Postdoctoral Researcher Land-Use and Grid Modelling for Biodiversity Restoration

Vrije Universiteit; Amsterdam; Presencial; EUR 41.000 - 64.000; Jornada completa

Ventajas ofrecidas por este puesto de trabajo

Holiday leave entitlement 232 hours/yr

8% holiday allowance

8.3% end-of-year bonus

Commuting expense contributions

Sports facilities

Descripción de la vacante

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam invites applications for a postdoctoral position focused on biodiversity restoration opportunities in relation to electricity-grid expansion across Europe. You will build spatial scenarios, adapt land-use models, and assess impacts on ecological connectivity and ecosystem services within the POWERNATURE project.

The role requires a PhD in environmental sciences or related fields, strong quantitative and spatial modelling skills, and experience in interdisciplinary

Formación

• PhD in environmental sciences or related field is required.
• Strong background in quantitative and spatially explicit modelling.
• Experience with biodiversity indicators and ecosystem services is a plus.

Responsabilidades

• Develop spatial scenarios of future electricity-grid expansion.
• Adapt CLUMondo model to represent electricity-grid infrastructure.
• Link future scenarios with biodiversity, ecological connectivity, and ecosystem services assessments.
• Contribute to publications, project deliverables, and international meetings.

Conocimientos

Spatial modelling

Quantitative modelling

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Scientific writing

Educación

PhD in environmental sciences or related

Herramientas

CLUMondo model

Geospatial tools (GIS)

Descripción del empleo

Your function

Europe needs to restore biodiversity, adapt to climate change, and expand renewable energy infrastructure. Across the continent, powerline corridors form an extensive network of managed landscapes that could provide important opportunities for biodiversity restoration and ecological connectivity. This postdoctoral position is part of POWERNATURE, an international research project developing a pan-European framework to identify suitable powerline corridors for biodiversity restoration and improved landscape connectivity, while accounting for ecosystem services and socio-economic feasibility.

Building on the CLUMondo land-system change model, you will contribute to the development of a forward-looking spatial modelling framework that explores how future land-use change, climate change, and electricity-grid expansion affect biodiversity restoration opportunities across Europe. Through this approach, you will contribute to more robust, future-oriented strategies for biodiversity restoration that can inform European land-use and infrastructure planning.

Your duties

• You will develop spatial scenarios of future electricity-grid expansion, considering renewable energy deployment, existing networks, energy demand, and different land-use demands.


• You will adapt the CLUMondo land-system model to represent electricity-grid infrastructure and its interactions with other land systems.


• You will link future scenarios with biodiversity, ecological connectivity, and ecosystem service assessments to identify resilient restoration opportunities.


• You will contribute to scientific publications, project deliverables, international meetings, and the communication of research findings to scientific and policy audiences.

Your profile

• You have a PhD in environmental sciences, geography, land-system science, spatial or environmental modelling, energy systems, energy geography, or a closely related discipline.


• You have experience with quantitative and spatially explicit modelling, preferably related to land-use change, land systems, or environmental scenarios.


• Experience with biodiversity indicators, ecological connectivity, ecosystem services, or energy infrastructure planning is an advantage.


• You have demonstrated scientific writing skills and enjoy working in interdisciplinary and international research teams.

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 (fully) meet all the requirements.

What do we offer?

A rewarding position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. In return for your efforts, we offer you:

• a salary of minimum € 3.706,00 (Scale 10) and maximum€ 5.760,00 (Scale 10) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Researcher 4. The exact salary depends on your education and experience


• a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year.Afterwards, the possibility of a 2-year extensionexists for a total duration of 36 months

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

• a full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata


• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus


• contribution to commuting expenses


• optional model for designing a personalized benefits package


• a wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

About us

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. The mission of the institute is to contribute to sustainable development and care for the environment through scientific research and teaching. IVM aims to do excellent problem-oriented research that is useful to a wide range of stakeholders in the Netherlands and internationally. A unique strength of our research is to understand sustainability problems in their social and economic context. 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 (www.vu.nl /ivm ). This position is based within the Environmental Geography 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
Working at the Faculty of Science means collaborating with students, lecturers and researchers who are focused on their field, yet have a broad view of the world. We are proud of a positive and inclusive workplace culture within the faculty, where we work together with great energy and a pragmatic attitude to tackle social challenges. At the Faculty of Science, scientists and students work on fundamental and complex societal issues for a sustainable, healthy and just future.

From forest fires to big data, from obesity to malnutrition, from helium to the universe and from genetics to medicine: our education and research cover the full breadth of science, from molecules to mankind. Our academic education and research are highly experimental, technical and interdisciplinary in nature. That is why we collaborate extensively with leading scientific institutes and industry. The faculty has more than 8,000 students studying in one of the 39 programms and employs more than 1,400 staff across 10 scientific departments, making us one of the largest science faculties in the Netherlands.

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. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct

We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.

Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.

We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.

Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.