Research assistant to strengthen sustainability research within forestry and agri-food systems

The Society-Environment Interactions Research Group is a team that deals with the scarcity of land as a resource for meeting the increasing demand for land-based functions, goods and services. We believe it is vital to combine insights on the provision as well as the consumption of these goods and services. We therefore aim to improve land use (configurations) so that an optimal bundle of services is provided, to guide consumers of food and land towards more sustainable behaviors. We thereby give special attention to the decision making processes of land managers like farmers and foresters, as well as end users like recreationists and food consumers. This requires an understanding of their knowledge, preferences and attitudes as well as testing the potential impact of public and private instruments that can catalyze a behavioral shift. The team – composed of researchers from diverse backgrounds such as economics, environmental sciences, bioscience engineering and ecology – believes that an interdisciplinary approach is more than ever needed to decrease pressure on resources while simultaneously meeting societal needs. Therefore, it integrates different quantitative methods from various disciplines such as agricultural and environmental economics, experimental economics, econometrics, geography, life cycle analysis, spatial analysis.

The research group is involved in several European and national projects and is looking for a research assistant to strengthen its team.
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Responsibilities

The candidate will mainly be involved projects related to sustainable production and consumption within forestry and agri-food systems. S/he will conduct environmental impact assessments in the agri-food and forestry sector, and develop and assess the effectiveness of measures to steer producers and consumers towards more sustainable behaviours (e.g. through the provision of product labels and/or information). 

This includes:

• Organizing data collection among actors in the agri-food and forestry sectors, for example through surveys, (lab) experiments, qualitative interviews;
• Analysis of the above mentioned data, for example Life Cycle Analysis;
• Reporting of research results;
• Support with the organization of study days and congresses in the field of sustainable food production and consumption;
• Support to various ongoing projects.

Profile

Masters in Economics or Bioscience Engineering with relevant experience in the listed tasks, or a Master’s degree with great affinity with agriculture and/or forestry. 
Interested to work in an international and multicultural environment around agriculture and food.
Strong communication skills, both orally and in writing.

Offer

A dynamic working environment consisting of motivated and competent researchers and engineers, where quality, professionalism, diversity and respect for social and cultural differences are among the basic values.
A work environment in which bridging research, project management, education and outreach is central.
A one year position that can be extend after positive evaluation. Possibility to enroll in PhD programme.

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Liesbet Vranken, tel.: +32 16 32 23 95, mail: [email protected].

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