Senior Impact Evaluation Researcher

Your job

Are you an experienced researcher with a track record in supporting public and private sector clients in transition processes towards better incomes and environmental preservation in the Global South? Would you like to support businesses, policymakers and NGOs in designing and evaluating interventions for improving smallholder farmer and worker livelihoods?
We are looking for an experienced colleague with a market- and customer-oriented attitude and a great affinity for applied scientific research. A track record in designing and implementing impact evaluations of interventions in the Global South is a must. You should have excellent project management skills in that field. Your most important activities in this function will be:

• designing and implementing projects in which clients are supported in the design and evaluation of development interventions. In these evaluations, both quantitative and qualitative research methods will be used;
• leading and working in project teams that vary in size and complexity. These may vary from about five colleagues at Wageningen Economic Research to larger teams consisting of researchers from different organisations and subcontractors. These could be from different WUR divisions such as our partner research institutes Wageningen Centre for Development and Innovation , Wageningen Plant Research and/or international consortia;;
• maintaining regular contact with your clients, whereby you proactively manage the relation to ensure that recommendations are relevant and actionable, whilst being evidence-based. Clients include private and public sector parties as well as NGOs;
• leading the acquisition of new applied research projects based on your active network in agricultural development and sustainable value chains settings.

You will be working in the expertise team Food System Impact of the International Policy group, one of seven expertise groups at

Wageningen Economic Research

. Wageningen Economic Research and Wageningen Centre of Development and Innovation together form the research department within the Social Science Group.The Impact Evaluations and Food System Transformation group is committed to contributing to a more sustainable world by doing applied socio-economic research for food businesses, governments and NGOs. The group comprises of a multidisciplinary and multinational team of micro and macro modelling experts and researchers in policy and impact analysis. The group is specialised in conducting impact evaluation research on agricultural commodity value chains (e.g. banana, cocoa, coffee, tea, rice, sugarcane, etc.)  and supporting clients with recommendations on how to best design effective interventions. You will contribute to repositioning the team towards using impact evaluations more strongly for a better design of system-level transformations (food systems, landscape approaches).

Your qualities

To strengthen our team, we ask you to have:

• a Master’s degree in environmental, agricultural pr development economics, development studies, sociology or anthropology, and 5+ years of (applied) research and extensive project management experience (completion of a PhD is considered a plus);
• highly developed analytical skills, experience with quantitative impact evaluation methods and data analysis and survey design. Knowledge of R or willingness to learn new statistical software is considered a plus.
• experience with leading and acquiring projects with public and private sector clients and NGOs in agricultural value chains;
• excellent spoken and written communication skills in English (Dutch, French and/or Spanish is considered a plus), including experience in presenting and publishing research results in reports for public and private sector clients and NGOs; experience in preparing dashboards for clients or a publication record in refereed academic journals is considered a plus.  
• willingness to travel, within and outside Europe.

We offer you

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment . A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 4%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. We offer, depending on your experience, a competitive gross salary of between € 4.149,- and € 6.229,- 

for

a contract with a working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the

CLA Wageningen Research

(scale 12). Additionally, a fulltime contract can be discussed.

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a multi-faceted position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

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 18th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.
Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.

Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling. For instance under the "30% rule", certain categories of international staff can receive tax exemption on approximately 30% of their gross salary.

Do you want more information?

For more information about this position, please contact Judith Jacobs, Projectmanager Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, by phonw: +31 6 21553263  or e-mail [email protected] .
For more information about the procedure, please contact Jeanine van 't Veer-Drost, corporate recruiter, e-mail [email protected] .

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.
This vacancy will be listed up to and including April 24th, 2023. We start to schedule the first selection/interviews as soon as we receive application letters.

Equal opportunities
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) employs a large number of people with very different backgrounds and qualities, who inspire and motivate each other. We want every talent to feel at home in our organisation and be offered the same career opportunities. We therefore especially welcome applications from people who are underrepresented at WUR. For more information please go to our inclusivity page . A good example of how WUR deals with inclusiveness can be read on the page working at WUR with a functional impairment .

We are

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,200 employees (6,400 fte) and 13,200 students and over 150.000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.