Postdoctoral Researcher Land-Use and Grid Modelling for Biodiversity Restoration

• 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.

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 extension exists 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

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.

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the further development of our university? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application.

In your application please submit a motivation letter indicating why your are specifically interested in this position and a CV. In case publications are not yet available online please send these to us as well to get an impression of your work. Please also provide the contact details of two potential references. Submitting diplomas is only part of the following steps in the application process and do not need to be submitted at this stage.

Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.

Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.