PhD Position Socio-Economic Modelling of Nature Restoration at European scale

Do you want to help make the full value of nature restoration visible in land-use decisions and policy across Europe through new modelling approaches? Apply now for this PhD position at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

PhD Position: Socio-Economic Modelling of Nature Restoration at European Scale

Your function

The climate and biodiversity crises make it urgent to rethink how we manage land and water. Current land-use systems are often eroding the ecological foundations on which long-term prosperity depends. Existing socio-economic models mainly capture land use that delivers marketed goods and therefore miss important demands for nature, including benefits linked to health, wellbeing, recreation, pollination, and natural pest control. This can lead to restoration being undervalued and its costs overstated. You will contribute to the development of a new generation of assessment models that fully incorporate these demands and benefits for natural land uses with the aim to reshape how people, businesses, and policymakers value restoration and act on it.

This research is part of the Horizon Europe project NatuRISE (NATUre Restoration Impact assessment for Socio-Economic and ecological benefits). The overall objective of NatuRISE is to develop and apply new EU- and local-scale modelling approaches to capture the full socio-economic and ecological benefits and costs of nature restoration. NatuRISE is coordinated within the VU but brings together 17 partners from different institutes throughout Europe. The work will be carried out at the IVM, and you will work in close collaboration with the NatuRISE consortium partners.

For this PhD position, you will work on research leading to a PhD thesis related to the modelling of more comprehensive assessments of land dynamics and socio-economic benefits at the EU-wide level. The position entails: (i) understanding the socio-economic demands for productive and non-productive land uses and impacts this may bring for underreported indicators such as health and wellbeing, (ii) developing a multi-objective framework in which land use management strategies can be assessed for impacts on society and the environment, (iii) analyzing the socio-economic impacts of different nature restoration measures at EU scale, and (iv) summarizing findings in terms of both costs and benefits of nature restoration.

Your duties

• Conduct cutting-edge research on the impact of nature restoration on terrestrial and freshwater systems, biodiversity and human impacts
• Develop new land use modelling approaches and link with macro-economic models to better capture demands for nature, beyond those typically reported in neoclassical economic frameworks
• Process data, analyze results and implement a range of scenarios on nature restoration
• Write a PhD thesis consisting of 4 scientific papers

Your profile

• A university masters’ degree in agriculture, environmental, ecological or spatial economics, agricultural sciences, ecology, or environmental sciences
• Experience with or interest in quantitative research methodologies, including mathematical programming, preferably in GAMS or Python
• Experience with data and spatial analysis and processing (e.g., QGIS) is preferred
• Organizational, communicative and connective skills that allow you to collaborate with a wide variety of academic and societal actors

We recognize that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. We would like to invite everyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not (fully) meet all the requirements.

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. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• A salary of minimum € 3.059,00 (PhD salary scale 85.0) and maximum € 3.881,00 (PhD salary scale 85.3) gross per month, on a full-time basis
• A position for 1 FTE; your employment contract will initially last 1 year, with the possibility of expansion for 3 years afterwards (job profile based on the university job ranking system)

We also offer attractive fringe benefits and regulations, including:

• A full-time 38-hour working week with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year; if you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours annually (pro rata for part-timers)
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• Contribution to commuting expenses
• A wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge
• Solid pension scheme (ABP)

Additionally, we offer a PhD education programme including training for teaching assistants and courses that are part of the SENSE graduate school.

About the employer

Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)

The work will be carried out at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM). 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. IVM research community works within four departments: Environmental Economics; Environmental Policy Analysis; Environmental Geography; and Water and Climate Risk. IVM is part of the Faculty of Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. This position is based within the Environmental Geography department in collaboration with the Environmental Economics department. The Environmental Geography department conducts interdisciplinary research on the spatial aspects of environmental and social challenges and the solutions sustainable land use can provide to these.

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. Our teaching and research have a strong experimentally technical, computational and interdisciplinary nature.

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.