Are you interested in quantifying and understanding environmental footprints of sectors and products? Then join our environmental science group for a three-year postdoctoral research position focused on quantifying environmental and biodiversity footprints of investment portfolios and food consumption. You will be part of an international and interactive group of researchers dedicated to solving environmental sustainability challenges.
You will be part of the Horizon Europe RAINFOREST project involving several European universities and international industrial partners. The overall aim of the RAINFOREST project is to contribute to enabling, upscaling, and accelerating transformative change in Europe towards reducing climate and biodiversity impacts of major food and biomass value chains. Key aspects of RAINFOREST include i) the development and quantification of consumption, production and investment scenarios and ii) the quantification of environmental footprints associated with these scenarios based on life cycle assessment and multi-regional input-output methodologies.
You will evaluate the environmental (land use and climate change) footprints of alternative investment portfolios and of alternative European food consumption scenarios. For the investment portfolios, you will develop a method to quantify current and prospective environmental pressures of companies. For the European food consumption, you will develop consumption scenarios and subsequently quantify the environmental pressures associated with food production corresponding to the consumption scenarios. To this end, you will employ life cycle models as well as multi-regional input-output models to quantify environmental pressures along entire supply chains of companies and industries. Ultimately, you will link the environmental footprints associated with investment portfolios and European food consumption scenarios to existing biodiversity impact assessment models that quantify relationships between these pressures and biodiversity responses (e.g. change in species abundance or richness as a response to land use and as a response to climate change).
Profile
- You hold a PhD degree in industrial ecology, environmental science/engineering, or one of the natural sciences.
- You have experience in environmentally extended multi-regional input-output modelling and/or product footprint modelling.
- You have a solid basis in at least one common high-level programming language (e.g. R, Python, Matlab).
- You enjoy collaborative research in international teams.
- You have an excellent command of written and spoken English.
We are
The Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES) aims to perform world leading research in order to understand the response of the natural environment to human impact. RIBES investigates stress and adaptation processes in severely affected ecosystems. This curiosity-driven, fundamental research is cross-linked with innovative applications in both industry and society with a focus on mitigating ecosystem degradation and finding solutions to restore the natural environment. RIBES is internationally unique, as its research encompasses three major groups of organisms (microorganisms, plants and animals) and spans nearly all levels of biological organisation. In addition to developing world-class research, the institute is dedicated to first-rate education in its Biology BSc, MSc and international PhD programmes.
The mission of the Environmental Science Group of RIBES is to provide high-quality scientific knowledge that can help the world move towards greater sustainability. To achieve this, we aim to understand, project and address the impact of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems and humans from the landscape to the global scale. This enables us to explore and develop wide-ranging sustainable solutions for the environmental challenges the world faces today.
We offer
- It concerns an employment for 0.8 - 1.0 FTE.
- The gross monthly salary amounts to a minimum of €2,960 and a maximum of €4,670 based on a 38-hour working week, depending on previous education and number of years of relevant work experience (salary scale 10).
- You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
- It concerns a temporary employment for 3 years.
- You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
- Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.
Would you like more information?
For questions about the position, please contact Koen Kuipers, Postdoctoral Researcher at koen.kuipers[at]ru.nl. Alternatively, you can contact Mark Huijbregts, Professor, at mark.huijbregts[at]ru.nl.
Practical information and applying
You can apply until 9 November 2022, exclusively using the button below. Kindly address your application to Koen Kuipers. Please fill in the application form and attach the following documents:
- A letter of motivation.
- Your CV.
The first round of interviews will take place on Thursday, 14 November.