PhD candidate on irrigated agriculture in Indonesia at KITLV/KNAW

The Project

The project Tracing Evolutionary Pathways in Climate Adaptation in Southeast Asia (TRACE), a European Research Council-funded Advance Grant (ERC Adv) led by Prof. Diana Suhardiman and hosted by the KITLV in Leiden, is looking for four PhD candidates. The project investigates how evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation are created, sustained, and changed over time. Which actors and symbiotic relations connect various place-based knowledge systems and past knowledge (re)production processes with present and future adaptation strategies? Which institutions, local institutional rules, arrangements, and practices serve as cultural and institutional foundations (re)shaping climate adaptation practices over time? Which forces and conditions shape types of agency and political spaces of engagement that are crucial for the creation, sustenance, and reproduction of locally nested inter-scalar adaptive networks?

We address these questions by focusing on and collaborating with communities living in four interrelated socio-ecological systems in Southeast Asia. These socio-ecological systems are: 1) upland cultivation in Laos; 2) irrigated agriculture in Indonesia; 3) forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands; and 4) sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines. Each of the four PhD candidates will identify and trace evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation of one specific socio-ecological system.

The project, consisting of a Principal Investigator and two Postdoc researchers studying grassroots adaptation strategies, is now seeking 4 PhD candidates to join the team. Each PhD candidate will also engage with the respective country researcher team. This research project is led by KITLV in collaboration with various partners in the Global South including national universities and civil society organizations in Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

The Position: PhD candidate to work on irrigated agriculture in Indonesia
The 4 PhD candidates will carry out historical and/or ethnographic research to connect grassroots knowledge systems, cultural values, and agency shaping of the past, how they have evolved over time, and how they are translated to present and future adaptation strategies. With Southeast Asia as geographical focus, each PhD candidate will identify key knowledge systems and institutional nodes, and trace evolutionary pathways of local communities’ adaptation strategies, in specific socio-ecological systems. Treating climate adaptation as an integral part of livelihood (re)making, each PhD candidate will look at how processes of knowledge (re)production are embedded in existing power relations and power interplay and contribute to the development of transdisciplinary concepts and grassroots ontological frameworks in climate governance research.

What will you do?
Within the research project, you will work on your PhD research. You will address the project’s main research question of how evolutionary pathways of communities adaptation strategies are (re)shaped by the politics of knowledge reproduction, cultural values, and agency shaping. Your project contains a comprehensive literature review and will also involve extensive fieldwork (a total of 1 year) on irrigated agriculture in Indonesia. During this time, you will collaborate with country researchers by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews, documenting oral histories, engaging in participant observation, collecting relevant written and audiovisual material, and/or employing other methods in which you are experienced (as outlined in your research proposal).

You will also collaborate within a team context, which includes four PhD candidates, a Principal Investigator, a Postdoctoral Researcher, and a Research Coordinator. This collaboration will involve the co-organization of academic and public events, both in the respective countries where your research take place and regionally as part of the project’s cross-learning process and regional network formation.

PhD candidate on upland cultivation in Laos at KITLV/KNAW

The Project

The project Tracing Evolutionary Pathways in Climate Adaptation in Southeast Asia (TRACE), a European Research Council-funded Advance Grant (ERC Adv) led by Prof. Diana Suhardiman and hosted by the KITLV in Leiden, is looking for four PhD candidates. The project investigates how evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation are created, sustained, and changed over time. Which actors and symbiotic relations connect various place-based knowledge systems and past knowledge (re)production processes with present and future adaptation strategies? Which institutions, local institutional rules, arrangements, and practices serve as cultural and institutional foundations (re)shaping climate adaptation practices over time? Which forces and conditions shape types of agency and political spaces of engagement that are crucial for the creation, sustenance, and reproduction of locally nested inter-scalar adaptive networks?

We address these questions by focusing on and collaborating with communities living in four interrelated socio-ecological systems in Southeast Asia. These socio-ecological systems are: 1) upland cultivation in Laos; 2) irrigated agriculture in Indonesia; 3) forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands; and 4) sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines. Each of the four PhD candidates will identify and trace evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation of one specific socio-ecological system.

The project, consisting of a Principal Investigator and two Postdoc researchers studying grassroots adaptation strategies, is now seeking 4 PhD candidates to join the team. Each PhD researcher will also engage with the respective country researcher team. This research project is led by KITLV in collaboration with various partners in the Global South including national universities and civil society organizations in Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

The Position: PhD candidate to work on upland cultivation in Laos
The 4 PhD candidates will carry out historical and/or ethnographic research to connect grassroots knowledge systems, cultural values, and agency shaping of the past, how they have evolved over time, and how they are translated to present and future adaptation strategies. With Southeast Asia as geographical focus, each PhD candidate will identify key knowledge systems and institutional nodes, and trace evolutionary pathways of local communities’ adaptation strategies, in specific socio-ecological systems. Treating climate adaptation as an integral part of livelihood (re)making, each PhD candidate will look at how processes of knowledge (re)production are embedded in existing power relations and power interplay and contribute to the development of transdisciplinary concepts and grassroots ontological frameworks in climate governance research.

What will you do?
Within the research project, you will work on your PhD research. You will address the project’s main research question of how evolutionary pathways of communities adaptation strategies are (re)shaped by the politics of knowledge reproduction, cultural values, and agency shaping. Your project contains a comprehensive literature review and will also involve extensive fieldwork (a total of 1 year) on upland cultivation in Laos. During this time, you will collaborate with country researchers by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews, documenting oral histories, engaging in participant observation, collecting relevant written and audiovisual material, and/or employing other methods in which you are experienced (as outlined in your research proposal).

You will also collaborate within a team context, which includes four PhD candidates, a Principal Investigator, a Postdoctoral Researcher, and a Research Coordinator. This collaboration will involve the co-organization of academic and public events, both in the respective countries where your research take place and regionally as part of the project’s cross-learning process and regional network formation.

PhD candidate on sea nomads' fishing territories in the Philippines at KITLV/KNAW

The Project
The project Tracing Evolutionary Pathways in Climate Adaptation in Southeast Asia (TRACE), a European Research Council-funded Advance Grant (ERC Adv) led by Prof. Diana Suhardiman and hosted by the KITLV in Leiden, is looking for four PhD candidates. The project investigates how evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation are created, sustained, and changed over time. Which actors and symbiotic relations connect various place-based knowledge systems and past knowledge (re)production processes with present and future adaptation strategies? Which institutions, local institutional rules, arrangements, and practices serve as cultural and institutional foundations (re)shaping climate adaptation practices over time? Which forces and conditions shape types of agency and political spaces of engagement that are crucial for the creation, sustenance, and reproduction of locally nested inter-scalar adaptive networks?

We address these questions by focusing on and collaborating with communities living in four interrelated socio-ecological systems in Southeast Asia. These socio-ecological systems are: 1) upland cultivation in Laos; 2) irrigated agriculture in Indonesia; 3) forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands; and 4) sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines. Each of the four PhD candidates will identify and trace evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation of one specific socio-ecological system.

The project, consisting of a principal investigator and two Postdoc researchers studying grassroots adaptation strategies, is now seeking 4 PhD candidates to join the team. Each PhD candidate will also engage with the respective country researcher team. This research project is led by KITLV in collaboration with various partners in the Global South including national universities and civil society organizations in Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

The Position: PhD candidate to work on sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines
The 4 PhD candidates will carry out historical and/or ethnographic research to connect grassroots knowledge systems, cultural values, and agency shaping of the past, how they have evolved over time, and how they are translated to present and future adaptation strategies. With Southeast Asia as geographical focus, each PhD candidate will identify key knowledge systems and institutional nodes, and trace evolutionary pathways of local communities’ adaptation strategies, in specific socio-ecological systems. Treating climate adaptation as an integral part of livelihood (re)making, each PhD candidate will look at how processes of knowledge (re)production are embedded in existing power relations and power interplay and contribute to the development of transdisciplinary concepts and grassroots ontological frameworks in climate governance research.

What will you do?
Within the research project, you will work on your PhD research. You will address the project’s main research question of how evolutionary pathways of communities adaptation strategies are (re)shaped by the politics of knowledge reproduction, cultural values, and agency shaping. Your project contains a comprehensive literature review and will also involve extensive fieldwork (a total of 1 year) on sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines. During this time, you will collaborate with country researchers by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews, documenting oral histories, engaging in participant observation, collecting relevant written and audiovisual material, and/or employing other methods in which you are experienced (as outlined in your research proposal).

You will also collaborate within a team context, which includes four PhD candidates, a Principal Investigator, a Postdoctoral Researcher, and a Research Coordinator. This collaboration will involve the co-organization of academic and public events, both in the respective countries where your research take place and regionally as part of the project’s cross-learning process and regional network formation.

PhD candidate on forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands at KITLV / KNAW

The Project

The project Tracing Evolutionary Pathways in Climate Adaptation in Southeast Asia (TRACE), a European Research Council-funded Advance Grant (ERC Adv) led by Prof. Diana Suhardiman and hosted by the KITLV in Leiden, is looking for four PhD candidates. The project investigates how evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation are created, sustained, and changed over time. Which actors and symbiotic relations connect various place-based knowledge systems and past knowledge (re)production processes with present and future adaptation strategies? Which institutions, local institutional rules, arrangements, and practices serve as cultural and institutional foundations (re)shaping climate adaptation practices over time? Which forces and conditions shape types of agency and political spaces of engagement that are crucial for the creation, sustenance, and reproduction of locally nested inter-scalar adaptive networks?

We address these questions by focusing on and collaborating with communities living in four interrelated socio-ecological systems in Southeast Asia. These socio-ecological systems are: 1) upland cultivation in Laos; 2) irrigated agriculture in Indonesia; 3) forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands; and 4) sea nomads’ fishing territories in the Philippines. Each of the four PhD candidates will identify and trace evolutionary pathways in climate adaptation of one specific socio-ecological system.

The project, consisting of a principal investigator and two Postdoc researchers studying grassroots adaptation strategies, is now seeking 4 PhD candidates to join the team. Each PhD candidate will also engage with the respective country researcher team. This research project is led by KITLV in collaboration with various partners in the Global South including national universities and civil society organizations in Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

The Position: PhD candidate to work on forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands
The 4 PhD candidates will carry out historical and/or ethnographic research to connect grassroots knowledge systems, cultural values, and agency shaping of the past, how they have evolved over time, and how they are translated to present and future adaptation strategies. With Southeast Asia as geographical focus, each PhD candidate will identify key knowledge systems and institutional nodes, and trace evolutionary pathways of local communities’ adaptation strategies, in specific socio-ecological systems. Treating climate adaptation as an integral part of livelihood (re)making, each PhD candidate will look at how processes of knowledge (re)production are embedded in existing power relations and power interplay and contribute to the development of transdisciplinary concepts and grassroots ontological frameworks in climate governance research.

What will you do?
Within the research project, you will work on your PhD research. You will address the project’s main research question of how evolutionary pathways of communities adaptation strategies are (re)shaped by the politics of knowledge reproduction, cultural values, and agency shaping. Your project contains a comprehensive literature review and will also involve extensive fieldwork (a total of 1 year) on forest conservation in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands. During this time, you will collaborate with country researchers by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews, documenting oral histories, engaging in participant observation, collecting relevant written and audiovisual material, and/or employing other methods in which you are experienced (as outlined in your research proposal).

You will also collaborate within a team context, which includes four PhD candidates, a Principal Investigator, a Postdoctoral Researcher, and a Research Coordinator. This collaboration will involve the co-organization of academic and public events, both in the respective countries where your research take place and regionally as part of the project’s cross-learning process and regional network formation.

PhD Seasonal Timing of Egg Overwintering Insects under Climate Change - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

Project description

Climate change is exerting strong selection on wild populations, with many species showing shifts in the seasonal timing of development. One particularly vulnerable group are insect species that overwinter as eggs, with warmer winters leading to stronger population declines compared to other insect species. To predict whether insect populations can adapt to climate change, we need to know the amount of genetic variation in egg development time. However, we know little about the mechanisms underlying the temperature sensitivity of egg developmental time and to what extent these mechanisms are universal across insects.

What you will be doing
You will address this knowledge gap together with dr. Natalie van Dis and prof. dr. Marcel Visser, as part of an NWO ENW M2 grant funded in collaboration with dr. Maurijn van der Zee at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL). Your part of the project includes:

• Setting up large-scale field sampling of wild populations for 12 insect species including egg-overwintering true bugs, moths and grasshoppers (Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera).
• Performing field monitoring of the timing of egg hatching for each wild population and species.
• Carrying out lab experiments to determine how egg development time of each species is affected by temperature and how the response differs between the different species.
• Combining temperature experiments with visualization of embryonic development using fluorescence microscopy to pinpoint in which embryonic stage the different species become temperature sensitive.

Carrying out this extensive trait characterization for a multitude of species will provide important insights into the adaptive potential of wild insect populations to climate change. You will communicate your work at conferences, in scientific publications, and in an academic thesis resulting in a PhD degree.