Postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Politics

You will work closely with Professor Frank Biermann, Associate Professor Rakhyun E. Kim and other colleagues to help build at Utrecht University a strong network for research and collaboration on planetary politics. This initiative aims to bring together numerous researchers who study the political, institutional, legal, ethical, and societal dimensions of planetary change, especially in a rapidly shifting geopolitical context.

The position combines academic coordination, network-building, fund-raising, and research. It is especially suited to someone who enjoys connecting people and ideas, developing new academic initiatives, and helping an emerging research community grow. While the role includes opportunities to develop your own academic profile and may contribute to coauthored publications, its main focus is to create the conditions for a vibrant, interdisciplinary research community within and beyond Utrecht University.

Your responsibilities will include:

• helping to develop and coordinate the Planetary Politics initiative at Utrecht University, working from the university’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development;
• building and maintaining connections with numerous researchers across Utrecht University, including colleagues in the Utrecht School of Law, Utrecht School of Governance, the Ethics Institute, and other relevant groups in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences;
• supporting strong collaboration with external partners, including Wageningen University & Research and Eindhoven University of Technology;
• organising academic events such as workshops, seminars, public lectures, and networking meetings;
• identifying opportunities for new collaborations, joint funding proposals, and interdisciplinary research activities;
• contributing intellectually to the development of planetary politics as an emerging research agenda;
• supporting communication and visibility around the initiative, for example by helping prepare short texts, event materials, web content, or briefing notes;
• working proactively with colleagues to turn ideas into concrete activities, outputs, and collaborations.

This is initially a 0.5 FTE position for 1.5 years. It offers a unique opportunity to play a formative role in shaping a new academic initiative at the interface of sustainability science, political science, law, ethics, governance, and the wider study of planetary change.

Lecturer in Economics

The Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) invites applications for a Lecturer in Economics. The successful candidate will join the Economics Section of the Department.

The Lecturer is expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Economics, including:

• microeconomics
• behavioural economics
• supervision of Bachelor’s and/or Master’s theses

Thesis supervision requires knowledge of statistical software such R and/or STATA. While teaching is currently conducted in English, the ability to teach in Dutch is an advantage.

A part-time appointment is possible, with a minimum of 0.8FTE. The position includes 10% of the time allocated to research and/or teaching innovation, with the remaining time devoted to teaching-related activities, including course preparation. The required starting date is 1st November 2026 at the latest, subject to a valid EU working permit.

Postdoc Position in Cloud and Edge Systems

In this postdoc role, you will work at the exciting intersection of cloud and edge computing, distributed systems, and the energy domain. You will collaborate with an interdisciplinary consortium of 8 European partners (including academia, SMEs, and an energy aggregator) and with the project’s international advisory board. Your work will contribute to open‑source software, high‑impact scientific publications, and real‑world lab validation. This is a unique opportunity to apply your expertise in performance management, autoscaling, and system scalability to a socially relevant clean‑energy transition. Additionally, you will be responsible for the end-to-end system integration and deployment of the FLEXI platform.

Your focus:

• A PhD in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related field (e.g., distributed systems, cloud/edge computing);
• A strong background in cloud and edge computing, with hands-on experience in containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes) and orchestration of microservices;
• Research, design and implement a scalable cloud‑edge integration layer that enables seamless communication between AI‑driven energy assistants, federated digital twins, and flexibility trading services;
• Develop performance management and autoscaling mechanisms for both cloud and edge components, guaranteeing predictable response times and resource efficiency in dynamic energy scenarios;
• Benchmark and oversee the controlled validation of the integrated framework for project use cases;
• Contribute to open‑source software releases and publish research results in leading computing systems journals and conferences;
• Attend research meetings and contribute to co-authored papers.

Lecturer in Economics

The Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E.) invites applications for a Lecturer in Economics. The successful candidate will join the Economics Section of the Department.

The Lecturer is expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Economics, including:

• microeconomics
• behavioural economics
• supervision of Bachelor’s and/or Master’s theses

Thesis supervision requires knowledge of statistical software such R and/or STATA. While teaching is currently conducted in English, the ability to teach in Dutch is an advantage.

A part-time appointment is possible, with a minimum of 0.8FTE. The position includes 10% of the time allocated to research and/or teaching innovation, with the remaining time devoted to teaching-related activities, including course preparation. The required starting date is 1st November 2026 at the latest, subject to a valid EU working permit.

Practicumleider Ioniserende Stralen Practicum

Als practicumleider bij het ISP:

• bezoek je zelfstandig scholen met één van de mobiele practica. Je bouwt de experimenten op locatie op, introduceert het practicum en begeleidt leerlingen tijdens de uitvoering;
• stel je de jaarplanning op voor de schoolbezoeken en verzorg je de bijbehorende administratie;
• onderhoud en repareer je samen met je collega’s de practicumapparatuur en ondersteun je bij het schrijven van de practicuminstructies;
• draag je bij aan het onderhouden en doorontwikkelen van experimenten die aansluiten bij het onderwerp ioniserende straling binnen de examenprogramma’s natuurkunde voor havo en vwo. Je zorgt ervoor dat het practicum actueel, relevant en passend blijft voor het onderwijs;
• in de zomermaanden werk je vooral aan het onderhoud en de ontwikkeling van de practicumapparatuur, terwijl de rest van het jaar in het teken staat van schoolbezoeken en begeleiding van leerlingen bij practica.

Binnen het Freudenthal instituut:

• ondersteun je diverse activiteiten voor scholieren, zoals practica tijdens campusdagen en masterclasses die door U-Talent worden georganiseerd;
• werk je mee aan de voorbereiding van colleges met practicum-didactische elementen voor de natuurwetenschappelijke vakken, die worden verzorgd door de Graduate School of Teaching voor leraren in opleiding.