PhD Position: Values of Sustainable Land Use Strategies

PhD Position: Values of Sustainable Land Use Strategies
PhD Position: Values of Sustainable Land Use Strategies

Published	Deadline	Location
today	10 May	Amsterdam

Do you have experience with research on values of sustainable land use and consumption? Would you like to work in a transdisciplinary project with professionals in an academic environment with an interdisciplinary team of professionals? Please apply at...
Job description
The PhD student will study how values regarding land use change have changed over time, and the visions of local residents towards sustainable land use. This is followed by experiments and surveys among consumers to help identify measures and designing interventions that can stimulate a change towards more sustainable behaviour.
The PhD will be involved in a new Horizon Europe project called PLUS Change (Planning Land Use Strategies: Meeting biodiversity, climate and social objectives in a Changing world). PLUS Change pulls together expertise from across the social sciences, humanities, arts, environmental economics, and land system science. It identifies, analyses, and enhances sustainable land use strategies that address complexities, and pinpoints the tangible policy, governance and behaviour interventions to achieve them. The project brings together scientists and land use decision makers in 11 countries. VU's Institute for Environmental Studies contributes to this project through land use change modelling, analysis of behavioural change, and exploring the linkages between land use and behaviour. This PhD would collaborate with another PhD researcher working on Mapping Land Use Change in Europe that we are currently also recruiting.
Your duties

• Research towards writing a PhD thesis
• Contributing to project tasks, such as organizing workshops and data collection

Specifications

• 30.4—38 hours per week
• €2541—€3247 per month
• Amsterdam View on Google Maps

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)

Requirements

• MSc (or equivalent) in (environmental) economics or a related discipline
• Quantitative analysis skills
• Demonstrable interest in mixed methods research (document analysis, interviews, surveys, experiments)
• Proven interest in interdisciplinary work
• Good communication skills in English and one other European language. Proficiency in Dutch is a strong advantage

Conditions of employment

Fixed-term contract: 1 year.

A challenging position in a socially involved organisation. The salary will be in accordance with university regulations for academic personnel and amounts €2,541 (PhD) per month during the first year and increases to €3,247 (PhD) per month during the fourth year, based on a full-time employment. The job profile is based on the university job ranking system and is vacant for at least 0.8 FTE.
The appointment will initially be for 1 year. After a satisfactory evaluation of the initial appointment, the contract will be extended for a duration of 3 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 and 8.3% end-of-year bonus,
• solid pension scheme (ABP), contribution to commuting expenses,
• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package

Employer
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
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 30,000 students. We employ over 5,500 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.
About the institute
Established in 1971, IVM is a leading environmental research institute that is internationally recognised 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's research community works within four departments: Environmental Economics; Environmental Geography, Environmental Policy Analysis; and Water and Climate Risk. Since 2001 IVM has been part of the Faculty of Science at VU Amsterdam (legal name Stichting VU).
The department of Environmental Economics (EE) leads the institute's efforts in improving insights into the interaction between the environment and the economy. The department is one of the main groups of environmental economists in Europe, consisting of around 35 scientific staff and PhD researchers. The department strategy is to consolidate and further strengthen its position as a major player in the European field of environmental economics. Important fields of application include climate change, energy, circular economy, water, ecosystem services, and environmental and natural resource management. The philosophy of EE department is to closely integrate its research projects with its teaching programme and to initiate and conduct research jointly with stakeholders and collaborating institutes. In the coming years, the EE department will further explore new research fields related to climate economics, economics of sustainable energy, and economics of natural capital.
Additional information
Are you interested in this position? Please apply via the application button and upload your curriculum vitae and cover letter by 10 May 2023. The job interviews are planned for the period 22 May to 26 May 2023, when possible please take this period into account when applying for the position.
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: Marije Schaafsma
Position: Associate Professor
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone:
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Working at VU Amsterdam

Working at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam means contributing to a better world. Working beyond the confidence of your own field, working with an open mind and working for the benefit of society.

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