PhD Position - Transforming Food Systems for enhanced resilience

Are you looking for a PhD and interested in the economics of food systems? Do you want to use quantitative methods to identify promising interventions to enhance food security resilience? Then, this PhD vacancy may be of interest to you.

The Development Economics group at Wageningen University and Wageningen Economic Research are looking for a PhD candidate in the area of food systems transformation, focusing on resilience. There is pressing need for transforming the food system. First, the current food system does not deliver the social, just and sustainable patterns of food consumption the world urgently needs. Second, the upheaval of food markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian war on Ukraine has (re-)drawn attention to the limited stability and resilience of Food Systems.

Transformation is a process that progresses through a set of changes in beliefs, information, policy regulation and economic incentives, and often a combination of these all. Such changes, for different sets of actors in the food system, are eventually anticipated to lead to changes in production, trade and consumption, and the system outcomes as a whole. Using the food system as an analytical concept enables/urges researchers to study processes of transformation in their wider socio-economic and political contexts: not only to address what needs to change, but often more importantly, how such change can take place.

The food system approach has led to a broader appreciation of the complexity of food systems and their vulnerability to shocks and stressors, i.e. the level of FS resilience. The objective of strengthening FS resilience has led to a lively debate on its conceptualization and the elements that constitute resilience for different actors (and those that do not) and subsequently how these elements can be translated into measurable indicators. With consensus slowly emerging on the conceptualization of resilience, first strides being made on its empirical measurement.

As a PhD student, you contribute to strengthening the empirical foundations of food system resilience. Specifically, you will work on

• assessing the current knowledge on the heterogeneous impacts of interventions for enhancing food system resilience and the mechanisms underlying these impacts;
• selecting and evaluating the impact of promising interventions to enhance food system resilience;
• analyzing potential trade-offs and synergies with other selected FS outcomes (nutrition, environment) and how possible trade-offs can be mitigated;
• comparing efficiency and (cost) effectiveness of different interventions.

At Wageningen Economic Research (WEcR) you will further apply and broaden your (gained) empirical knowledge in multiple applied research projects that focus on FS resilience. WEcR advices policy makers and other stakeholders on how food systems can be made more resilient to shocks.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair group Development Economics and the Food System and Food System Governance team of Wageningen Economic Research. You will be co-supervised by Dr Marrit van den Berg (DEC-WUR) and Dr Ezra Berkhout (WECR).
You will be working 30 hours for WU and 8 hours for WEcR per week.

PhD position - Genetic and spatial biology of viruses in plant-feeding nematodes

Do you have a keen interest in interactions between hosts and parasites? Would you enjoy to pursue PhD in molecular biology? Are you enthusiastic about combining experimental labwork and next generation sequencing analyses? If yes, then we may have the perfect opportunity for you!

The Laboratory of Nematology at Wageningen University & Research is seeking a motivated and curiosity-driven PhD candidate to join an interdisciplinary and collaborative team aimed at unraveling the biology of viruses of plant-parasitic nematodes. Plant-parasitic nematodes cause severe agricultural damage and only recently the first viruses infecting them have been discovered, presenting new research opportunities to understand and halt these pest species.

As a PhD candidate in this project you will perform and analyze experiments that contain a combination microbiology, molecular biology and next-generation sequencing techniques (e.g. RNA- and Tomo-seq). Specifically, you will localize different viruses in two important plant-parasitic nematode species, map nematode genes involved in infection and may discover viral genes involved in immune suppression. Thereby, you will contribute fundamental understanding of the genetic and spatial interactions between plant-parasitic nematodes and their viruses.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the Laboratory of Nematology led by prof. Geert Smant. Your daily supervisors will be dr. Lisa van Sluijs and dr. Jose Lozano Torres, who have complementary expertise: nematode-virus interactions and genetics (Lisa van Sluijs) and molecular biology of plant-parasitic nematodes and spatial transcriptomics (Jose Lozano Torres).

PhD position: Inter- and intra-specific crop flower variation for pollinator-friendly farming systems

Are you interested in how plants attract pollinators? Are passionate about pollinators and the crop pollination services they provide? Do you want to contribute to the breeding of crops for more pollinator-friendly farming systems? Then we invite you to apply for a PhD position in the Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation group!

Intensive agriculture is one of the main pressures on biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, even though much of the agricultural production depends on this biodiversity for yield. For example, many agricultural crops depend on insects for crop pollination, and with a transition to more plant-based diets this is expected to increase in the future. We therefore need to develop more pollinator-friendly farming systems. At present, intensive agricultural crop fields generally consist of a single cultivar of a crop species, which are bred for the highest response to agricultural inputs such as fertilizer or pesticide resistance, while the contribution of insect pollination is usually undervalued. We need a better understanding on how we can breed for cultivars that are more attractive to pollinators, so that yields can be sustainably enhanced. In this PhD project we will unravel the relative importance of crop flower traits for pollinator attraction and identify the underlying genetic patterns. We will also evaluate the relative importance is of inter- and intraspecific variation in crop flower traits for crop pollination under different environments and management.

The main focus of the successful PhD candidate will be on genetic mapping of flowering traits, and fieldwork for three seasons in France and the Netherlands. Other activities include fieldwork preparation, flower trait characterisation, estimation of pollinator visitation rates and seed set of plants, genetic mapping analysis, advanced statistical data analyses, and writing. The PhD candidate is responsible for data collection in France, data generation in the Netherlands, and will also be in the lead for an overall analysis of the relative importance of inter- and intraspecific flower trait variation for crop pollination services and crop yield performed in Italy, France and the Netherlands.

You will work here
You will be embedded within the Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation group Daily supervision will be done by prof. dr. David Kleijn, dr.Thijs Fijen, prof.dr.Luisa Trindade, and dr.Andries Temme You will be part of a 18 partner HorizonEurope project in which coordinated empirical work will take place on plant breeding, crop pollination, pollinator biodiversity, value chains and policy.

PhD in Innovative pathways for water pollution in the Mediterranean Agro-Hydro-System

Are you passionate about improving water quality in the Mediterranean Agro-Hydro-System? Do you want to pursue an interdisciplinary PhD research project in which you will develop innovative pathways to reduce future water pollution by nutrients and agrochemicals? If so, an exciting job opportunity is waiting for you!

The Earth Systems and Global Change Group has recently been awarded the HORIZON project Path4Med which aims at demonstrating Innovative Pathways Addressing Water and Soil Pollution in the Mediterranean Agro-Hydro-System. The Path4Med project will develop and apply an innovative triple bottom line approach to achieving economic, social, and environmental sustainability to ensure human well-being and ecosystem functioning. The project focuses on the integration of different disciplines with the knowledge of various stakeholders using modeling tools to provide information services for the Mediterranean region.

Within the Path4Med project, a PhD position is available that is expected to deal with the following key objectives:

1. Assessment of agricultural influences on water quality and quantity. This will include model development for nutrients and agrochemicals starting with a case study such as Greece and upscaling it to the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions. The model will build on existing MARINA models of the chair group with a strong focus on scenario and pathway development.
2. Integration of the needs of agricultural users for sufficient clean water under climate and socio-economic changes. A PhD candidate will use the model insights to assess the needs for sufficient clean water at different scales.
3. Development of innovative pathways for future water pollution reduction under global change. Such pathways will incorporate the best available technologies and reduction options (e.g., European Green Deal Targets for Zero Pollution) through modelling.
4. Development of a new integrated communication platform for data services for end users. This activity will require the integration of knowledge and data from the other previous objectives and from the Path4Med project. Lessons will be drawn from this integration for agricultural users at the catchment scale and for the Mediterranean region as a whole.

Your duties and responsibilities in this role will include:

• conducting research and analysis within the framework of the project;
• contributing to the development of new modeling tools and innovative pathways for water pollution reductions in the Agro-Hydro-System of the Mediterranean region;
• contributing to the integration of knowledge and data for information services platform;
• publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals;
• write a doctoral thesis based on the research findings.

You will work here
The research is embedded within the chair Earth Systems and Global Change Group, which is led by Prof. dr. Arthur Mol and dr. Nynke Hofstra. You will be supervised by dr. Maryna Strokal, dr. Spyros Paparrizos, and dr Mengru Wang who will provide the guidance and support through the project.

Administratief assistent land- of tuinbouw

In deze functie administreer je financiële en duurzaamheidsgegevens van land- of tuinbouwbedrijven voor het Bedrijveninformatienet (BIN). Als assistent heb je een ondersteunende rol en help je onze administratief medewerkers met het opleveren van een complete bedrijfseconomische boekhouding van een agrarisch bedrijf inclusief een duurzaamheidsverslag. Deze functie is interessant als opmaat naar de functie van administratief medewerker land-of tuinbouw, of interessant als bijbaan voor studenten die een opleiding volgen in het agrarische of financieel-economische domein. Standplaats voor deze functie is: Wageningen, Den Haag, Drachten of Oisterwijk.

Het Bedrijveninformatienet (www.wur.nl/bedrijveninformatienet) is een netwerk van ongeveer 1.500 land- en tuinbouwbedrijven, 100 kotters en andere schepen die actief zijn in de visserij en 150 bosbouwbedrijven. Binnen Wageningen Economic Research houden ongeveer 65 administratief medewerker dit netwerk bij.

Als administratief assistent leg je financiële en duurzaamheidsgegevens van Nederlandse land- en tuinbouwbedrijven vast in onze database. Je werkzaamheden bestaan hoofdzakelijk uit het inboeken van allerlei technische en financiële bedrijfsgegevens, zoals aanwezige duurzame productiemiddelen, dieraantallen, arbeidsuren, facturen van toeleveranciers en afnemers, verwerken van batchbetalingen, administreren van leningen etc. Deze gegevens leidt je af uit centrale databestanden, (digitale) facturen van toeleveranciers en afnemers, of door de agrarische ondernemer aangeleverde informatie.

Voor meer informatie over werken bij het Bedrijveninformatienet kijk onze bedrijfsfilm en check onze site: werkenbijBedrijvenInformatieNet.