Postdoctoral Researcher: Social Design of Intergenerational Contact Zones

This 30-month full-time postdoctoral position, starting in February 2027, will lead the Dutch work package and contribute to the work of an international consortium across all work packages. In this role, you will combine qualitative, quantitative and design research methods to develop and test a structured methodology for intergenerational co-design of public spaces in five European cities.

The opportunity
As care increasingly moves out of institutions and into communities, the neighbourhoods and public spaces around the home become part of the care ecosystem. Intergenerational contact zones can turn public spaces into everyday infrastructure for social connection, helping to counter loneliness and ageism while supporting healthier, more resilient ageing communities.

DESIGN4AGES aims to develop and test a Intergenerational Co-Design Methodology for planning Intergenerational Contact Zones in European cities. The project addresses the current lack of systematic, empirically grounded methods for involving multiple generations in the collaborative design of inclusive and climate-adaptive public spaces. The methodology will be applied in both physical and virtual co-design settings to explore its feasibility, its effectiveness in fostering intergenerational collaboration, and its adaptability across cultural and urban contexts.

The project conceptualises structured co-design as a mechanism for fostering empathy, creativity, a collective value-base and cooperation across age groups. The theoretical framework recognises that meaningful intergenerational encounters in urban planning processes can reduce age-based stereotypes, enhance mutual understanding and generate more innovative solutions related to healthcare transformation. The methodology will be tested in Aalborg (DK), Antwerp (BE), Lisbon (PT), Enschede (NL) and Valladolid (ES), each with distinct climatic, cultural, demographic and institutional conditions.

The role
You will be based at the University of Twente, within a team of interaction designers specialising in care and the engagement of older adults. The team's expertise spans co-design, systemic design and community-based participatory design. For the DESIGN4AGES project you will contribute across all work packages and play a central role in exploring co-design and collaborative practices that give individuals and communities a voice in shaping inclusive public spaces and urban policies.

Key responsibilities include:

• Designing and operationalising the SICoD-M protocol, building on WP1 and WP2 findings, and developing participatory methods such as storytelling, collaborative mapping, role rotation, multi-sensory design and feedback loops.
• Leading stakeholder recruitment, including experts, community organisations and mixed-age participants across sites.
• Coordinating an expert Delphi study with experts across five countries to validate the protocol.
• Supporting pilot implementation through workshops across five cities, where mixed-age groups (18–35 and 65+) co-design local public spaces as Intergenerational Contact Zones.
• Overseeing data collection and data management in line with ethical and FAIR data principles.
• Refining the final protocol with experts based on pilot insights.
• Leading academic publications, including a scientific article on the pilot results, and contributing to knowledge translation activities for policy, practice and community audiences.

Freshwater Ecology Researcher

Are you an ecologist who wants to contribute to the restoration of Dutch freshwater ecosystems? Do you have knowledge of freshwater ecology and the organisms that inhabit these systems, experience in ecological research, and an interest in translating research results into practical applications? Then this position may be for you!

As a Freshwater Ecology Researcher, you will work with other researchers on a variety of projects for water managers and policymakers. You will contribute to field research and desk studies, data analysis, and the reporting and presentation of research findings.

The projects focus on current topics in Dutch freshwater ecology. Examples include:

• Investigating the effectiveness of restoration and management measures in different freshwater habitats.
• Reintroducing macroinvertebrate species.
• Assessing the effects of salinization and drought on biodiversity.
• Evaluating innovative monitoring techniques.
• Contributing to the development of ecological monitoring and assessment systems.

The work is varied and dynamic. Your responsibilities may include conducting fieldwork in streams and peatland areas, contributing to analyses of existing datasets from water authorities, and carrying out literature reviews. You will work in multidisciplinary project teams with varying compositions. All project work takes place within the Netherlands.

Your Team
You will collaborate with researchers in the Freshwater Ecology Research Group, which is part of the Water & Food Team at Wageningen Environmental Research (WENR). The group focuses on restoring and improving aquatic ecosystems by developing, sharing, and applying knowledge that supports water management and policy.

Integrity Coordinator

Help build a safe and ethical work environment. What do you do when someone does not feel safe speaking up? And how do you ensure that an individual report also contributes to improving the organization?

As an Integrity Coordinator, you help WUR further strengthen social safety and integrity. You listen to signals, carefully map out complex situations, and help determine what is needed. At the same time, you look ahead: what patterns do you see and what can we learn from them?

You collaborate with managers, HR, confidential counsellors, and the ombudsperson, among others. You connect people, knowledge, and perspectives and contribute to a work environment where people feel safe speaking up.

What will you be doing?

• you handle the intake and triage of reports and signals within the Social Safety Contact Point and carefully determine the appropriate next steps;
• you map out complex cases, prepare multidisciplinary discussions, and draft recommendations;
• you monitor the progress and coherence of the approach and work closely with managers and other involved disciplines;
• you recognize patterns and risks and translate these into improvements in policy, processes, and working methods;
• you contribute to a culture where social safety and integrity are open for discussion and people can hold each other accountable;
• together with another Integrity Coordinator, you further develop the working methods and positioning of this new role within WUR.