshops, liaising with the Marketing and Communication team and other local colleagues as relevant
• Participating in and helping to organise group meetings, events and workshops
• Optional: teaching 0.1 - 0.2 fte such as tutoring in Bachelor courses and/or Bachelor or Masters theses supervision

Thus in this role you will have the opportunity to develop further in ethnographic skills, writing and teamwork and have access to further trainings as necessary and according to interest. In sum, you will be able to do a post-doc project with considerable scope for creativity, in an exciting team project with inspiring colleagues. You will be conducting research with the potential for significant societal impact in relation to sustainability in healthcare, while working on furthering and strengthening the role of creative methods in ethnographic research. 
 

What we are looking for
All team members hired in The Upcycled Clinic project will be chosen because they have evidence of the ability to carry out or be sensitive to qualitative research skills, especially ethnography, so that we can quickly build together the more innovative methodological elements of the team project. 

For this particular position we are looking for someone who is excited about doing research in a team and willing to engage in opening up ethnographic methods with design and/or making approaches. Specifically we are looking for someone who has:

• A completed PhD (or assessment concluded no later than end of November 2025) in relevant fields such as: anthropology; design ethnography; interactional design; industrial design; sustainable innovation; experience design; industrial design; design research; Human-Centred Design, Critical and Participatory Design, Public Engagement or in other related ethnographic and design fields. If your thesis is not completed yet, please include a letter from your supervisor confirming that it is on track to be completed no later than the end of November.
• Experience (professional or amateur) or engagement in design or making 
• Either ethnographic fieldwork experience or demonstration of an ethnographic sensibility 
• Experience organising and facilitating workshops (or related public engagement events) 
• English language competency, C1 level, academic English 
• Is willing to move to Maastricht or the nearby area 
• Is willing to help develop the creative methods used in the whole project, meet deadlines and work actively in the group towards shared goals 

Candidates should be available to start the position no later than 1st January 2026 and free to travel to do fieldwork in the Spring of 2026.
 

What we offer
As Post-Doc in Making and Design in Hospitals at Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, you will be employed by the most international university in the Netherlands, located in the beautiful city of Maastricht. In addition, we offer you:

• Good employment conditions. The position is graded in scale 11 according to UFO profile Researcher, with corresponding salary based on experience ranging from €4537,00 and €6209,00 gross per month (based on a full-time employment of 38 hours per week). The exact amount will depend on factors such as previous experience and time from PhD. In addition to the monthly salary, an 8.0% holiday allowance and an 8.3% year-end bonus apply.
• An employment contract for a period of 12 months with a scope of 0.8 FTE (with an option to make this 1.0 fte with teaching tasks). Upon a positive evaluation, an extension of a  further 2.0 – 2.5 years will follow.
• At Maastricht University, the well-being of our employees is of utmost importance, we offer flexible working hours and the possibility to work partly from home if the nature of your position allows it. You will receive a monthly commuting and internet allowance for this. If you work full-time, you will be entitled to 29 vacation days and 4 additional public holidays per year, namely carnival Monday, carnival Tuesday, Good Friday, and Liberation Day. As an inclusive employer UM offers the chance to substitute Good Friday for any other relevant religious, national, regional, or local holiday or memorial day. If you choose to ac-cumulate compensation hours, an additional 12 days will be added. Furthermore, you can personalize your employment conditions through a collective labor agreement (CAO) choice model.
• As Maastricht University, we offer various other excellent secondary employment conditions. These include a good pension scheme with the ABP and the opportunity for UM employees to participate in company fitness and make use of the extensive sports facilities that we also offer to our students. 
• Last but certainly not least, we provide the space and facilities for your personal and professional development. We facilitate this by offering a wide range of training programs and supporting various well-established initiatives such as 'acknowledge and appreciate'. 
   

The terms of employment at Maastricht University are largely set out in the collective labor agreement of Dutch Universities. In addition, local provisions specific to UM apply. For more information, click here.

Maastricht University
Why work at Maastricht University?
At Maastricht University (UM), everything revolves around the future. The future of our students, as we work to equip them with a solid, broad-based foundation for the rest of their lives. And the future of society, as we seek solutions through our research to issues from all around the world. Our six faculties combined provide a comprehensive package of study programmes and research.

In our teaching, we use the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) method. Students work in small groups, looking for solutions to problems themselves. By discussing issues and working together to draw conclusions, formulate answers and present them to their peers, students develop essential skills for their future careers.

With over 22,300 students and more than 5,000 employees from all over the world, UM is home to a vibrant and inspiring international community.

Are you drawn to an international setting focused on education, science and scholarship? Are you keen to contribute however your skills and qualities allow? Our door is open to you! As a young European university, we value your talent and look forward to creating the future together.

Click here for more information about UM. 

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences FASoS is a close-knit community of approximately 250 staff members and 2100 students. During breaks and before meetings, you can often find us at our favourite local coffee spot Bandito Espresso.  
 

Communication lines within our faculty are short and colleagues are always ready to assist each other. FASoS consists of a highly international student population and a significant part of our staff comes from abroad. Our faculty offers four bachelor programs, eight masters programs and two research master programs that are all characterized by their interdisciplinary approach.
 

Our research institute studies societies and cultures as they have developed in the modern and contemporary periods. We adopt a radically interdisciplinary approach, analysing the interconnections between Europeanization, globalization, scientific and technological advancement, political change, and cultural innovation. 
 

In addition to teaching and research, our colleagues enjoy expressing themselves creatively. They create podcasts, write poetry as well as fiction. 
 

Working at FASoS means working in a challenging yet informal environment. We believe in crafting your own career path and are always ready to help you in making the most of your job. For more information about FASoS, you can visit our website FASoS
 

Department
The PhD will be embedded in the Department of Society Studies at FASoS. This department brings together scholars with a social science and humanities profile. It plays a key role in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences as a provider of knowledge and expertise in the interdisciplinary fields of Science, Technology and Society studies (STS) and Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development research. Department members across these fields share an interest in sociological, anthropological and/or mixed-methods approaches, with a strong tendency towards ethnographic methodologies. You will also be a member of the Arts, Media and Culture (AMC) research group. Researchers in the AMC research program are interested in the dynamics of cultural change, both historically and contemporaneously. Researchers in this creative community work on material, digital, and bodily practices in which cultural artefacts are produced, distributed, and received.

Applying from abroad?
Maastricht is itself a warm and welcoming city. The city is known for its excellent food and shops, and cultural scene. The founding city of the EU is an international hub with inhabitants from around the world. English is widely spoken, as are other languages, creating a unique and vibrant international community. Thanks to Maastricht’s central position in Europe, it is only a short distance away from Belgium, Germany, France and the rest of the Netherlands with dense public transport networks. The city is family-friendly and possesses excellent schools. Candidates who need to relocate may be eligible for compensation and international candidates may be eligible for the 30% rule which reduces tax paid. Read more at: https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/faq-life-netherlands

Curious?

We encourage you to apply for this position! Are you interested but still have questions? Feel free to contact Anna Harris (content) at makedomedicine-fasos@maastrichtuniversity.nl or Manon Souren at recruitment@maastrichtuniversity.nl (application process) for more information. 

Applying?

Or are you already convinced to apply to become our new colleague? Apply now, no later than 2nd June 2025 for this position. 

Please upload:

1. A max. 2-page CV (no photo please) including publication details and the contact information of 2 referees 
2. A max. 2-page document clearly addressing each of the 4 questions below:
   • How does this particular post-doc position connect to your previous work, your interests and/or future career aspirations?
   • Please give one concrete example of something you have made/designed with materials and describe how that relates to the goals and themes of The Upcycled Clinic project.
   • What would you consider to be an interesting second site for your ethnographic project? 
   • What do you consider are the biggest challenges and opportunities of conducting and documenting making workshops in and with hospitals?
3. One published writing sample of the applicant’s choice (the length of an article or chapter)

The first round of interview will take place on the third week of June (16th -20th June) and a potential second interview on the fourth week of June (23th-27th June).

A further assignment and a reference check may be part of the application procedure.

Maastricht University is committed to promoting and nurturing a diverse and inclusive community. We have staff and student networks like Female Empowerment UM FEM, LGBTQ+ student and staff network UM Pride, Parents and Carers PAC network, and UnliMited Network for students and staff with a disability and/or chronic conditions, or who are neurodiverse. We believe that diversity in our staff and student population contributes to the quality of research and education at UM, and strive to enable this through inclusive policies and innovative projects led by teams of staff and students. Please let us know if you have any accessibility needs and how/if we can facilitate the application process for you.