Are you an aspiring researcher who wants to explore the ecological and social implications of nature restoration processes? Are you motivated to contribute to innovative transdisciplinary research on forest recovery? We have an exciting PhD opportunity at the Forest Ecology and Forest Management (FEM) and Earth Systems and Global Change (ESC) Groups at Wageningen University that will allow you to explore the ecological and social dimensions of forest recovery in Mexico.

Forest recovery is crucial for addressing global change, including biodiversity loss, climate change, soil degradation, and socioeconomic challenges. Ensuring the long-term success of reforestation efforts requires forests to be resilient under future environmental and social changes. Forest resilience can be achieved through fostering biodiverse, multifunctional landscapes. This includes biodiversity restoration and improvement of soil health, alongside the promotion of connected ecosystem services that benefit local people and the minimization of ecosystem disservices that cause harm to communities. However, there is limited understanding of how forest recovery can enhance landscape multifunctionality and strengthen social-ecological resilience in this era of global change.

The proposed PhD project aims to explore the relationships between biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and ecosystem services and disservices within recovering forests in Mexico. The research will incorporate a transdisciplinary approach to shed light on the multifunctional ability of recovering forests to support the social-ecological system around them, whether such contributions are distributed equitably among different actors, and how forest recovery overall contributes to both ecological and social resilience within the landscape. The findings will offer valuable insights into how forests can be managed to optimize their multifunctionality, ensuring that they support biodiversity, provide essential ecosystem services, and help communities adapt to and mitigate environmental and social challenges. This research will have direct implications for forest management and will highlight strategies to manage ecosystem recovery processes under global change while maintaining vital ecological and social roles. The project will build on the PANTROP project (led by prof. Poorter, WUR) by expanding the strong ecological knowledge already gained, and integrate this with a social perspective.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Forest Ecology and Forest Management and the Earth Systems and Global Change groups and will be in close collaboration with the PANTROP project. Your supervisors will be Dr. Iris Hordijk and Dr. Jannik Schultner.

You are a person who is highly motivated to work at the intersection of ecological and social sciences, wants to carry out your own field data collection, likes to integrate mixed (qualitative and quantitative) data, and to reflect critically on results. You are happy to constructively interact and collaborate with an interdisciplinary international team, including local and international collaborators, including Mexican stakeholders. You look forward to publishing your findings in international academic journals and to communicating them to audiences that may be able to use your results. You enjoy supervising MSc students on their thesis research within the framework of your own studies.

You also possess:

• an MSc in environmental sciences, ecology, rural studies, or a related field;
• experience in or strong ambition to use disciplinary approaches;
• broad interest in restoration science and social-ecological resilience;
• excellent English language skills both written and spoken;
• Spanish language skills;
• experience or interest in social and/or ecological (tropical) fieldwork under challenging conditions;
• experience or interest in data processing and analysis in R;
• interest to interact with Mexican (rural) stakeholders;
• team-player skills;
• good organizational and communication skills;
• knowledge on Mexican rural systems is a plus.

For this position your command of the English language is expected to be at C1 level. Sometimes it is necessary to submit an internationally recognised Certificate of Proficiency in the English Language. More information can be found here.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• Partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.
The gross salary for the first year is € 2.872,- per month rising to € 3.670,- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.

There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Because we expect you to work and live in the Netherlands our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.
Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. We can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example helping your partner to find a job, housing, or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.

Wageningen University & Research

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch the video below to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.

For more information about this position, please contact Dr. Iris Hordijk, Assistant Professor FEM Group (iris.hordijk@wur.nl) or Dr. Jannik Schultner, Assistant Professor ESC Group (jannik.schultner@wur.nl).

For more information about the procedure, please contact Noorien Abbas, corporate recruiter noorien.abbas@wur.nl

Do you want to apply?
You can apply directly using the apply button on the vacancy page on our website which will allow us to process your personal information with your approval.

Interested candidates should submit the following:

• A cover letter outlining motivation and suitability for the project (max. 2 pages).
• A CV, including relevant research experiences. The CV should include contact details for two relevant references (max. 2 pages).

This vacancy will be listed up to and including Monday 27th of January 2025. We hope to schedule the job interviews on Wednesday 5th of February 2025.

Welcome, safe, and valued
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) highly values diversity and inclusion because we believe that different insights lead to innovative solutions. We create a work environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, and appreciated, regardless of background, identity, or experience. Together, we are building a culture where everyone's unique contribution adds to the success of our organization.