Are you interested in the circular economy? Do you enjoy systems thinking and environmental assessment? If yes, then join our environmental science group for a 4-year PhD position focused on quantifying the environmental benefits of plastic recycling!  You will become part of a dynamic interdisciplinary team of researchers and a broader industry consortium to help solve environmental sustainability challenges.

This PhD position is part of the NWO Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) MUNITION project that involves a broad consortium of Radboud University, Wageningen University, various waste treatment and plastic recycling companies, as well as local and national governments and societal stakeholders. MUNITION aims to develop scenarios for optimal national plastic household waste recycling systems to lower dependence on fossil resources and reduce environmental impacts.

You will contribute to this consortium by developing methods to quantify environmental impacts of regional and national plastic recycling system scenarios, focusing on climate, plastic pollution and biodiversity. Recycling scenarios can include pre- and post-consumer sorting of plastic waste and changing waste collection strategies over time, for example through innovative packaging development, regulations or consumer behaviour.

You will use life cycle assessment (LCA) in combination with material flow analysis to quantify the environmental consequences and trade-offs of various plastic recycling strategies, from unit to the national scale. These include for instance the trade-off between the benefits of reduced fossil resource use through recycling versus benefits of energy generation from plastic waste. With waste becoming a resource, you will quantify environmentally optimal deployment of this resource at the system scale. This systems thinking and the development of corresponding methodologies is essential for a holistic understanding of the benefits and trade-offs of the circular economy.

This position will allow you to work in an interdisciplinary team of experts at the academic forefront of innovative LCA development, including system-level consequences, while also yielding tangible results that have a direct sustainability impact on society through cooperation with public and private waste treatment partners in the MUNITION project. Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your working time.

• You hold an MSc degree in industrial ecology, environmental science/engineering, or one of the natural sciences.
• You have experience with and enjoy integrated environmental assessment and/or systems thinking.
• You have experience in life cycle assessment.
• You have an excellent command of written and spoken English.
• You enjoy collaborative research with societal impact.

Fixed-term contract: You will be employed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract).

• It concerns an employment for 1.0 FTE.
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,541 per month based on a 38-hour working week, and will increase to €3,247 in the fourth year (salary scale P).
• You will receive 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• You will be employed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4 year contract).
• You will be able to use our Dual Career and Family Care Services. Our Dual Career and Family Care Officer can assist you with family-related support, help your partner or spouse prepare for the local labour market, provide customized support in their search for employment and help your family settle in Nijmegen.
• Working for us means getting extra days off. In case of full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the legally allotted 20.

Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes.

The mission of the Environmental Science Group is to provide high-quality scientific knowledge that can help the world move towards greater sustainability. To achieve this, we aim to understand, project and address the impact of anthropogenic pressures on ecosystems and humans from the landscape to the global scale. This enables us to explore and develop wide-ranging sustainable solutions for the environmental challenges the world faces today.

The Environmental Science Group is embedded in the Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES), which aims to perform world leading research in order to understand the response of the natural environment to human impact. This curiosity-driven, fundamental research is cross-linked with innovative applications in both industry and society with a focus on mitigating ecosystem degradation and finding solutions to restore the natural environment. In addition to developing world-class research, the institute is dedicated to first-rate education in its Biology BSc, MSc and international PhD programmes.

Radboud University's Faculty of Science hosts excellent fundamental research in the natural sciences, with a specific focus on creating societal impact. The real problems in society cannot be solved by a single scientific discipline and that is why Interdisciplinary Research is of such great importance to our faculty.




Radboud University


We are keen to meet critical thinkers who want to look closer at what really matters. People who, from their expertise, wish to contribute to a healthy, free world with equal opportunities for all. This ambition unites more than 24,000 students and 5,600 employees at Radboud University and requires even more talent, collaboration and lifelong learning. You have a part to play!