All Things Urban

Founded in 2009, the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is the leading international think tank on business and human rights. IHRB’s mission is to shape policy, advance practice, and strengthen accountability in order to make respect for human rights part of everyday business. IHRB seeks to embed international business and human rights standards within responsible business practice in a wide range of countries and industry sectors, working with government, business and civil society.

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) seeks two part-time Researchers to conduct the following activities in Athens, Greece and Valparaiso, Chile between October 2023 and February 2024. The Researchers will work closely with IHRB’s Global Programme Manager, Built Environment as well as with other project partners. We envisage that 30-45 days will be required in total for this work.

This research in is part of a project comprising similar research cycles in four pairs of cities over two years. IHRB and partners have already conducted similar research in Lagos, Nigeria; Prague, Czechia; Melbourne, Australia; Lisbon, Portugal, and are currently undertaking research in Jakarta, Indonesia and Copenhagen, Denmark.
The global project “Building for Today and for the Future” is developing a collaborative agenda for a just transition of the built environment. It will identify pathways to ensure that decarbonisation and resilience efforts in cities concurrently reduce social inequity and respect human rights. Where there are specific obstacles on these pathways, the project will seek to address and overcome them.

The three interconnected outcomes and activities of the project are:

• Strengthening the evidence base: Deep-dive action research in eight cities globally, linking up to their relevant national and regional contexts;

• Shifting mindsets: Visioning sessions that invite diverse local stakeholders to imagine what a just and sustainable built environment looks like;

• Changing policy and practice: Strategic communications and policy advocacy to influence government and industry practices.

The project will consider the full range of human rights but will have a particular focus on: meaningful participation; spatial justice; the right to housing; and workers’ rights. An intersectional lens will be applied throughout, considering the range of factors that affect people’s experience of the world including gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability and immigration status.

The project is led by IHRB and implemented in partnership with ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) with global thematic input from Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) and the International Union of Tenants (ITU), as well as other partners. It is funded by the Laudes Foundation and Ove Arup Foundation.

Interested parties are invited to submit the following:

• A proposal (not to exceed four pages in total) including: CV; cover letter outlining your suitability and motivation for this role; and a summary of your approach to this work. This can include links to any relevant previous experience, or projects with a similar approach.

• Proposed day rate and/or total fee for this work, bearing in mind a 30-45 day workload across the three months. The IHRB budget for this role is £9,000-15,000 (GBP) in total, so please ensure the total fee (including any VAT or local taxes which - if applicable - should be clearly stated) is within this range.

The payment schedule for this work will be: 20% on signing the agreement, 30% after completion of the interviews and 50% once all deliverables have been met (each subject to approval).

Please send proposals to: Kathy McLeish at recruitment@ihrb.org with subject line: “BE Researcher application: Athens” by 9.00am BST on 5 September 2023.

Please also state where you saw the vacancy advertised. A work offer will be subject to two satisfactory references for the successful candidate. Joint applications that harness a range of relevant experience and skill sets will be considered, provided there is clear alignment with the above requirements and deliverables and the total fee is still competitive.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a 45-minute interview by 8 September. Interviews will take place online via Zoom between 18-20 September: please indicate in your proposal, any dates/times that you will not be available during that time.

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.