PhD vacancy in Carbon and Water-offsetting in Environment policy

Freshwater is crucial to sustain life, economic development and the environment. It’s also a vulnerable resource whose availability and quality varies strongly around the globe. We need to understand the natural and socio-economic processes that affect water resources and develop solutions for water scarcity, flooding and pollution. Our team develops and applies holistic approaches which promote sustainable and resilient management of water systems. Particularly, we study the dynamics of supply and demand of water resources in interaction with climate, land use, energy transition and agricultural management as well as production, trade and consumption. The methods we use include water footprint and life cycle assessment, hydrological modelling and integrated assessment. We understand water-related grand challenges as a shared responsibility, so we engage different partners and sectors to develop both science-based and useful solutions. To support decision-making, we provide data, models and tools and share our knowledge in academic teaching and science dissemination.

The position

Compensation as a policy tool to maintain environmental qualities started in the 1970s to protect wetlands. The idea of compensating for adverse impacts became very successful and forms the basis of current no-net-loss targets for biodiversity and net-zero targets for greenhouse gases. While appealing to both public and private policy makers, the efficiency of compensation in reaching the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement and the no-net-loss target for biodiversity is contested, as they might delay much needed transformative action.

This PhD position aims to understand what role carbon and water-offsetting can play in environmental policy set out to meet climate and water targets. You analyse legally required and voluntary initiatives on carbon and biodiversity offsetting and take various levels (product, company, and national level) into account. You evaluate existing policies quantitatively based on their contribution to reach environmental targets and you will seek to understand why some compensation schemes are economically and/or environmentally successful and others are not. As water offsetting is currently not used widely, there is great potential to influence policies that are currently under development with your scientific research. A major innovation of your PhD could be to transfer learnings from carbon and biodiversity offsetting to water. You will distil lessons learned (e.g., what are promising accounting principles, certification procedures and other aspect underpinning success stories) and derive criteria that ensure that compensation is beneficial for people and ecosystems.

For additional information regarding this position, you are welcome to contact dr.ir. Rosalie Arendt, [email protected]. Women are explicitly asked to apply for this position. This is part of the University of Twente’s strategy to increase the proportion of women among its faculty and to create a working environment that is diverse and inclusive and supportive of excellence in research and teaching.

Please apply by uploading a motivation letter (1 page), your CV (max 3 pages without photo), a writing sample (max 1 page e.g., an Abstract of a publication or a one page summary of your master thesis) as well as relevant certificates until 30 April 2023 using the link below. The application must not exceed 5 pages excluding certificates.

The first (online) job interview will take place in the end of May / beginning June 2023 (week 21 – 23). We encourage Master students to apply even if they still have to graduate in the coming months.

The Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) engages in education and research of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Industrial Design Engineering. We enable society and industry to innovate and create value using efficient, solid and sustainable technology. We are part of a ‘people-first' university of technology, taking our place as an internationally leading center for smart production, processes and devices in five domains: Health Technology, Maintenance, Smart Regions, Smart Industry and Sustainable Resources. Our faculty is home to about 2,900 Bachelor's and Master's students, 550 employees and 150 PhD candidates. Our educational and research programmes are closely connected with UT research institutes Mesa+ Institute, TechMed Center and Digital Society Institute.