PhD position Governing transitions towards a sustainable greenhouse sector

Your function

The Athena Institute of VU Amsterdam together with the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht University are looking for a motivated PhD candidate on the Greenhouse in Transition project. In this position, you will focus on the governance of sustainability transitions and mission-oriented innovation in the greenhouse sector.

This joint USA-NL project supports the transition to sustainable and circular CEA without fossil energy, reducing waste, and improving resource efficiency. Current greenhouses rely heavily on fossil fuels, chemicals, and labour. This project connects technology, growers, and policymakers to create greenhouses that are smarter, more affordable, and better for people and planet. In the project many different scientific disciplines and stakeholders from both countries collaborate to design the future of the greenhouse sectors. In this position, you will work in a social science research team, and you are being supervised by a collaborative promotion team of both VU Amsterdam (Dr. Kok, Dr. Loeber) and Utrecht University (Dr. Wojtynia, Prof. Negro).

Our research team will critically examine the current state of greenhouse production systems, highlight the primary sustainability issues they face, and investigate historical factors that have perpetuated these challenges. We will also identify the systemic barriers impeding innovation and transformative change towards sustainability, community engagement, and resource circularity.

Questions that you can focus on are: How can we understand complex transition processes? How does the innovation system around greenhouses look like in the Netherlands and the United States? How can we support the greenhouse sector in a transition?

Your tasks:
As a team, we will work on understanding the social, political and economic dimensions of innovations and sustainability transitions in the greenhouse sector. During your PhD you will be conducting social science studies into innovation systems and the factors that help contribute to diffusion and adoption of sustainable innovations and policy instruments and governance at different levels (local, national) in the Netherlands and the United States. Data collection strategies can include conducting interviews, document analysis and organizing workshops with stakeholders, such as policymakers, growers and businesses. Together with the promotion team, in the first year you will make a research proposal where you outline your own ideas and interests for the PhD research.

Concretely, your tasks are:

• Conducting research and collaboratively writing scientific articles that will form the basis of your PhD thesis.
• Contributing to policy advice based on the research outcomes.
• Contributing to the project by organizing workshops and other activities within the broader project, such as at consortium meetings.
• Presenting your work at conferences.
• Following courses to develop your research skills (formal PhD training).
• Teaching working groups in the education programmes of the Athena Institute (max 0.2 fte).

After the first year, there will also be a postdoctoral researcher who will be working with you on the project. Note that there is budget to conduct field work in the United States. We will explore the feasibility of this together.

Recruitment process:
There will be (at least) two rounds of interviews. A first round of interviews will be scheduled end of August/beginning of September. We hope to complete the interview process in September, so that the selected candidate can start in October or November.

In your application, please include:
your cv
your motivation letter (1 A4)
a research idea that would like to conduct as part of this project (max 1 A4)

Your profile

• A completed Masters degree in transition studies, sustainable development, innovation studies, policy sciences, agricultural policy or another relevant (interdisciplinary) social science field.
• Proven experience in qualitative research methodologies, such as interviews, ethnography, document analysis and/or focus groups.
• Interest in inter- and transdisciplinary research approaches in the collaboration between science, policy, practice and society.
• The ability to work independently as well as in a team, in a flexible, adaptive and pro-active way.
• Excellent organizational, communicative and collaborative skills.
• Experience in research, writing and presenting.
• Excellent command of English and B2 command of Dutch are required.

As a university, we strive for equal opportunities for all, recognising that diversity takes many forms. We believe that diversity in all its complexity is invaluable for the quality of our teaching, research and service. We are always looking for talent with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This also means that we are committed to creating an inclusive community so that we can use diversity as an asset.

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?

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. 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 € 3.,00 (PhD) and maximum € 3.,00 (PhD) gross per month, for full-time employment
• a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year. Following this there is a possibility of an extension.

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

• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of hours per year. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• child daycare facilities available on campus
• the possibility to work partly from home