All Things Urban

The history of the Universidade de Lisboa, the large spectrum of offered programmes, the high quality of its teachers and researchers, the continuing innovation effort, as well as its scientific, bibliographic, cultural, technological and artistic credits are features that guarantee our national and international recognition.

Studies on our students’ academic trajectories and on our graduates’ employability rate reveal a large correlation between getting a degree in the Universidade de Lisboa and getting a job connected with their studies. The location of the Universidade de Lisboa, in the city centre, is a guarantee of easy access to transports and to the intense cosmopolitan and cultural life of the city.

Applications are invited for a Post-doctoral Researcher on a research project about tourism and real estate investment (Airbnb/Hotels). SMARTOUR is a three-year project funded by the Portuguese National Agency for Science, Research and Technology (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT). It is led by Dr Agustin Cocola-Gant, Centre of Geographical Studies, University of Lisbon and Dr Patricia Romeiro, Centre of Studies on Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Porto.

SMARTOUR focuses on three challenges faced by urban planners today:

• a remarkable tourism growth;
• the success of holiday rentals via platforms such as Airbnb;
• a tourism-related wave of real estate investment. In Portugal, as in other cases in Europe, those processes are currently at the centre of socio-political debates.

By a comparative analysis of the cities of Lisbon and Porto, SMARTOUR will undertake an in-depth examination of the socio-spatial impacts of this rapid growth in order to provide policy solutions for a sustainable future. The empirical exploration will focus on three objectives.

Firstly, we will monitor real estate investment activity in order to understand how it is linked to tourism, particularly in relation to hotels and Airbnb. Secondly, we will examine the supply of holiday rentals with the intention of assessing how they affect the rental housing market. Thirdly, we will conduct an ethnographic investigation that will make visible the way in which residents cope with tourism on a daily basis.

SMARTOUR has the support of several partners, including Lisbon and Porto City Councils and works together with an Advisory Board formed by leading national and international scholars.

The researcher will implement the first objective of the project (tourism and real estate investment, with a particular focus on Airbnb and hotel-led investment). S/he will assist in the supervision of two research assistants that are implementing complementary research objectives. S/he will also collaborate in administrative tasks of the project.

• Desk-based literature reviews and secondary analysis of relevant existing literature.
• In-depth interviews with key players in the real estate sector in Lisbon and Porto.
• Writing up findings for reports and publications.
• Attendance and presentations at academic research conferences.
• Assistance in supervising a PhD candidate and a IT research assistant.
• Assisting with the overall project management, such as maintenance of the website, communication with project members, arranging project meetings and events, maintaining project social media and other administrative roles.

• PhD in Geography or a related social science.
• Experience of conducting qualitative research.
• Experience of research and publications in the field of the project or a related area (tourism, housing, gentrification, real estate investment).
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and Portuguese.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Ability to travel to Porto for periods of 2-4 weeks.

Duration: 30 months

38,217€

We’re not fully sure whether this role is open to international candidates. If you would need visa sponsorship or work authorisation, we recommend checking directly with the employer before applying.