Assistant Professor Environmental Economics / Career Track

As an Assistant Professor in environmental economics, you will be part of the Environmental Economics department of the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. We are looking for an environmental economist with a broad interest in one or more of our research themes: the economics of climate change, energy, food, ecosystems, biodiversity, circularity, and/or sustainable finance.

Your work includes teaching courses in environmental economics in our interdisciplinary BSc and MSc programmes, developing your own research programme, contributing to the acquisition of research funding, and some administrative and organisational tasks to support our education and research.

In this position, we expect you to spend approximately 40% of your time on research, 40% on teaching, and 20% on administrative and organisational tasks. Your career development will be shaped within the framework of our Career Track policy in the first years as a university lecturer.

Your Duties

• Develop a largely externally funded research programme in your research area, in order to eventually form a successful team in your field
• Teach at BSc and MSc level, including thesis supervision
• Contribute to administrative tasks
• Ensure a high-quality publication output
• Initiate collaborative projects and work in teams

Your Profile

• Hold a PhD in environmental economics or a strongly related economic (sub-)discipline (this is a hard requirement)
• Strong research interest and show the potential to develop a strong academic track record in environmental economics
• Research has a clear methodological focus and uses quantitative methods
• Advantageous: Committed to academic teaching in environmental economics and sustainability-related topics, especially for interdisciplinary groups
• Advantageous: Have additional research and teaching experience since PhD (or in addition to PhD research)
• Show academic and personal leadership and have ideas that fit within the environmental economics section of IVM
• Value teamwork and are motivated to contribute to team(s)
• Strong interest in interdisciplinary collaboration and generating societal impact through applied research, and have ideas on how to do this

Dutch language proficiency is highly desirable due to the large proportion of Dutch students in our BSc programs and several Dutch language courses.

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

What Do We Offer?

An interesting position in a socially engaged organization. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research, and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• A salary of minimum € 4.492,00 (Scale 11.0) and maximum € 6.148,00 (Scale 11.12) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Lecturer / Assistant Professor 2. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
• A position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 18 months. After 15 months your performance will be evaluated in terms of quality of teaching, research and collaboration. After a successful evaluation, you will receive permanent employment and a path for your further academic development will be established through the career track agreement.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• Solid pension scheme (ABP)
• Possibility to save holiday hours, for sabbatical leave
• Contribution to commuting expenses

About Us

Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)
Established in 1971, IVM is a leading environmental research institute that is internationally recognized 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 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
Researchers and students at VU Amsterdam’s Faculty of Science tackle fundamental and complex scientific problems to help pave the way for a sustainable and healthy future. From forest fires to big data, from obesity to malnutrition, and from molecules to the moon: we cover the full spectrum of the natural sciences. Our teaching and research have a strong experimentally technical, computational, and interdisciplinary nature.

We work on new solutions guided by value-driven, interdisciplinary methodologies. We are committed to research, valorisation, and training socially engaged citizens of the world who will make valuable contributions to a sustainable, healthy future.

Are you interested in joining the Faculty of Science? You will join undergraduate students, PhD candidates, and researchers at the biggest sciences faculty in the Netherlands. You will combine a professional focus with a broad view of the world. We are proud of our collegial working climate, characterized by committed staff, a pragmatic attitude, and engagement in the larger whole. The faculty is home to over 11,000 students enrolled in 40 study programs. It employs over 1,600 professionals spread across 10 academic departments.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely – a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, 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. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research.

We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.

Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences, and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest, and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.

We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research, and our services.

Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.

Interested?

Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the further development of our university? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application.

Submitting a diploma and a reference check are part of the application process.

Reference letters can either be uploaded with your application, or you can list the contact information of two references in your CV or cover letter.

Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.