1. Vacancies
  2. Postdoctoral Position in Innovative Approaches to Governance and Knowledge Infrastructures for Biodiverse and Climate Just Futures

Postdoctoral Position in Innovative Approaches to Governance and Knowledge Infrastructures for Biodiverse and Climate Just Futures

Postdoctoral Position in Innovative Approaches to Governance and Knowledge Infrastructures for Biodiverse and Climate Just Futures

Apply now
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Ipek Topan
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Abhishta Abhishta
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Theodora Spirova
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Kirsten Stadermann
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Tanya Bondarouk
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Hannie Lensink
  • Hi! Are you my
    new colleague?
    Henk Pol

Key takeaways

  • Hours
    32 - 40 hr.
  • Salary indication
    Salary gross/monthly
    based on full-time
    € 3,378 - € 4,227
  • Deadline
    1 May 2025

Despite decades of biodiversity governance and conservation, the loss of nature and biodiversity continue unabated, while the impacts of climate change are becoming ever more acute. Halting this trend requires transformative changes that challenge the status quo and address the root causes of intersecting social and environmental challenges (IPBES 2019).

Bottom-up initiatives are important catalysts of such transformations and provide opportunities for communities to experiment with local solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss, such as urban agriculture and biodiversity. These initiatives are often driven by alternative values, like care, reciprocity, stewardship and responsibility, and worldviews centred on mutually flourishing relationships between humans and nature, and convivial rather than extractivist and consumerist practices. However, they remain highly localised, which considerably limits their overall impact.

The postdoctoral position will examine and support bottom-up initiatives and support transformative changes aimed at the embedding of biodiversity and climate knowledge within civic structures, institutions, and everyday practices. To this end, they will identify innovative forms of organisation and governance and investigate ways of imagining alternative futures and scaling alternatives. They will also develop innovative transdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to create interstitial spaces where change is being prototyped towards realising wider place-based transformations across urban, rural and rurban spaces.

Key objectives:

1. Conduct fieldwork, interviews, and stakeholder analysis for actors involved in biodiversity and climate change initiatives in The Netherlands. Investigate relevant public policies, socio-cultural factors, social practices, and institutions relevant for biodiversity and climate measures and how values, interests, goals, and frictions hinder or enable transformative change;
2. Explore relevant theories and concepts that allow the analysis of existing alternative initiatives in cities and regions with transformative potential for biodiversity and climate measures (e.g., degrowth, postgrowth, pre-figuration, post-figuration, conviviality, commons). Develop a conceptual and methodological lens to analyse and animate societal and spatial transformations that builds on local alternative initiatives towards repatterning landscapes, public space, economies and everyday life;
3. Use creative approaches and transdisciplinary arts-based methods to elicit, map, and conduct a live archiving of situated biodiversity and climate knowledge to support local stewardship, inspire community-driven visions of biodiverse and climate resilient urban / peri-urban futures, and co-design transformative pathways and policy-action plans;
4. Develop innovative citizen science monitoring and public events to support networking, knowledge-sharing and dissemination in the context of activating the embedding to embed and promote biodiversity stewardship and climate-relevant local knowledge within everyday practices.

The postdoctoral position is embedded within two NWA projects funded by the Dutch research Council: “Planting seeds for biodiverse and just rurban futures: Realizing a knowledge infrastructure for biodiversity commons” (NWA Innovative projects within the Green Route); and “COMBINED: Combatting biodiversity loss and improving climate change resilience through evidence-based, integrated, and adaptive landscape governance in the Netherlands” (NWA Climate and Nature).  In COMBINED, 24 societal organization and knowledge institutes, including municipalities, NGOs, businesses and (applied) universities, team up to simultaneously tackle climate change and biodiversity loss in the Netherlands. COMBINED aims to generate new insights and to develop tools to be implemented in landscapes with grasslands, forests and urban areas a just way, considering policy goals, values and interests of society. In COMBINED we operate as a team and work jointly on project activities across landscapes, building upon each other's expertise and experiences. For more information on the project [https://www.combined-project.eu/].

The successful candidates will be affiliated with the RUrban Futures Collective of the Department of Technology, Policy, and Society, at the University of Twente. The Collective takes a critical and transdisciplinary approach to sustainability transformations, addressing the role of science and technology in the context of existing and potential future rural-urban interactions. The positions will be embedded in a vibrant work environment with diverse research projects addressing rurban themes and opportunities for collaboration and exchange across diverse disciplines and sections. In particular, the postdocs will collaborate with a research team based at TPS including Dr. Steven McGreevy, Dr. Corelia Baibarac-Duigan and Prof. Esther Turnhout. Opportunities for collaboration will extend to ITC, the University of Twente’s Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, through Prof. Wieteke Willemen.

Your profile

We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate to join our group. Our new colleague has the following profile:

  • You hold (or are close to defending) a PhD in Sustainability Transitions, Science and Technology Studies, Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Sociology, Geography, Futures Studies or a related field.
  • You can demonstrate an interest and experience with inter- and trans-disciplinary research and arts-based approached and are driven by the desire to make positive societal impact and advance academic knowledge.
  • You have experience with qualitative research methods, such as semi-structured interviews and focus groups, mapping techniques, participatory research, design and futuring methods, such as foresight, visioning and backcasting (not all of these have to be met by each candidate and we will consider complementarity in our selection process).
  • You enjoy engaging in team science with project partners and citizens, organizing and facilitating workshops.
  • You are an excellent team-player and are excited about working with academics and practitioners from different backgrounds.
  • You are able to lead and develop knowledge dissemination and utilization activities.
  • You are able to pursue independent research and show a willingness to develop publications, both academic and adapted to wider and diverse audiences.
  • You have good communication and networking skills, are proficient in English and preferably also in Dutch (spoken in particular). We expect good skills in managing your time and your research activities.
  • Ability to start in September 2025 is desirable.

Our offer

We encourage high responsibility and independence, while collaborating with colleagues, researchers, other university staff and partners. We follow the terms of employment by the Dutch Collective Labour Agreement for Universities (CAO). Our offer contains up to 36 months full-time or 46 months for a 32-hour per week appointment (we are open to arranging something that works for you). We provide mentorship in a stimulating research environment with excellent facilities to promote a good work-life balance. Our offer also includes:

  • Your starting salary will be between € 3378,- and € 4227,- gross per month (scale 10 based on a fulltime contract) depending on your experience;
  • Excellent benefits including a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%;
  • 29 holidays per year in case of full-time employment, and a solid pension scheme;
  • Free access to sports facilities on campus;
  • A family-friendly institution that offers parental leave (both paid and unpaid).

Information and application

Are you interested to be part of our team? Please submit your application before 1 May 2025 and include:

In-person (preferred) or online interviews will be held in the second-half of May 2025.

Additional information, including detailed project descriptions, can be acquired via email from Dr. Steven McGreevy (CSTM) (s.r.mcgreevy@utwente.nl) or Dr. Corelia Baibarac-Duignan (KiTES) (c.e.baibarac@utwente.nl).

Share this vacancy

About the department

At the Department of Technology, Policy and Society (TPS), we engage in research and education on the interplay between technology, society and policy, helping society to manage the opportunities and tensions between (new) technologies and changing needs.

The TPS department is dedicated to encouraging a supportive and inclusive working culture. Our aim is that all job applicants are given equal opportunities. When we select candidates for employment, it will be on the basis of their competence and ability. To support the workforce diversity, we are open to offer flexible working conditions on an individual basis to support work-life balance, that may include contract of employment, working hours and location, or childcare arrangements.

About the organisation

The Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social sciences (BMS) aims to play a key role in understanding, jointly developing and evaluating innovations in society. Technological developments are the engine of innovation. As a technical university that puts people first, we tailor them to human needs and behavior. We also ensure adequate governance at public and private level, and robust, inclusive and fair organizational structures. We do this by developing, sharing and applying high-quality knowledge in Psychology, Business Administration, Public Administration, Communication Sciences, Philosophy, Educational Sciences and Health Sciences. Our research and education in these disciplines revolves around tackling and solving societal challenges. The research programs of BMS are closely linked to the research of the UT institutes Mesa+ Institute for Nanotechnology, TechMed Center and Digital Society Institute.

As an employer, the Faculty of BMS offers work that matters. We equip you to create new possibilities for yourself and for our society. With us, you will become part of a leading technical university with increasing, positive social impact. We offer an open, inclusive and entrepreneurial atmosphere, in which we encourage you to make healthy choices, for example through our flexible, adaptable benefits.

Want to know more?

McGreevy, S.R. (Steven)

McGreevy, S.R. (Steven)
Assistant Professor

McGreevy, S.R. (Steven)
Assistant Professor

Do you have questions about this vacancy? Then you can contact Steven for all substantive questions about this position and the application procedure. For general questions about working for the UT, please refer to the chatbot.

How to apply

Step 1

Apply.
When you see a vacancy that appeals to you, you can apply online. We ask you to upload a CV and motivation letter and/or list of publications. You will receive a confirmation of receipt by e-mail.

Apply now

Step 2

Selection.
The selection committee will review your application and you will receive a response within 2 weeks after the vacancy has been closed.

Step 3

1st interview.
The 1st (online or in person) meeting serves as an introduction where we introduce ourselves to you and you to us. You may be asked to give a short presentation. This will be further explained in the invitation.

Step 4

2nd interview.
In the second interview, we will further discuss the job content, your skills and your talents.

Step 5

The offer.
If the conversations are positive, you will be made a suitable offer. If applicable, we will sign you up for screening.

Your Colleagues

About the BMS faculty

Curious about what The Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social sciences (BMS) stands for? Check out the BMS website for more information.

A job that matters

Create new opportunities for yourself, your colleagues and our society. Scientist or teacher, administrator or facilitator, thinker or doer, energetic leader or silent support – your work at the University of Twente matters. And you too!

  • Our mission
    Human Touch

    At the UT it’s all about people, in line with our university’s High Tech Human Touch philosophy. In everything we do, the well-being and future of our students and staff are paramount. From research and teaching to personnel management, campus management and the use of new technologies.

  • Our mission
    We are a university of technology

    Our university is a public institution that serves society. We are accountable to society for the ways in which we use our academic freedom. We are responsible for ensuring that the power of science and technology is harnessed to achieve the best possible impact in a changing world. We cherish our rich tradition of combining technical and social sciences in our five profiling themes: Improving healthcare by personalized technologies; Creating intelligent manufacturing systems; Shaping our world with smart materials; Engineering our digital society; and Engineering for a resilient world.

  • Our mission
    We help to strengthen society

    We help society meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. But we are also transparent about what science and technology can and cannot do in finding sustainable solutions. And help translate these solutions into everyday life.

  • Our mission
    We are sustainable

    We want our communities to flourish and show resilience, so we seize opportunities for innovation. We are knowledgeable and have an eye for what society needs. Our students and staff receive all the guidance they need in their quest for ecological, social and economic sustainability.
    “The University of Twente is all about people. Our sustainable technologies help to strengthen society.”

Browse all jobs