Postdoc Land Use and Climate Change

Do you have experience spatial (modeling) analysis applied to forestry, agriculture or another sector? Are you interested in interdisciplinary research at the frontier of land use, climate change, forestry and agricultural sciences? Please apply at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). 

Location: AMSTERDAM
FTE: 0.8 - 1

The Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of the VU offers one fully funded postdoc position of 24 months in the field of climate change mitigation and adaptation through land use. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop a land use model to study mitigation and adaptation in the agriculture, forestry and other land use sectors in two case studies in Germany and Spain. In particular, the postdoc will study how these two regions can contribute to mitigating climate change and adapting to more frequent droughts, heat stress and flooding by modifying their cropland and forest systems.

The postdoc will work in the international KNOWING project (https://knowing-climate.eu/), funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe framework with 16 other institutes. The KNOWING project aims to develop a modelling framework to help understand and quantify the interactions between impacts and risks of climate change, mitigation pathways and adaptation strategies across different sectors (agriculture, forestry, urban, energy, transport). The framework will focus on three main climate impact: 1) Heat waves & health, (2) Soil, forest and agriculture (which this postdoc will focus on) and (3) Flooding & infrastructure (including river and coastal flooding).

The postdoc candidate will work closely with another postdoc and with two staff members from the Environmental Geography and Water and Climate Risk sections of the Institute. Different models will be adapted and developed for different climate impact contexts, and the postdoc is expected to collaborate with other project partners to link the results from the land use model with other models.

• contribute to and collaborate within the KNOWING project consortium
• develop and adapt an existing land use model for scenario modeling of climate change adaptation and mitigation
• integrate stakeholder inputs for the scenario modeling through workshops
• publish scientific papers
• contribute to teaching 

• a PhD in geography, environmental sciences, forestry or agricultural sciences or similar
• experience in land use modeling, spatial analysis and GIS, system dynamics or environmental modeling in general
• able to collaborate with scientists from other disciplines (climatology, energy, hydrology, soil).
• interested in multi-disciplinary sciences, particularly climate change mitigation and adaptation
• proficient in English (both speaking and writing)
• able to start the position before November 2023

A challenging position in a socially involved organization. On full-time basis the remuneration amounts to a minimum gross monthly salary of €2,960 (scale 10)

and a maximum €4,670 (scale 10), depending on your education and experience. The job profile: is based on the university job ranking system and is vacant for at least 0.8 FTE.

The initial employment contract will affect a period of 2 years.

Additionally, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers excellent fringe benefits and various schemes and regulations to promote a good work/life balance, such as:

• a maximum of 41 days of annual leave based on full-time employment
• 8% holiday allowance
• 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• contribution to commuting expenses

The ambition of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is clear: to contribute to a better world through outstanding education and ground-breaking research. We strive to be a university where personal development and commitment to society play a leading role. A university where people from different disciplines and backgrounds collaborate to achieve innovations and to generate new knowledge. Our teaching and research encompass the entire spectrum of academic endeavor – from the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences through to the life sciences and the medical sciences.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is home to more than 31,000 students. We employ over 5,000 individuals. The VU campus is easily accessible and located in the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuidas district, a truly inspiring environment for teaching and research.

Diversity
We are an inclusive university community. Diversity is one of our most important values. We believe that engaging in international activities and welcoming students and staff from a wide variety of backgrounds enhances the quality of our education and research. We are always looking for people who can enrich our world with their own unique perspectives and experiences.

The Faculty of Science
Working at the Faculty of Science means working together with students, PhD candidates and scientists who are focused on their discipline, yet also have a broad view of the world. We are proud of the collegial working environment within the faculty, which is characterised by an ambitious and pragmatic attitude with commitment to the bigger picture. At the Faculty of Science, scientists and students work on fundamental and complex social issues for a sustainable and healthy future. From forest fires to big data, from obesity to malnutrition, from genetics to pharmaceuticals and from molecules to the moon: our teaching and research cover the full breadth of the natural sciences. Scientific teaching and research is highly experimental, technical, computational and interdisciplinary in nature. This is why we collaborate extensively with leading research institutes and industry. The faculty has over 11,000 students studying across 40 educational programmes and employs over 1,600 staff spread over 10 scientific departments, making us the largest science faculty in the Netherlands.

IVM is a leading environmental research institute that is internationally recognized for its high quality research output in a range of environmental disciplines, as well as for its interdisciplinary work. The mission of the institute is to contribute to sustainable development and care for the environment through scientific research and teaching. IVM aims to do excellent problem-oriented research that is useful to a wide range of stakeholders in the Netherlands and internationally. A unique strength of our research is to understand sustainability problems in their social and economic context. IVM research community works within four departments: Environmental Economics; Environmental Policy Analysis; Environmental Geography; and Water and Climate Risk. IVM is part of the Faculty of Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (www.vu.nl /ivm ). This position is based within the Environmental Geography department. The Environmental Geography department conducts interdisciplinary research on the spatial aspects of environmental and social challenges and the solutions sustainable land use can provide to these.

Are you interested in this position? Please apply via the application button and upload your curriculum vitae and cover letter until

. Please provide a motivation letter, a CV and the contact details of two potential references. If possible a link to your PhD thesis would be appreciated.

Submitting a diploma and a reference check are part of the application process.

Applications received by e-mail will not be processed.

Vacancy questions
If you have any questions regarding this vacancy, you may contact:

Name: Pierre Chopin
E-mail: p.g.b.chopin@vu.nl

No agencies