Postdoctoral Researcher in Organizational Change and Climate Adaptation

How do large infrastructure organizations actually change? How do professionals convince senior management to act on climate risks — risks that are real, urgent, but often feel distant? If these questions drive you, we want to hear from you.

Your function

In this postdoc position, you investigate how climate adaptation strategies are translated into organizational practice within critical infrastructure operators. Infrastructure organizations face a fundamental challenge: the long-term, systemic nature of climate adaptation sits uneasily with existing cognitive frames, project-based management cultures, and competing organizational transitions like digitalization and the energy transition. Your research will uncover how adaptation professionals navigate this tension — and what strategies actually work.

You will be embedded in the TASICI project (Transformative Adaptation Strategies for Interdependent Critical Infrastructure), an NWO-funded interdisciplinary consortium that develops analytical models and governance frameworks for climate adaptation across interconnected Dutch transport infrastructure. You will work closely with infrastructure operators including Schiphol Airport, ProRail, Rijkswaterstaat, and Vervoerregio Amsterdam, spending significant time embedded within these organizations.

Your duties

• conduct qualitative, ethnographically-informed fieldwork within infrastructure operators, including observations, interviews, and document analysis
• map how climate adaptation pathways are (or are not) translated into organizational strategy, asset management practices, and resource allocation
• identify issue-selling strategies used by climate adaptation professionals to generate buy-in from senior management
• study how climate adaptation strategies interact with other ongoing organizational transitions (energy, digitalization, circularity)
• publish at least one article per year in an A or B ranked journal in management, organization studies, or a related field
• contribute to co-creation workshops with consortium partners and stakeholders
• contribute to teaching in relevant programmes at the School of Business and Economics

Your profile

• a PhD in Management and Organization, Social Sciences, Innovation Management, or a closely related field
• strong qualitative and ethnographic research skills, including experience with interviews, observations, and case study research
• affinity with or demonstrable interest in climate adaptation, infrastructure governance, or organizational change in complex institutional settings
• experience publishing in or submitting to leading management or organization studies journals
• excellent command of English; proficiency in Dutch is an asset given the fieldwork context
• a collaborative mindset and the ability to work across disciplinary and organizational boundaries

What do we offer?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world.

About us

About the project

This position is part of TASICI (Transformative Adaptation Strategies for Interdependent Critical Infrastructure), funded by NWO through the KIC Next Generation Infrastructures programme. TASICI develops and applies analytical models and governance frameworks to support system-wide climate adaptation across interdependent Dutch transport infrastructure. The project brings together researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Delft University of Technology, and The Hague University of Applied Sciences, alongside cooperation partners including Rijkswaterstaat, ProRail, Schiphol Airport, Havenbedrijf Rotterdam, and Vervoerregio Amsterdam. The postdoc will be based within Work Package 3, which focuses on embedding climate adaptation pathways into organizational change strategies and resource allocation practices within infrastructure operators.

KIN Center for Digital Innovation

The KIN Center for Digital Innovation is an internationally recognized research group at the intersection of organization studies, strategy, and technology. KIN researchers study how organizations and industries transform in response to major societal and technological transitions. The center has a strong track record in qualitative and practice-based research and actively collaborates with industry partners on issues at the frontier of organizational and managerial relevance. You will join a dynamic group of researchers working on governance, strategic change, and cross-sector collaboration.

School of Business and Economics

We at the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at VU Amsterdam bring together socially relevant teaching and research in the areas of business administration and economics. We focus on real-life issues that have a huge impact on society, economics and ecology: from robotics to big data, and from job market participation to change management.

Are you interested in joining SBE? You will work in a stimulating, dynamic and international environment with motivated colleagues dedicated to helping society make informed choices.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet.