PhD Candidate in Environmental Science (0.8 - 1.0 FTE)

• Employment: 0.8 - 1.0 FTE
• Gross monthly salary: € 2,434 - € 3,111
• Faculty of Science
• Required background: Research University Degree
• Application deadline: 5 September 2021

Are you passionate about mitigating climate change? Then you have a part to play as a PhD Candidate in Environmental Science. You will explore the global potential of restoring ecosystems to mitigate climate change while also quantifying the benefits to biodiversity, therefore contributing to solutions to two of the most pressing challenges of our century.

In this project you will have the opportunity to work in a multi-disciplinary team on two of the most pressing environmental challenges of this century: halting global biodiversity loss and mitigating climate change. The background of this project is that reaching the Paris Accord goals will require rapid decarbonisation of the global economy, but (likely) also carbon dioxide removal (CDR) from the atmosphere. Most CDR options (such as enhanced weathering and bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) rely on land, which leads to trade-offs with biodiversity conservation. To avoid such trade-offs, you will explore the global potential of restoring ecosystems in mitigating climate change. In this project, you will investigate the potential and evaluate the feasibility of, and provide recommendations for, ecosystem restoration for climate change mitigation, while also quantifying benefits to biodiversity. These goals will require you to use an array of assessment and modelling techniques used in environmental science, such as meta-analysis, species distribution modelling and integrated assessment modelling.

Besides your research, you will have a standard teaching load of 10%. Radboud University will give you the opportunity to extend the 4-year PhD period by another year to be partly engaged in teaching during the whole period, leading up to the acquisition of a university teaching certificate (BKO).

Profile

• An MSc degree in one of the natural sciences.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills, creativity and talent for systems thinking.
• Demonstrable affinity with climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation, and experience with environmental assessment and/or modelling.
• Familiarity with and programming skills in R and/or Python, or willingness and ability to quickly acquire these skills.
• Excellent communication skills both in written and spoken English.

We are

The mission of the Environmental Science cluster of Radboud University is to provide high-quality scientific knowledge that can be used to help to move towards a more sustainable society. 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. Against this background, we carved out four main research lines that are linked to each other and our mission: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Biodiversity Assessment (BA) and Sustainability Transition Assessment (STA). The current PhD project will bridge three research lines: STA, LCA and BA.

The Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR) at the Faculty of Science aims to understand the response of the natural environment to human impact and investigates stress and adaptation processes in severely affected ecosystems. This fundamental research is cross-linked with innovative applications in both industry and society with a focus on mitigating ecosystem degradation and climate change and finding solutions to restore the natural environment. RIBES comprises eleven chair groups organised in three clusters (Microbiology, Ecology and Physiology, and Environmental Science).

We offer

• Employment: 0.8 (5 year contract) -1.0 FTE (4 year contract).
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,434 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,111 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P ). 
• In addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• Duration of the contract: 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) or 3.5 years (5 year contract).
• Your education task may be up to 10% of your appointment.
• The intended start date is 1 November 2021.
• 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.

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 more information about this vacancy, please contact:
Dr Jelle Hilbers, Research Engineer
Email: [email protected]

Dr Steef Hanssen, Assistant Professor
Email: [email protected]

Practical information and applications

Please address your application to Dr Steef Hanssen and Dr Jelle Hilbers and submit it, using the application button, no later than 5 September 2021, 23:59 Amsterdam Time Zone.   

Your application should include the following attachments:

• Letter of motivation.
• CV including contact details of 1 or 2 references, preferably from academia.
• Examples of recent written work (published/submitted academic papers and/or master thesis)

The first round of interviews will take place on 27 September. 

Please note that Radboud University is closed for the summer holidays and reopens on 15 August, so you can expect a response after this date.

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