PhD Candidate or Postdoctoral Researcher for Modelling Trade-related Land Use Emissions (1.0 FTE)

• Employment: 1.0 FTE
• Gross monthly salary: € 2,443 - € 4,490
• Faculty of Science
• Required background: Research University Degree
• Application deadline: 26 June 2022

Do you want to make agricultural land use more sustainable? Then join our Environmental Science group at the Radboud Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences as a PhD candidate or postdoctoral researcher. You will carry out research on the direct and indirect effects of agricultural production and strategies to produce more sustainably. You will be part of a diverse and international team, conducting research in a friendly and welcoming working environment. 

You will conduct multi-regional input-output modelling to assess the impacts of agricultural land use, how these impacts are embodied in international trade and how they can be reduced. Your research will focus primarily on past and projected future land use emissions, how they can be systematically attributed to countries, and how emission reduction strategies at producer and consumer level affect the attributed emissions. This requires linking existing land use emission datasets and models with multi-regional input-output modelling. The work is part of an interdisciplinary project funded by the Dutch Research Council that models and attributes land use emissions at commodity, company and country level. In addition, you will also contribute to the analysis of the direct and indirect effects of strategies for more sustainable production of biobased products (funded by the Horizon Europe project Harmonitor). Up to 10% of your workload may consist of teaching activities (in English).
Profile

• You have experience in global, environmentally extended multi-regional input-output modelling, and an interest in land use emissions. 
• You have experience in working with large datasets, and you have computing and analysis skills (e.g. in Matlab or R).
• Additional knowledge and experience of life cycle assessment, climate change, international trade of agricultural commodities, or integrated assessment modelling is desirable.
• You are willing to work in an interdisciplinary research team.
• You have good oral and written communication skills in English.
• You hold an MSc degree (PhD candidate) or PhD degree (Postdoctoral researcher) in industrial ecology or environmental or ecological economics (or an equivalent degree), or will have completed such a degree before the start date.

We are

The Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES) aims to perform world leading research in order to understand the response of the natural environment to human impact. RIBES investigates stress and adaptation processes in severely affected ecosystems. This curiosity-driven, fundamental research is cross-linked with innovative applications in both industry and society with a focus on mitigating ecosystem degradation and finding solutions to restore the natural environment. RIBES is internationally unique, as its research encompasses three major groups of organisms (microorganisms, plants and animals) and spans nearly all levels of biological organisation. In addition to developing world-class research, the institute is dedicated to first-rate education in its Biology BSc, MSc and international PhD programmes. 

The mission of the Environmental Science Group of RIBES is to provide high-quality scientific knowledge that can help the world move towards greater sustainability. To achieve this, we aim to understand, project and address the impact of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems and humans from the landscape to the global scale. This enables us to explore and develop wide-ranging sustainable solutions for the environmental challenges the world faces today.
Radboud University
We want to get the best out of science, others and ourselves. Why? Because this is what the world around us desperately needs. Leading research and education make an indispensable contribution to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This is what unites the more than 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University. And this requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!
We offer

• Employment for 1.0 FTE.
• The position can be filled at either PhD level or Postdoctoral level.
• The gross starting salary for a PhD candidate amounts to €2,443 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,122 in the fourth year (salary scale P ). You will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract).
• The gross monthly salary for a postdoctoral researcher amounts to a minimum of € 2,846 and a maximum of € 4,490 based on a 38-hour working week, depending on previous education and number of years of relevant work experience (salary scale 10 ). You will be appointed for an initial period of 12 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2 years (3 year contract).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services . Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment  and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 29 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Additional employment conditions
Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions . You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.
Would you like more information?

For questions about the position, please contact Prof. dr Birka Wicke, Professor of Land, Climate and Sustainability at  [email protected] .

Practical information and applications
You can apply until 26 June 2022, exclusively using the button below. Kindly address your application to Prof. dr Birka Wicke. Please fill in the application form and attach the following documents:

• A letter of motivation.
• Your CV.

The first round of interviews will take place on Tuesday 5 July.
You would preferably begin employment on 1 October 2022.
We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure . It offers a rough outline of what you can expect during the application process, how we handle your personal data and how we deal with internal and external candidates.

We drafted this vacancy to find and hire our new colleague ourselves. Recruitment agencies are kindly requested to refrain from responding.