Postdoctoral researcher HOlistic ENvironmental/Ecological Innovations (0.8 FTE)

This is a fixed-term, 16 month post-doctoral position that involves the development and application of spatial microsimulation and agent-based models for the analysis of environmentally friendly social attitudes and behaviours.

This position is part of PHOENIX (Participation in HOlistic ENvironmental/Ecological Innovations: the Rise of Citizens Voices for a Greener Europe) a large Horizon 2020 project co-ordinated by the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and involving an international team of researchers across 15 partners across Europe (including the University of Groningen).

The project is aimed at engaging with the European Green Deal (EGD). The EGD transition pathway is a major challenge for Europe, whose targets were elevated following the pandemic outbreak. Its ambitions require joint efforts to harmonise diverse contexts and visions of humans/nature’s relation. Citizens’ engagement, as envisioned in the EU Democracy Action Plan, is a pre-condition for institutional policies and projects success, as behavioral changes and transformations in large populations’ lifestyles and expectations are vital for the EGD’s implementation. PHOENIX, anchored to the pictographic idea of a collective resurrection (stronger and more resilient) from the ashes of a shared tragedy, connects a multidisciplinary group of 15 partners from the different macro-regions of Europe. It builds on a rich, consolidated tradition of participatory processes and refined deliberative methodologies successfully experimented in different policy-making domains, considering they are necessary tools, but not sufficient ones, when it comes to facing the ambitious goals related to ecological transition patterns. Elaborating on their lesson learned, PHOENIX designs an iterative process to increase the transformative potential of Democratic Innovations to address specific topics of the EGD. Through a portfolio of sound methodologies and tools, we will enrich them, augmenting their quality of deliberation and the capacity to foster the readiness to change and the commitment of different actors.

The University of Groningen’s main contribution to PHOENIX (co-ordinated by Prof Dimitris Ballas, the principal investigator representing the University of Groningen as a partner in the consortium) will involve the development and application of suitable socio-spatial simulations, including spatial microsimulation and agent-based models. The successful candidate will join the University Groningen research team which, in addition to Prof Dimitris Ballas, will also include Dr Richard Rijnks (Department of Planning, Faculty of Spatial Sciences) and Dr Daniella Vos (Department of Cultural Geography, Faculty of Spatial Sciences) and Prof Wander Jager (Center for Social Complexity Studies / University College Groningen).

You will be based in the Faculty of Spatial Sciences and will be responsible for liaising with relevant partners and for collecting and analyzing suitable datasets as well as for developing spatial microsimulation and agent-based models. You will also take the lead in the analysis of model outputs and writing up the results as scientific manuscripts.