PhD in NWO Project CERRADO

University of Amsterdam (UvA); Netherlands; On-site; EUR 38,000 - 49,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is offering a PhD position within the CERRADO project, focusing on environmental justice in Brazil’s Cerrado. You will join an interdisciplinary team with local stakeholders to study sociobiodiversity, governance and sustainable agrarian change in MATOPIBA, Maranhão.

The PhD will co-produce knowledge aimed at policy impact and capacity building for grassroots organizations.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in Social Sciences or Environmental Sciences.
• Master thesis and/or publications demonstrating excellent research skills.
• Knowledge of environmental and agrarian justice theories.
• Solid knowledge of qualitative research methods.
• Experience with rural communities in Brazil.
• Interdisciplinary research and collaboration with non-academic actors is desirable.
• Excellent Portuguese and English proficiency.
• Availability for extended fieldwork stays in remote areas.

Responsibilities

• Develop and conduct PhD research within the CERRADO project framework.
• Collaborate with researchers, practitioners and grassroots organizations.
• Contribute to sociology, ecology, and governance analyses of MATOPIBA.
• Co-produce knowledge to support sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity.
• Help organize knowledge dissemination and policy-relevant outputs.
• Supervise and co-author Master theses within the PhD research area.
• Participate in national and international academic events and meetings.
• Engage in academic training through ARTES and CEDLA networks.
• Contribute to databases, data management, and collaborative platforms.
• Assist in organizing project-related activities and outreach.

Skills

Master's degree

Research skills

Qualitative methods

Portuguese language

English proficiency

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Fieldwork readiness

Rural Brazil experience

Education

Master's degree in Social Sciences or Environmental Sciences

Job description

Organisation/Company University of Amsterdam (UvA) Research Field Environmental science » Ecology Environmental science » Global change Sociology » Rural sociology Sociology » Socio-economic research Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Application Deadline 29 Oct 2026 - 22:59 (UTC) Country Netherlands Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Not Applicable Hours Per Week 38.0 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Looking for a PhD position to contribute to environmental justice in Brazil’s Cerrado? Join an interdisciplinary research team exploring how small-scale farmers and traditional communities can foster nature conservation, sustainable production and territorial justice. You will collaborate with researchers, producers, practitioners, and grassroots organizations to co-produce knowledge that supports a resilient Cerrado and sustainable sociobioeconomies in a region facing rapid agribusiness expansion and climate change.
Strengthening Justice and Resilience through Sociobioeconomies in Brazil’s Cerrado
The CERRADO Project—Conservation and Ecological Restoration for Resilient Agriculture and Development Outcomes—examines how agricultural development and biodiversity conservation can be better balanced in Brazil’s Cerrado, particularly in the rapidly transforming MATOPIBA region. It addresses pressures arising from agribusiness expansion, deforestation, land conflicts, and increasingly severe climate impacts, while exploring how sustainable practices developed by Indigenous peoples, traditional communities, and family farmers can contribute to sustainability and agrarian justice in the region.
The PhD research will contribute to the assessment of the sociobiodiversity economy in the MATOPIBA region, including small-scale farming, agroforestry, and sustainable extraction, as well as to in-depth socioeconomic and governance analyses of two cases involving local producers living in private and collective settlements in southern Maranhão. The regional assessment will examine the diversity, extent, challenges and social-economic relevance of sociobiodiversity production systems across MATOPIBA, as well as identify the key social, epistemic and political factors shaping these production systems within landscapes increasingly dominated by large-scale agriculture. The case studies will focus on producers’ social relations and organization, knowledge systems, governance arrangements, economic conditions, political mobilization, and perceptions of agrarian transformations and climate change. They will also examine how these production systems, in turn, contribute to the maintenance of natural systems and local livelihoods.
The PhD research will be carried out in collaboration with local stakeholders and other project members and will be closely aligned with the project’s other two pillars: ecological assessment and advocacy. The ecological assessment includes an integrated socioecological analysis of the contributions of different production systems to biodiversity conservation, water regulation, carbon storage, pollination, pest control, local livelihoods, food security, and climate resilience. The advocacy pillar will focus on translating research findings into policy recommendations and other societal products, thereby strengthening the contribution of the research to sustainable development and agrarian justice in the region.
This is what you will be doing
Developing skills for academic training and participatory research

• submission of a PhD thesis within the period of appointment;
• completion and submission of three article manuscripts to peer-reviewed journals within the period of appointment;
• presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences;
• participation in the ARTES Research School and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes;
• (co-)teaching courses at BA-level in the second and third year of the appointment (maximum 0,2 fte per year, which corresponds to approximately 8 hours per week);
• participating in meetings of the project research group and developing a shared database;
• provide support to organization and execution of project-related activities;
• co-supervise two Master research theses in your PhD research area;
• participation in national and international academic events;
• organising knowledge dissemination activities;
• participating actively in meetings of the project research team and developing a shared database and eventually co-publications.

This is what we ask of you

• a completed Master's degree in Social Sciences or Environmental Sciences; preferably with focus on socioenvironmental and agrarian change;
• excellent research skills demonstrated by a Master thesis and/or published articles;
• demonstrable knowledge in theoretical perspectives relevant to environmental and agrarian justice;
• solid knowledge of qualitative research methods;
• research experience with rural communities in Brazil;
• experience with interdisciplinary research and collaboration with non‑academic actors is desirable;
• excellent spoken Portuguese, and language proficiency in English;
• availability for extended fieldwork stays in remote areas at time.

Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere, you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA.
This is what else we offer you

• We offer a temporary employment contract for the period of 48 months. The first contract will be for 16 months, with an extension for the following 32 months, contingent on a positive performance evaluation within the first 12 months. The preferred starting date is 01 February 2027;
• Based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week) the gross monthly salary will range from € 3.204 in the first year to € 4.051 (scale P) in the last year. This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8,3% year‑end allowance. The UFO profile PhD candidate applicable. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable;
• PhD candidates receive a tuition fee waiver;
• financial support for the execution of the research project and participation in academic events;
• an inspiring academic and international work environment in the heart of Amsterdam;
• excellent possibilities for further professional development and education;
• an enthusiastic and professional international academic team composed of researchers, practitioners and grassroots organizations from Brazil and The Netherlands;
• A broad network of local partners to give support throughout the research period.

This is where you will be working
You will benefit not only from the project team’s rich interdisciplinary academic expertise, but also from its engaged methodological approach, strong connections with local actors, and commitment to generating societal impact. CERRADO is a research project grounded in knowledge co‑production between academic actors across the social and ecological sciences and non‑academic partners. The team brings together expertise in research, practice, and advocacy for sustainable land use in the Cerrado, with a particular focus on sociobiodiversity production systems. It combines regional, thematic, methodological, and disciplinary expertise with a strong research–practice–policy interface and active international exchange between Brazil and the Netherlands. It is supported by a broad network of sociobiodiversity producers, grassroots organizations, and other local partners, as well as an active presence across the wider MATOPIBA region.
The PhD position is part of ARTES , one of the Research Schools of the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research , at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Amsterdam. ARTES is home to more than 50 scholars and 50 PhD candidates. ARTES research engages with political, intellectual and institutional cultures in their national as well as transnational dimensions. As an interdisciplinary and transnational Research School, ARTES aims to go beyond traditional ‘area’ and ‘regional’ studies approaches, focusing also on the re‑making and relations between world and regional orders, borders, and identities, historically and in today’s world. The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in the de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes. The University of Amsterdam is the Netherlands' largest university, offering the widest range of academic programmes. At the UvA, 30,000 students, 6,000 staff members and 3,000 PhD candidates study and work in a diverse range of fields, connected by a culture of curiosity.
The PhD candidate will be located at the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation ( CEDLA ), which is part of ARTES. CEDLA is the Latin American Studies hub of the Netherlands and contributes to the development of research and education on topics related to societal change in Latin America. The Centre is involved in multiple academic and societal networks with Latin American and other international researchers and institutions. In addition to several …