PhD Position: Economic Assessment of Coral Reefs and Coastal Ecosystems

The Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) has a new position for a PhD student in the field of environmental economics. As PhD student you will become part of the new interdisciplinary Horizon Europe project ‘Management of Coastal Networks Nurtured through Ecosystem assessment, Collaboration and Technology’ (m-CONNECT). It focuses on interconnected coastal seascapes (CMS-metasystems), i.e. coral reefs, mangroves and seagrasses, and their role in supporting ecosystem services and climate resilience. The project aims to better understand how different forms of ecological connectivity influence services like fisheries, coastal protection and carbon storage. Working with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, the project will develop science-based, locally informed guidelines for conserving and restoring these systems across islands in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.

The main tasks for you as PhD within the project are to:

• Design and apply economic valuation methods to assess the value of ecosystem services provided by coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrasses, including tourism, fisheries, coastal protection, carbon storage, and biodiversity.
• Conduct empirical research in selected case study sites using stated preference methods (e.g. discrete choice experiments) to derive non-marketed benefits among local communities.
• Support approaches to extrapolate local natural capital valuations to broader spatial scales, supporting regional policy applications.
• Apply societal cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to evaluate the economic viability, trade-offs, and distributional impacts of different conservation and restoration strategies across stakeholders.
• Compile and analyse global data on restoration costs and financing instruments through systematic literature review and stakeholder engagement.
• Design and assess innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms to support long-term conservation and restoration.

You will work closely with ecologists, social scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders, including Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. An interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary mindset, as well as strong communication skills, are therefore essential.

Your duties

• You publish research results in international peer-reviewed journals
• You teach for 0.1 FTE in Bachelor and/or Master’s educational programmes and supervise Bachelor and Master students
• You contribute to project tasks, meetings and activities
• You present your research findings, for example at international conferences

000 - Master Template - Leiden University

Vacancy: Student Assistant – Project Support for Student Well-being Office
Starting August 2026 (start date to be agreed)

Would you like a meaningful part-time job alongside your studies, where you can genuinely contribute to student well-being? We are looking for new student assistants to join our Student Well-being team. This position is for 16 hours per week, for a minimum period of one year. You must be enrolled as a student at Leiden University for at least one more year.

Leiden University places great importance on student well-being and takes structural measures to support it. You can read more about this in the university’s vision on student well-being. Would you like to contribute to improving student well-being? Then join our team!

What you will do
As a student assistant, you will work on a range of projects. Each student assistant has their own focus and set of tasks, depending on their skills and interests. Below is an overview of the activities within the team:

• Project support: Together with a project leader or coordinator, you work on (sub-)projects within the student well-being programme. Examples include coordinating the first-year mentoring programme, peer support initiatives, training programmes for student advisors, or projects related to social safety.
• Organising events and activities: You help organise events such as the Well-being Weeks, Winter Weeks, symposia, and various workshops or training sessions. This includes developing activity ideas, liaising with speakers and participants, and coordinating activities on-site to ensure everything runs smoothly.
• Communication: You support communication related to student well-being by writing newsletters, creating social media content, and helping to develop communication materials for campaigns and events.
• Maintaining contact with the student community and stakeholders: Effective collaboration with the student community is essential for organising activities, rolling out campaigns, and collecting feedback. You will be in contact not only with students and student organisations, but also with staff members, trainers, expert groups, and partners at other (educational) institutions.
• Data collection and analysis: You collect data and prepare (evaluation) reports. Based on the results, you provide recommendations and, where necessary, help adjust projects.

What you bring

Requirements

You must meet all of the following requirements:

• You will be enrolled at Leiden University for at least one more year and have an interest in student well-being.
• You are able to work independently and in a structured manner, even when handling multiple tasks at the same time.
• You communicate clearly and professionally and are able to engage effectively with diverse groups of people.
• You can process complex or extensive information and translate this into clear, goal-oriented documents, evaluations, and presentations.
• You proactively contribute ideas on processes and project content and take initiative to innovate.

Advantages

Because we are recruiting several student assistants with different task profiles, the points below are advantages rather than requirements. We will look for the best possible match per position, so it is not necessary to meet all of these:

• You are closely connected to the target group and have a broad network within student life in Leiden and/or The Hague.
• You can communicate effectively in Dutch in a professional setting (there is room to develop this within the role).
• You have experience working with Excel (there is room to develop this within the role).
• You have experience or an affinity with visual design and can work with tools such as Canva (there is room to develop this within the role).

Where you will work
As a student assistant, you will be part of the Student Well-being team within Student Support Services (SSS), which is part of the SEA Expertise Centre. The team consists of a programme manager/team lead for student well-being, three project coordinators, and six student assistants.

We work in an informal and open environment where your ideas and initiatives are highly valued. You will be given plenty of responsibility and independence, while always being supported by the team. Together, we are committed to improving the well-being of all students.

What we offer
Our goal is to work together to create a transparent and inclusive work environment in which everyone feels welcome and appreciated. Our organisation is always evolving and we need your ideas for improvement and innovation to take us further. We want to devote attention to your personal development.

You can count on an enjoyable job within the socially relevant world of education and research. The University's challenging and international work environment is located just steps away from Leiden’s lively city centre or the bustling city centre of The Hague. We also want to work with you to devote attention to your health and vitality, for example with the fun activities we organise through Healthy University.

We also offer:

• An employment contract for the duration of one year. This contract falls under the CLA of Dutch Universities. The contract is initially for one year, with the possibility of extension depending on organisational needs, performance, and available funding;
• A salary between €3084 - €3141 gross per month, based on a full-time appointment (38 hours) (Student assistant);

For more information about employment conditions, see https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/working-at/job-application-procedure-and-employment-conditions

What we value
Promoting an inclusive community is central to the values and vision of Leiden University. The university aims to create an inclusive environment in which all students and staff feel valued, respected, and able to develop their full potential. Diversity of experiences and perspectives enriches our education and strengthens our research. High-quality education and research are, by definition, inclusive.

Information
For more information about the position and/or the application procedure, please contact Kirsten Lelieveld, Project Coordinator for Student Well-being, via k.lelieveld@sea.leidenuniv.nl.

More information about the Expertise Centre for Student and Educational Affairs can be found on the Leiden University website.

Want to apply?
You can only apply via the online application system using the blue button at the top of the page. Applications must be submitted by 20 May, addressed to Kirsten Lelieveld.

Please upload your CV. Instead of a motivation letter, we ask you to answer the questions below. We are interested in your ideas and experiences. Please keep your answers concise: a maximum of 175 words per question.

1. Why does this position appeal to you, and what do you hope to learn?
2. Which of the task(s) below interest you the most, and why?

• • Events organisation
  • Communication (newsletter, social media, design)
  • Project support
  • Administration and logistical planning
  • Data collection and analysis

3. Do you have experience with complex or large-scale administrative or organisational tasks? If so, please describe a concrete example. In your answer, explain what you found challenging and how you maintained an overview.

4. What is your expected graduation date at Leiden University? (month/year is sufficient)

Candidates will be invited during the week of 1 June. Interviews will take place in Leiden on 8 and 9 June.

Recruitment in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.

Postdoc Improving Emergency Load Control and Shedding Schemes for Critical Frequency Conditions

Job description

Electrical power systems continuously change their conventional structure which considers dispatchable synchronous generators and unpredictable load demand. The increasing share of power inverter-based resources (IBRs, such as PV, wind power, BESS), and complex demand resources (EVs, H2, datacentres, heat pumps, other converter-interfaced loads) orients system operators’ interests to the dynamic security of the power system. The Continental Europe Synchronous Area (CESA) is a large synchronous electrical grid, historically considered resilient to frequency disturbances. System splits are quite severe events in which the system faces major challenges to avoid a black-out in either of the islands, as could be seen during several recent events in the past several years. As the renewable trends are only expected to continue, it is necessary to investigate possible severe frequency excursions in low-inertia situations to minimize the risk of cascading faults, frequency and voltage instabilities, and potential blackouts. Developing novel and advanced emergency load control and shedding algorithms, by also utilizing grid-forming inverters able to operate rapidly and effectively in low-inertia power systems and scenarios, can contribute to arresting the frequency deviation, and consequently ensuring that the system preserves the integrity and stability.

The Postdoc position is in line with an ongoing PhD position and will facilitate and extend this work. The ongoing research work includes extensive studies to evaluate the impact of evolving generation and demand on frequency stability. It also includes renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and BESS, as well as electric vehicles (EVs), heat pumps, datacentres, and other converter-integrated loads. The utilization of grid-forming and grid-following converters in low-inertia systems, and the impact on frequency stability should be evaluated for a variety of operating scenarios of interest, particularly focusing on large system events that may cause system disintegration. The model development and simulations must be conducted in RTDS environment by utlizing Hardware-in-the-loop testing and applying modern IEDs supplied with under- and over-frequency protection, UFLS, under- and overvoltage protection. Developing, new System Integrity Protection Schemes (SIPS), by utilizing synchrophasors is also required. The proof-of-concept includes RTDS-based simulation platform that can be adapted to a real world situation. Hence, for this position, solid knowledge of RTDS simulation is required.

The project is financed by industry and it is in the scope of the Power System Protection Centre.

About the department

The research in the Department of Electrical Sustainable Energy is inspired by the technical, scientific, and societal challenges originating from the transition towards a more sustainable society and focuses on three areas:

• DC Systems, Energy Conversion and Storage (DCE&S)
• Photovoltaic Materials and Devices (PVMD)
• Intelligent Electrical Power Grids (IEPG)
• High Voltage Technologies (HVT)

The Electrical Sustainable Energy Department provides expertise in these areas throughout the entire energy system chain. The department owns a large ESP Laboratory assembling High Voltage testing, DC Grids testing environment, and large RTDS that is actively used for real-time simulation of future electrical power systems, AC and DC protection and wide-area monitoring and protection.

The Intelligent Electrical Power Grid (IEPG) group, headed by Professor Peter Palensky, works on the future of our power system. The goal is to generate, transmit and use electrical energy in a highly reliable, efficient, stable, clean, affordable, and safe way. IEPG integrates new power technologies and smart controls, which interact with other systems and allow for more distributed and variable generation.

Job requirements
An MSc degree in Electrical Power Engineering. A strong emphasis on electrical power systems dealing with System Integrity Protection Schemes, wide area monitoring applications related to system protection, frequency and voltage stability. Comprehensive knowledge in

• Electrical power system operation and system integrity protection schemes
• Affinity with programming.
• Mastering EMT-based software tools particulalry RTDS and HiL testing.
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Excellent English skills.

TU Delft (Delft University of Technology)
Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
The Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) brings together three scientific disciplines. Combined, they reinforce each other and are the driving force behind the technology we all use in our daily lives. Technology such as the electricity grid, which our faculty is helping to make completely sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, we are developing the chips and sensors of the future, whilst also setting the foundations for the software technologies to run on this new generation of equipment – which of course includes AI. Meanwhile we are pushing the limits of applied mathematics, for example mapping out disease processes using single cell data, and using mathematics to simulate gigantic ash plumes after a volcanic eruption. In other words: there is plenty of room at the faculty for ground-breaking research. We educate innovative engineers and have excellent labs and facilities that underline our strong international position. In total, more than 1000 employees and 4,000 students work and study in this innovative environment.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science.

Functioneel Applicatiebeheerder Facility Management Informatie Systeem

Functieomschrijving

Dagelijks maken zo’n 27.000 studenten, onderzoekers, medewerkers en bezoekers gebruik van de campus van de TU Delft. Met ongeveer 70 gebouwen en een terrein van 161 hectare vraagt dit om slimme, betrouwbare facilitaire processen. Het Facility Management Informatie Systeem (FMIS) vormt hierbij het digitale hart: alle data rondom gebouwen, onderhoud, contracten en serviceaanvragen komen hier samen.

Als Functioneel Applicatiebeheerder speel jij een sleutelrol in de migratie, implementatie en het beheer van een nieuw FMIS, met een geplande livegang in maart 2028. De implementatie start in oktober en de eerste periode staat volledig in het teken van het inrichten, bouwen en ontwikkelen van de applicatie. Vanaf de start ben je betrokken en heb je directe invloed op de inrichting van processen, autorisaties en de gebruikerservaring. Je vertaalt wensen uit de organisatie naar functionele oplossingen en zorgt dat techniek en praktijk naadloos op elkaar aansluiten.

Je werkt nauw samen met stakeholders binnen CREFM, technisch applicatiebeheerders, leveranciers en andere specialisten. Samen zorg je ervoor dat het FMIS niet alleen de dagelijkse operatie ondersteunt, maar ook bijdraagt aan continue verbetering, kostenbeheersing en datagedreven werken. Ook na livegang blijft de ontwikkeling doorgaan: je werkt aan uitbreiding van het systeem met nieuwe processen (breedte) en aan het verder optimaliseren en verdiepen van bestaande processen en datagedreven sturing (diepte).

Jouw kerntaken:

• Je leidt de functionele inrichting en implementatie van het nieuwe FMIS, met start in oktober en livegang in maart 2028.
• Je vertaalt organisatiebehoeften naar concrete systeemoplossingen en workflows.
• Je regisseert de samenwerking tussen gebruikers, ICT en externe leveranciers.
• Je borgt datakwaliteit, autorisaties en een optimale gebruikerservaring.
• Je initieert en realiseert doorontwikkeling van het FMIS, zowel in nieuwe processen als in datagedreven optimalisaties.

Je maakt onderdeel uit van een multidisciplinair team Facility & Service Management, waarin je samenwerkt met collega’s van onder andere ICT. In deze dynamische omgeving krijg je volop ruimte om mee te denken, te verbeteren en jezelf verder te ontwikkelen. Samen bouw je aan een systeem dat niet alleen ondersteunt, maar echt het verschil maakt voor de hele campus.

Functie-eisen
Je bent nieuwsgierig en pakt vraagstukken proactief en doortastend op. Je beweegt makkelijk tussen verschillende stakeholders en voelt goed aan wat er speelt in de organisatie. Daarbij zoek je altijd naar de best passende oplossing. Je werkt zelfstandig en neemt eigenaarschap, maar draagt ook actief bij aan de samenwerking binnen het team.

Verder voldoe je aan de volgende eisen:

• Je hebt minimaal hbo werk- en denkniveau.
• Je hebt ervaring als allround functioneel beheerder in een complexe, dienstverlenende omgeving; ervaring met een FMIS is een pré.
• Je hebt ervaring met implementatie- of migratietrajecten en weet verschillende partijen goed met elkaar te verbinden.
• Je hebt kennis van en ervaring met data-integraties (zoals API- en LTI-koppelingen) en provisioning, en kunt deze functioneel beschrijven en testen.
• Je communiceert helder en professioneel in het Nederlands en Engels, zowel mondeling als schriftelijk.

TU Delft
De Technische Universiteit Delft heeft een sterk fundament. Als bouwer van de wereldberoemde Nederlandse waterwerken en pionier in biotech is TU Delft een internationale topuniversiteit die wetenschap, engineering en design combineert. TU Delft staat voor onderwijs, onderzoek en innovatie van wereldklasse om uitdagingen op het gebied van energie, klimaat, mobiliteit, gezondheid en digitale maatschappij aan te gaan. Generaties Delftse ingenieurs hebben bewezen ondernemende probleemoplossers te zijn in bedrijfsleven en in sociale context.

Bij TU Delft omarmen we diversiteit als een van onze kernwaarden en zetten we ons actief in om een universiteit te zijn waar jij je thuis voelt en kunt floreren. We hechten veel waarde aan verschillende perspectieven en kwaliteiten, omdat wij geloven dat dit ons werk innovatiever, de TU Delft-gemeenschap levendiger en de wereld rechtvaardiger maakt. Samen bedenken en ontwikkelen we oplossingen die een positieve invloed hebben op wereldwijde schaal. Daarom nodigen we jou uit om te solliciteren. Je sollicitatie krijgt een eerlijke behandeling.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Universiteitsdienst – Directie Campus Real Estate & Facility Management
Om de ambities van de TU Delft te realiseren is een omgeving nodig die uitdaagt en inspireert. Campus Real Estate & Facility Management werkt met meer dan 250 collega’s dagelijks aan onze ontwikkeling, het beheren van de gebouwen en terreinen en het faciliteren van de meer dan 30.000 gebruikers van de TU Delft. Duurzaamheid staat daarbij hoog in het vaandel. Onze ambitie: een CO2-neutrale en circulaire campus in 2030.

Wij creëren een omgeving waarin studenten, wetenschappers, medewerkers en samenwerkingspartners maximaal kunnen bijdragen aan een betere samenleving. Als medewerker van Campus Real Estate & Facility Management werk je dus in een bijzondere omgeving, waar je samen met collega’s, met heldere processen en in een open sfeer, bijdraagt aan de topprestaties van de TU Delft.