PhD scholarship within the field of Behavioural science insights for nature-based solutions

Declaration of interest regarding PhD project

The Danish Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Science (DRIVEN) and the Department of Biology at SDU are looking for applicants for a PhD scholarship within the field of behavioural sciences. We are looking for a person with a relevant undergraduate and masters degree in (health) psychology, behavioural economics, or related research fields. The ideal candidate should have a passion and background (academic knowledge and ideally some experience) in applying behavioural science to understand and promote climate-friendly solutions.

Research environment

The successful candidate will be placed within DRIVEN, the Danish Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Science (Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Sports Sciences and Clinical Biomechanics). The supervision team will consist of Professors Nikos Ntoumanis and Cecilie Thøgersen-Ntoumani from DRIVEN, and Professor Gary Banta from the Department of Biology.

Project description

This PhD is embedded within a large Horizon project funded by the European Union (ΕU) which aims to develop and promote Nature-based Solutions (NbS). NbS are management solutions including and inspired by nature to address a variety of environmental and sustainability challenges, while enhancing biodiversity and other ecological functions. Climate adaptation and mitigation are important focus areas where NbS are expected to be essential instruments toward the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 as well as transforming society towards climate resilience.

The EU funded project is called ARCADIA and involves a collaboration between several EU regions and universities. More details about the scope of ARCADIA can be found here: https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/arcadia . Within ARCADIA, there is a behavioural science component, represented in Work Package (WP) 7. The PhD student will work on two tasks within WP7, liaising with regional partners within the region of Fyn (Odense Municipality, the Region of Southern Denmark, the Odense Fjord Samarbejdet and VandCenter Syd) and international partners (universities and organisations involved in WP7, including other PhD students and post-docs). 

There are project obligations for the Ph.D. candidate that are defined by the ARCADIA project, including assessing the of motivation and barriers of stakeholder groups (e.g., citizens, managers, policy makers) to implement nature-based solutions (NbS). Methods are likely to include surveys, interviews, and discrete choice experiments. The knowledge from these studies will be used in the second PhD task which aims to develop a guidance template to help regions achieve behaviour change with regard to NbS in a structured, systematic, and evidence-based manner. The development of such guidance will involve inputs from other WPs and evidence from the first task. The guidance will help regions develop new or modify existing behaviour change interventions for NbS, targeting a range of individual, social, and policy factors. For more information, see also Prof Ntoumanis’ short interview here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/arcadia-eu-project_meet-the-model-region-fyn-team-in-arcadia-activity-7206180942879563776-IfoO?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop 

As in all Ph.D’s, there is good possibility for academic freedom to address these project tasks within the scope of the ARCADIA project. 

The candidate will be enrolled at the PhD School in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Information about the  Ph.D. school, available PhD courses for student training, course obligations and other information can be found here: https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/phd/phd_skoler/phdskolensundhedsvidenskab

Qualifications

• A first degree and a Masters in psychology (preferably health or social), behavioural economics, or related disciplines.
• Academic training or relevant experience related to behaviour change models such as the Behaviour Change Wheel.
• Excellent English written communication skills
• Experience with analysing qualitative and quantitative data
• Experience with project management of research activities

For further information about the project, please contact:
Prof. Nikos Ntoumanis, Danish Centre for Motivation and Behaviour Science, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark (SDU) E-mail: [email protected] or Prof. Gary Banta, Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Email: [email protected].

Applications must include:

• A letter stating the interest, motivation and qualifications for the project (max. 2 pages) - upload under “Application form”.
• A detailed CV, including personal contact information
• Certified copy of diploma (Master’s degree in a relevant field) 

Applications must be submitted electronically using the link "Apply now".

Attached files must be in Adobe PDF or Word format. Each box can only contain a single file of max. 10 Mb. If you are not asked for a project description above, please upload and empty document in the field “projektbeskrivelse”.

Incomplete applications and applications received after the deadline will neither be considered nor evaluated. This also applies to reference letters.

Closing date Monday 16^th of September 2024

Successful candidates will be asked to send an application to the PhD Secretariat, Faculty of Health Sciences, to be enrolled as PhD students.

The PhD programme will be carried out in accordance with Faculty regulations and the Danish Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities (PhD order). The terms of employment as a salaried PhD Research Fellow are stated in the Agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC).

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.