Adam Bobbette

[Fully funded four-year PhD position including fieldwork and conference funding.] NTU Singapore is recruiting for a fully funded four-year PhD position in Mining Mineral Life: Extracting the Energy Transition in Southeast Asia . The project is hosted across the School of Humanities and the NTU Asian School of the Environment at Nanyang Technological University , and is led by Assistant Professor Dr Adam Bobbette . The project examines how mining for energy-transition critical minerals is reshaping landscapes and livelihoods in Southeast Asia. It combines perspectives from geoscience, artisanal knowledges, mineral cosmologies, and histories of critical minerals to explore the category of minerality, the bio/geo distinction, and new ideas of “mineral life.” The successful candidate will develop an independent PhD project while contributing to a multidisciplinary programme that includes research, artistic collaborations, and public engagement. Applicants are invited from all academic backgrounds, with candidates holding at least one degree in the humanities especially encouraged to apply. Proposed projects should relate to critical mineral extraction in Southeast Asia, and may engage themes such as political geology, geo-solidarities, mineral commodity chains, landscape change, artisanal mining knowledges, decolonial minerality, and the history and politics of geological materials. The position is described as fully funded for four years and includes support for fieldwork and conference participation. The deadline stated in the post is 15 November 2026 . Interested applicants should use the application link provided in the posting and may contact [email protected] for enquiries.