The GCRO is looking for new research staff

The Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) is a research centre set up in partnership between the University of Johannesburg (UJ), the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), the Gauteng Provincial Government and organised local government. GCRO’s mission is to build the knowledge base that government, business, labour, civil society and citizens need to develop a competitive, sustainable and inclusive Gauteng City-Region. We undertake research ourselves and in partnership with others, collect data and use it to benchmark the region locally and internationally, and provide policy support to government, working to the highest academic standards.

GCRO works in diverse areas including regional economic development, sustainability, space & mobility, governance & intergovernmental relations, quality of life and social development, as well as data collection and visualisation with a special focus on indicator-based benchmarking. We want to expand our diverse skills base with highly skilled and motivated colleagues who share a commitment to help develop a more sustainable, equitable and prosperous Gauteng City-Region. GCRO is seeking to make three or four appointments, at levels including researcher, senior researcher or principal researcher, depending on qualifications and experience. Applicants for a senior or principal researcher position must have either a PhD-level qualification, or in exceptional cases a Masters with substantial experience and evidence of progress towards attaining a PhD. Applicants for a researcher position must have at least a Masters-level qualification.

We are looking for:

• Candidates with expertise in the broad areas of economic development; governance; social development and social cohesion; urban geography, planning or transport; sustainable development with a particular focus on urban environmental sustainability, resource/ environmental/ecological economics, urban infrastructure and/or systems modelling; and related fields.
• A candidate with significant survey and data management expertise.
• In particular we are looking for a senior level appointment in the field of regional economic
• development or a closely related area, who would be able to provide research leadership on projects related to city-region economies.

Experience with and willingness to work in indicator-based benchmarking and quantitative analysis and reporting would be an advantage. The successful candidates will be self-motivated, fluent
in multi-disciplinary research, have published in peer-reviewed journals, and have experience in applied and/or policy research.
A competitive remuneration package is available. To apply, submit a covering letter addressing the selection criteria specifically; a detailed CV with names, addresses, contact numbers
and e-mails addresses of 3 referees willing to provide references; and certified copies of your academic qualifications, i.e. degrees/diplomas to: Executive Director, GCRO, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050 or e-mailed to adele.underhay@gcro.ac.za. Applicants should include examples of published work, preferably your last three published items. The closing date for all applications is Friday, 3 June 2016.

Shortlisted applicants may be required to sit for skills and psychometric assessments as part of the interview process. GCRO reserves the right not to make an appointment.