PhD position 'assessing the socio-economic resilience of nature-based solutions to flood risk'

We are looking for

Climate change is changing the world in many ways. Some changes are rather gradual and some are abrupt and will come as a surprise. But how can we prepare for those surprises and underlying unknown unknowns? Whose responsibility is it to be prepared? And how does society at large perceive climate change if the impacts are highly uncertain? If you want to help us finding answers to those questions as part of a PhD project, you should apply for this position.

This 4-year fully-funded PhD position is part of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) grant “Crossing the borders at the Grensmaas” carried out in collaboration with several academic institutions and societal partners in the Netherlands.

The Dutch main water systems face pressing environmental, economic and societal challenges due to climatic changes and increased human pressure. Nature-based solutions can address these challenges cost-effectively while providing environmental, social and economic benefits, and making the local social-ecological system resilient to future changes. While ecological and geological processes are often well understood, understanding of societal and economic processes remains scattered. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify design principles fostering societal support and economic viability of nature-based solutions and their impacts on socio-economic resilience. The project team addresses these questions using the largest river restoration project of the Netherlands, the Border Meuse (Grensmaas), as a Living Lab.

The successful candidate will work at the Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group of Wageningen University in close collaboration with our academic and societal partners. The disciplinary breadth of the project allows for considerable flexibility regarding the methods to be used (e.g. economic experiments, large-scale surveys, agent-based modeling).

We ask

We are looking for an enthusiastic, curious, and creative candidate who has preferably:

• an MSc degree in economics, political sciences, environmental sciences or a related field;
• a background in quantitative methods and statistical analysis; programming skills (Python, R, Matlab or any related language) are an advantage;
• previous experience with one of the following: economic experiments, surveys, spatial modelling, participatory methods, stakeholder interaction, Living Labs, or other co-creative processes;
• a keen interest to work on social-ecological systems; prior knowledge on governance of Dutch water systems, decision-making under uncertainty, or the dynamics of social norms and risk perception is an advantage;
• fluency in spoken and written English and a willingness to learn Dutch for the empirical field work;
• excellent organizational, communicating and connecting skills: you will collaborate with scientists from various disciplines as well as with stakeholders.

You also have to meet all the entry requirements of the  WUR PhD programme.

We offer

You will receive a fully funded PhD position, therefore you will be employed by the Wageningen University, where you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and planned research.
The gross salary for the first year is € 2.395,- per month rising to € 3.061,- in the fourth year in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement (scale P). This is based on a full working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.
In addition, we offer:

• 8% holiday allowance;
• a structural year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent training opportunities and secondary employment conditions;
• flexible working hours and holidays can possibly be determined in consultation so that an optimal balance between work and private life is possible;
• excellent pension plan through ABP;
• 232 vacation hours, the option to purchase extra and good supplementary leave schemes;
• a flexible working time: the possibility to work a maximum of 2 hours per week extra and thereby to build up extra leave;
• a choice model to put together part of your employment conditions yourself, such as a bicycle plan;
• a lively workplace where you can easily make contacts and where many activities take place on the Wageningen Campus. A place where education, research and business are represented;
• use the sports facilities on campus.

Wageningen University & Research stimulates internal career opportunities and mobility with our internal recruitment policy. There are ample opportunities for personal initiative in a learning environment. With us you get a versatile job in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere, with students and staff from over 100 countries around the world.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 15th consecutive time.

More information

For more information about this function, please contact dr. Andries Richter, email address: [email protected].

For more information about the procedure you can contact Sandra Willemsen, Recruiter SSG or Bianca Aversteeg, Recruitment support via [email protected].

Do you want to apply?
This can be done directly via the application button at the vacancy on our website so that we can process your personal data with your permission.
This vacancy is open up to and including the 7^th of September, 2020. We want to plan the first job interviews in the week of the 21^st or the 28^th of September, 2020.

Application
To apply, please upload the following documents: 
1) Letter of motivation (including brief outline of your research ideas related to the PhD project);
2) Your CV;
3) Up to three references (you can give names or upload recommendation letters);
4) A list of courses taken and exam scores.

Equal opportunities employer
We are an employer that offers equal opportunities. We are happy to receive applications from all suitably qualified people regardless of race, gender, functional impairment, religion / belief, sexual orientation or age.
We believe that a diverse and inclusive working environment makes us a more relevant, competitive and resilient organization. Click here for more information about working at WUR with a functional impairment.

We are

The mission of our University is to explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life. Within Wageningen University & Research, nine specialised research institutes from the Wageningen Research Foundation and Wageningen University have joined forces to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With approximately 30 locations, 6.500 employees, and 12.000 students, it is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of the unique approach of Wageningen. We have been named Best Employer in Education category 2019-2020.

Click here for more information about working at Wageningen University & Research. More information about Wageningen Campus you can find here.

We do the recruiting for this vacancy ourselves. Please do not contact us for sales purposes.