The Hasselblad Foundation and HDK-Valand, Gothenburg University have a long-term collaboration with the aim of supporting the development of photographic research. Within this framework, we are now looking for an artist/photographer whose work addresses issues of nature, environment, ecology and climate challenges, for a 2-year postdoctoral position at Gothenburg University starting in September 2026.

Application deadline is January 30 2026.

Ah-Muzen-Cab – Mayan deity of bees, 2023, from the
series Digital Clouds Don’t Carry Rain, 2021–2024.
© Mónica Alcázar-Duarte

The applicant defines a project with a focus on photographic practice and/or lens-based technologies. Emphasis is placed on innovative perspectives on contemporary photography, but archival material and photohistorical issues are also relevant. Projects are welcome to challenge and develop the genre of “nature photography” and may, for example, include creative/artistic investigations of the role of photography in the conservation of endangered species and environments; the potential of new photographic techniques for citizen science and/or in interdisciplinary projects, the relationship between technology and ecology, and critical perspectives on human exploitation of natural resources.

The project can be linked to current projects at HDK-Valand and the Hasselblad Foundation, for example the collaborative project Plants & Symbiosis: Expanding Photography, as well as other relevant actors locally and regionally within and outside academia. For more information regarding Plants & Symbiosis: Expanding Photography: click here.

Applications with practice-based or practice-led artistic research will be prioritized. We welcome projects that take a philosophically-theoretical approach or projects that focus on complex relationships between art and natural / environmental sciences, for example inventory, conservation, virtual remote research, storytelling with XR techniques, and collection and processing of visual data in research. It can also be projects which include decolonial perspectives or engagements with ‘marginalized knowledge’. Applications will also be evaluated based on an ethical and critical approach to technology and subject matter.

Apply to the postdoctoral position via Gothenburg University – for more information about eligibility and assessment criteria please click here.