PhD Position: Economic Assessment of Coral Reefs and Coastal Ecosystems

Are you keen to develop an evidence-based framework for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable financing of coral reefs and connected coastal ecosystems?

The Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) has a new position for a PhD student in the field of environmental economics. As PhD student you will become part of the new interdisciplinary Horizon Europe project ‘Management of Coastal Networks Nurtured through Ecosystem assessment, Collaboration and Technology’ (m-CONNECT). It focuses on interconnected coastal seascapes (CMS-metasystems), i.e. coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, and their role in supporting ecosystem services and climate resilience. The project aims to better understand how different forms of ecological connectivity influence services like fisheries, coastal protection and carbon storage. Working with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, the project will develop science-based, locally informed guidelines for conserving and restoring these systems across islands in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.

Your function

The main tasks for you as PhD within the project are to:

• Design and apply economic valuation methods to assess the value of ecosystem services provided by coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrasses, including tourism, fisheries, coastal protection, carbon storage, and biodiversity.
• Conduct empirical research in selected case study sites using stated preference methods (e.g. discrete choice experiments) to derive non-marketed benefits among local communities.
• Support approaches to extrapolate local natural capital valuations to broader spatial scales, supporting regional policy applications.
• Apply societal cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to evaluate the economic viability, trade-offs, and distributional impacts of different conservation and restoration strategies across stakeholders.
• Compile and analyse global data on restoration costs and financing instruments through systematic literature review and stakeholder engagement.
• Design and assess innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms to support long-term conservation and restoration.

You will work closely with ecologists, social scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. An interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary mindset, as well as strong communication skills, are therefore essential.

Your duties

• You publish research results in international peer-reviewed journals
• You teach for 0.1 FTE in Bachelor and/or Master’s educational programmes and supervise Bachelor and Master students
• You contribute to project tasks, meetings and activities
• You present your research findings, for example at international conferences

Your profile

• You have an MSc degree in (environmental) economics, environmental science or a related discipline
• You possess quantitative statistical and/or econometric skills
• You have excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English
• You have organizational, communicative and connective skills that allow you to collaborate with a wide variety of academic and societal actors
• You are interested in doing cutting-edge scientific research

Nice to have

• Affinity with environmental sustainability-related topics
• Experience with socio-economic experiment and/or survey design

We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not meet all the requirements.

What do we offer?

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

• An employment contract of initially 1 year. If there is sufficient perspective, this will be extended to a total of 4 years. Your dissertation at the end of the fourth year forms the end of your employment contract.
• A PhD education programme including training for teaching assistants and courses that are part of the SENSE graduate school.

About us

Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)

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. A unique strength of the research is to understand sustainability problems in their social and economic context.

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. Important fields of application include climate change, energy, circular economy, water, ecosystem services, and environmental and natural resource management. The philosophy of the 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.

Faculty of Science

Working at the Faculty of Science means collaborating with students, lecturers and researchers who are focused on their field, yet have a broad view of the world. We are proud of a positive and inclusive workplace culture within the faculty, where we work together with great energy and a pragmatic attitude to tackle social challenges. At the Faculty of Science, scientists and students work on fundamental and complex societal issues for a sustainable, healthy and just future. Our academic education and research are highly experimental, technical and interdisciplinary in nature. That is why we collaborate extensively with leading scientific institutes and industry.

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, 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.