Documenting energy transitions

The Energy Stories Lab at the University of Calgary and Ingenium–Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation are accepting applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in documenting energy transitions. The anticipated start date will be after November 1, 2024 with a duration of one year (full-time).

The postdoctoral researcher will be affiliated with the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at UofC, and will collaborate with the Energy Stories Lab and the Ingenium Research Institute to develop new lines of research connected to current projects on energy transition, community experiences, and understandings of the past and present in northern Alberta, specifically through the “Stories and Lives of Abasand” project.

The Energy Stories Lab at the University of Calgary uses the tools of visual arts and community-based digital storytelling to document, collect and reveal energy stories from across Canada. Funded by a 2022 grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation John Evans Leaders’ Fund, lab founder Dr. Sabrina Perić and co-directors Dr. Jean-Ren Leblanc and Dr. Rebecca Dolgoy (Ingenium) have established a lab that uses the methodological tools of visual anthropology, visual arts, material culture studies, and the community-based approaches of digital storytelling to document, collect and reveal energy stories from across Canada. The approach to research and research creation is feminist, care-based, and collaborative. Our work prioritizes voices that are left out of dominant narratives; engages with feminist, queer, anti-colonial, and anti-racist thinkers, ideas, and methods; emphasizes caring for and working on our relationships inside and outside the lab; and ensuring that lab associates, research participants, and community researchers drive and define our research and lab methods. Members of the lab include MA, PhD, and postdoctoral associates. We devote much of the funding we receive from grants to hiring students at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Ingenium (located in Ottawa, Canada) is the crown corporation that oversees Canada’s three national museums of science and innovation: the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and Canada Agriculture and Food Museum. Ingenium’s state-of-the-art collection facility is home to more than 150,000 artifacts, two million library and archival objects, a Digital Innovation Lab, Conservation Lab, and Library and Archives. It is also home to the Ingenium Research Institute, which supports research projects on-site and across the country.

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to work with northern Alberta communities on a project related to Abasand, a neighbourhood in Fort McMurray with a complex and layered history. In addition to being the site of the first commercial oil sands extraction plant, Abasand is well known for its history of fire. The Abasand Oil Plant burned down twice in the 1940s before it was permanently shut down in 1945. Most of the ruins of the plant were further destroyed in the 2016 fire. This project could involve oral history work, community engagement, archival research and/or digital storytelling (including audio and video creation). While existing relationships with communities in Northern Alberta is an asset, the Energy Stories Lab co-directors will support the postdoctoral researcher as they establish themselves in the region.

Though the postdoctoral researcher will have the chance to propose and develop their own research or research creation project, they will also be expected to participate in the work of artifact or object-based research and interpretation with Ingenium curators. Applicants should possess a keen interest in contemporary ethical museological practices and be willing to work with Ingenium curators on developing approaches to representing Abasand stories within the national energy collection.

The postdoctoral researcher will be based primarily out of Calgary and northern Alberta, with occasional trips to Ottawa, Ontario.

Dr. Rebecca Dolgoy (she/her) (Principal investigator, co-supervisor)
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary
Curator, Natural Resources and Industrial Technologies, Ingenium

Dr. Sabrina Perić (she/her) (Co-supervisor)
Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary

Dr. Jean-René Leblanc (he/him) (Co-supervisor)
Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary

The postdoctoral fellow will be offered a salary of $50,000 per annum (1 year, full-time). Funds for accommodation and/or relocation are not provided. The postdoctoral researcher, once selected, will have the opportunity to apply competitively for the University of Calgary Eyes High Post-Doctoral Matching Fund Program, which will provide an additional $25,000.

The incumbent of this position will, under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Dolgoy, Dr. Sabrina Perić and Dr. Jean-René Leblanc will be responsible for leading the research activities of the project, including but not limited to the following core responsibilities:

• Proposing and developing their own research or research creation project that relates to Abasand
• Participating in the work of artifact or object-based research and interpretation with Ingenium curators
• Participating in regular meetings and activities of the Energy Stories Lab and Ingenium
• Share their findings/project outcomes with community and academic audiences

• Candidates must have a PhD, or expect to receive a PhD before the start of the appointment, in Museum Studies, Anthropology, History, Indigenous Studies, Heritage Studies, or a related discipline. Applicants must have experience with community-based research
• Previous experience with community-engaged work, museum/curatorial work, digital storytelling, visual anthropology/filmmaking, and/or digital heritage
• Strong written communication skills, preferably demonstrated in writing peer-review publications and/or creative works and/or exhibition catalogues
• Knowledge relating to Canadian energy history or Alberta’s energy history
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively with an interdisciplinary group involving students and faculty from a range of backgrounds, as well as community collaborators and partners
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to interact respectfully with internal and external stakeholders
• Efficient organizational and time management skills in setting priorities and accomplishing tasks within deadlines

Should you require a copy of this posting in an alternate format, please contact us as soon as possible and we would be happy to get one to you in a timely manner. We believe in the importance of supporting on-the-job success for the incumbent and are pleased to discuss and/or provide specific tools, resources or other requirements for day-to-day work requirements, as needed.

Applications are currently closed.