What the work is like

As a researcher with a PhD, you bring in your own conceptual perspectives and will be able to apply and advance those, often in collaboration with other DRIFTers. Your research experience allows you to engage flexibly and fruitfully with different DRIFT research contexts and projects. Generally, your work will be focusing on the social dimensions of transitions in domains such as energy or health. Examples of typical DRIFT research projects are JustWind4All and Our Smart Family Buddy - both requiring affinity with inter- and transdisciplinary ways of working. Through your research activities, you often link local activities to institutional (policy) frameworks and place them in the context of transitions towards a sustainable and just society.  

Potential questions for your research work might be: What can be learned from local experimentation about the necessary institutional requirements for just sustainability transitions? What methods can be deployed to collaborate with policy or societal partners, enhance societal learning and advance scientific understandings? And how can we ensure that justice and sustainability remain central to transitions? By developing methods and theoretical insights, you directly contribute to the scientific debate and to social change movements, both in policy and practice.

In practice, this means you will be involved in the following activities: 

• Developing theoretical and methodological underpinnings for various transformative governance approaches.
• Analysing existing data from (action-oriented) research and translating them into take-aways for science and society.
• Writing academic articles and accessible reports.
• Working together with academics from other disciplines and societal partners to actively contribute to a just and sustainable society.
• Providing advice or a lecture based on your work.

What you need for this role

• A PhD in a relevant field in the social sciences.
• Experience with action-oriented research.
• A solid understanding of the sustainability transitions field.
• The ability to write both scientific articles and accessible texts.
• An interest in collaborating within and outside academia.
• Excellent written and spoken English (DRIFT’s internal working language), knowledge of Dutch is an advantage.
• EU citizenship (so not just EU residency) or a Dutch permit of residency and Dutch work permit. You are living in the Netherlands and intend to stay.

Fixed-term contract: One year contract, with intention to extend.

What we offer

A salary according to scale 10 with a max of 10-5 the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO NU). More specifically, that currently means between 3378 and 4227 euro per month for full-time employment. Except for the salary table, the CAO NU labour agreement does not apply to DRIFT employees.

In addition, a job at DRIFT has attractive perks, such as:

• Tthe possibility to work from home some days of the week and a generous amount of holiday days and extra ADV days (44 days for a 40-hour workweek). There’s the possibly to have some of these paid out;.
• A good, fossil-free pension scheme (ABP) and the option to join collective insurance policies.
• Access to a number of university facilities such as a gym (at a discount) and the library.
• A fun and warm work environment with lunchtable conversations, a pinball machine and frequent joint (knowledge) activities.

Inclusivity

DRIFT strives to be an inclusive employer to all, regardless of gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, religion, and mental/physical ability. We specifically encourage applications from those who identify as belonging to a marginalised group. And in the case of two similarly suitable candidates, we will opt for the one that makes our team more diverse.

Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT)

Working at DRIFT

The Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) is a leading research institute in the field of transition research. Founded in 2004, we were one of the first organisations globally devoted to transitions towards just and sustainable societies. That focus remains. We are now organised as a social enterprise belonging to the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Our 30+ action researchers have a wide range of backgrounds and are constantly working on research, education, consultancy and activism for fundamental change. DRIFT has a flat organisational structure which gives a lot of freedom and makes for an open and friendly work atmosphere.