PhD Candidate: Alternative Economies for Sustainability Transformations

Many interconnected crises are occurring in our current world, leading to increased criticism of our models of development in the Global North and the Global South. There is a need to re-embed the economy in planetary and societal boundaries. But to realise this goal, we need profound transformations. We must rethink the economic models we have known for so long. We can observe many societal and academic movements in this direction. Degrowth, Buen Vivir, doughnut economics, including Ubuntu, all strive for an economic system that respects humans, non-humans and nature as a priority. However, these alternatives remain fragmented and isolated. Hence, it is important to understand how they interact and coincide to identify commonalities and to increase their transformative potential. 

The aim of this research is thus to analyse alternative economic systems from a discursive-institutional perspective. How are discourses attached to these different alternatives changed and adjusted in different national contexts and at various levels (international to local)? How are these discourse institutionalized leading to sustainability transformations (or not)? What are the role of different actors and their advocacy strategies in these processes? Your PhD thesis will make conceptual and empirical contributions to understanding sustainable economic models and their role in transformations.

This PhD project will focus on empirical research, for example, comparing the discussion and historical development of an alternative economic model in several countries, across various levels of governance, or in different sectors. Methodologically, the focus will be on qualitative research, perhaps applying mixed methodologies, such as quantitative text analysis (text mining) or QCA.

You will join the Environmental Governance and Politics (EGP) chair group at the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE). You will also be affiliated with the Economics and Business Economics department (the Economics department is characterised by a pluralistic view of the economics discipline). The team of supervisors reflects the interdisciplinarity of the project: Prof. Ingrid Visseren-Hamakers (EGP), Dr Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez (Economics), and Dr Maria Kaufmann (EGP). The team has extensive knowledge of and experience in analysing governance processes in sustainability transformations. The project is financed by the faculty and affiliated with the Research HotSpot TransAct.

In addition to research, the candidate will teach in the GPE and Economics departments. Your education task may be up to 10% of your appointment.