PhD Position on Imagining the Future of Food: Socio-Technological Scenarios for Cellular Agriculture

PhD Position on Imagining the Future of Food: Socio-Technological Scenarios for Cellular Agriculture

As climate change challenges global food security, cellular agriculture offers promising solutions. This project explores how such technologies could be implemented sustainably.

Job Description

The world’s population continues to grow and so does the demand for food. Yet food systems are vulnerable, particularly due to climate change, urbanisation, and their pressure on natural ecosystems. How will we sustainably feed the people across the globe? The protein transition takes centre stage in designing new sustainable and equitable food technologies and systems. Innovations, such as Cellular Agriculture (CA) - also referred to as cultured meat and microbial derived dairy products - require a careful alignment with aspects such as societal perceptions and values, socio-economic networks, available financial resources and regulatory and policy aspects.

Among the novel proteins, those derived from CA stand out due to their revolutionary potential. In comparison to other alternative proteins, CA technology enables products that are identical to conventional meat and dairy. As such it holds the promise to enable meat and dairy consumption while ensuring global food security and sustainability. However, many of the potential benefits of CA technology are speculative. Therefore, societal expectations around CA are strongly shaped by diverging future visions and imaginaries.

Since CA technologies are currently still under development, different socio-technological implementation scenarios are possible. This gives rise to knowledge uncertainties and ambiguities about the actual environmental and social impact of CA technologies. Salient questions include among others, how to enable efficient energy use, the most suitable production facilities (large-scale or distributed) and value chain integration (such as ownership regimes and roles for farmers). Additionally, the desirability of CA technologies is disputed. Many European countries (including Italy and France) are arguing to limit the production and consumption of CA in Europe, while others (including the Netherlands) want to stimulate its development to reap the benefits.

This PhD project seeks to identify and develop possible socio-technological scenarios for the implementation of CA in Europe and the Netherlands, with a specific focus on the values of sustainability, food security, animal welfare and economic fairness. These scenarios will be analyzed on their compatibility with the current political and regulatory regime, both at a European level and for the Dutch context. The PhD project will be informed by perspectives from a wide range of societal stakeholders through focus groups and interviews, with an eye on the limits and opportunities of actual CA technologies. This position will be supervised by Tamara Metze, Lotte Asveld and Britte Bouchaut.

Tasks and requirements include:

• Comprehensive literature review to map societal values and concerns related to about cellular agriculture, as well as a state of the art of relevant technologies. This requires strong research and analytical skills and a keen grasp of societal tensions around novel food.
• Conduct interviews and organize focus groups with relevant stakeholders. This requires strong organisational and communication skills.
• Develop socio-technical scenarios (including LCAs) for the implementation of CA technologies. This requires the ability to understand the complexities of innovation pathways and connect them to relevant policy frameworks and governance mechanisms.

This PhD position is part of the broader Climate Action Safety & Security research programme of Delft University of Technology. This programme aims to tackle climate risks by aligning promising technologies and governance, through cutting edge research and continuous interaction with relevant policy stakeholders. This particular PhD is part of the Food security flagship. Additionally, the PhD candidate will collaborate with Cellular Agriculture Nederland, in which groundbreaking CA technologies are being developed. The prospective candidate will work with relevant PhD candidates from both these programmes.

Job Requirements

• You hold a master’s degree in a relevant field, such as Industrial Ecology, Innovation Science, Science and technology studies (STS), Political Science, Sustainability Science or a related field.
• Preferably a combined background in food technology or biotechnology and any of the above mentioned disciplines. A master’s degree in one of these subjects is also possible, if combined with a demonstrable affinity with the other disciplines.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Good organisational skills.
• Research experience and writing skills demonstrated through a thesis, publications, or previous research projects.
• Fluent in English and Dutch; please see for more information about English requirements: https://www.tudelft.nl/onderwijs/opleidingen/phd/admission.

TU Delft

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Technology, Policy and Management

The Faculty of TPM provides an important contribution to solving complex technical-social issues, such as energy transition, mobility, digitalisation, water management and (cyber) security. TPM does this with its excellent education and research at the intersection of technology, society and policy. We combine insights from both engineering and social sciences as well as the humanities. TPM develops robust models and designs, is internationally oriented and has an extensive network of knowledge institutions, companies, social organisations and governments.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management.

Conditions of employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1.5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2.5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from € 2872 per month in the first year to € 3670 in the fourth year. As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

For international applicants, TU Delft has the Coming to Delft Service. This service provides information for new international employees to help you prepare the relocation and to settle in the Netherlands. The Coming to Delft Service offers a Dual Career Programme for partners and they organise events to expand your (social) network.

Additional information

For more information about this vacancy, please contact prof.dr. Tamara Metze via T.A.P.Metze@tudelft.nl or Lotte Asveld, L.Asveld@tudelft.nl.