The development of solar parks is met with increasing resistance. Concerns about the competition between solar energy generation and food production, or about their impacts on biodiversity and spatial quality, necessitate a further improvement of solar parks. The
Solar Research Program is a joint initiative of Wageningen University and Wageningen Environmental Research (WEnR) to consolidate and advance cross-domain research for a sustainable implementation of solar energy technologies in the landscape. In this
One Wageningen program, researchers from spatial, social, technical and other sciences jointly address the shortcomings of conventional solar parks. For this, we currently distinguish six themes: spatial quality, biodiversity, soil quality, public acceptance, agriculture, and technological innovation.
We are looking for a
postdoc to support the
Solar Research Program and to conduct research with a focus on spatial quality, employing novel theories such as 'relational space' from energy geography. According to this theory, spaces of energy development are actively constituted through a series of social and materials relations. Landscape, in other words, is
not a pre-existing, fixed commodity but an unfinished project shaped by societal preferences and technological possibilities.
The
Solar Research Program provides a multi-year platform for committed postdocs, talented PhD candidates, and senior researchers to collaborate with relevant societal and industrial partners on pressing scientific questions. The programme is a viable addition to the growing research community for energy transition in Wageningen (e.g. WUR Energy Alliance). The postdoc will collaborate intensively with the two coordinators of the
Solar Research Program, the members of the core team, and several PhD candidates studying the solar-landscape nexus. The key activities of the postdoc can be divided across five fields:
- Strategic collaboration including project acquisition (e.g. consortia building and proposal writing)
- Coordinating research programming with commercial/public partners (e.g. test field alliance)
- Conducting research (e.g. field labs) and publishing academic as well as professional papers
- Contributing to education (e.g. guest lectures, co-supervising Bachelor and Master theses)
- Organisation and communication (e.g. program outreach and supporting WUR Energy Alliance)