Postdoc position in policy-led transformation of agriculture

The Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University, Denmark, invites applications for a 2-year postdoctoral position in policy-led sustainable transformation of agriculture. The position is part of the research center Land-CRAFT, which is a Pioneer centre located at Aarhus University.

Food security, climate change and loss of biodiversity represent three of today’s major societal challenges. The Land-CRAFT centre was formed in June 2022 to undertake fundamental and applied research from field to landscape scales that will address these societal challenges, including the policies necessary to foster these changes.   

There is a need to better understand pathways to a policy-led, sustainable transformation of agriculture. Such a transformation faces political constraints across the entire process from the initial policy debates and implementation through the agricultural industry’s business and political responses to subsequent rounds of policy reforms. These processes need to be studied both at Danish and European levels to better understand the constraints and to provide policy relevant knowledge on how to overcome them. There might be several approaches to address these problems, and for this position combinations of theoretical and empirical contributions would be appreciated.
 

Expected start date and duration of employment

This is a 2-year position, with the potential for extension, starting 1 March 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. 
 

Description of the position

The post doc will:

• Develop and conduct research on policy-led transformation of agriculture
• Take lead on and contribute to dissemination of publications in high-ranking international peer-reviewed journals
• Participate in network building activities both internationally and across disciplines within the Land-CRAFT centre 
• Contribute to public dissemination of policy relevant knowledge
• Contribute to development of teaching activities in the Dept. of Environmental Science or other departments at AU with which we cooperate on teaching.

Your profile

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate with these qualifications:

• A PhD degree in political science, political economy or similar
• Research experience in the areas of sustainable industrial transformation, green industrial policy or policy development in the fields of climate and sustainability
• Strong ability to develop research ideas
• Strong methodological skills
• Demonstrated experience in scientific writing and publication in peer-reviewed international scientific journals
• Ability to take initiative and manage  research activities
• Collaborative skills and ability to participate actively in teams

Further, we prefer candidates with some of the following qualifications:

• Teaching experience at the BA and MSc level and ability to develop courses
• Interest in developing competitive national and international research applications
• Motivation to conduct research in a cross- disciplinary field
• Proficiency in English, written and spoken

 

Who we are

The post doc will be part of the Pioneer Center Land-CRAFT as well as of the Dept. of Environmental Science, section on environmental social science and geography.

Land-CRAFT was established in June 2022 to undertake fundamental and applied research that addresses three major sustainability challenges, i.e. food security, climate change and loss of biodiversity. Finding solutions to these challenges requires research on the processes that occur between humans, climate, land, and water systems. The centre brings together experts on climate impact research and process-based modelling of biogeochemistry, socio-economics and agronomy, biology and geography from Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen, as well as international partners. The post doc will contribute to the research theme of socio-economics, scenarios and stakeholder dialogue.
 You can read more about the Land-CRAFT centre here https://land-craft.dk/

The Department of Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary department under the Faculty of Science & Technology at Aarhus University. The expertise ranges from physics, chemistry, microbiology and mathematical modelling to social science, geography, economics and policy analysis. Both basic and applied research is conducted related to some of the major challenges facing society, such as pollution and pollution control mechanisms, management of land, soil, water, air and biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services, climate change, and energy systems. Advisory services within these areas are offered to ministries and other stakeholders.

Further information may be found at http://www.envs.au.dk/en/
 

Place of work and area of employment

The position includes two permanent workplace addresses in Aarhus and Roskilde, respectively. The primary workplace will be in Aarhus, but you will also be expected to participate in monthly staff meetings of the Department of Environmental Science located at Aarhus University’s Roskilde campus. Other attendance in Dept. of Environmental Science activities is by agreement with your immediate supervisor.

In Aarhus, the place of work is Land-CRAFT Centre, Ole Worms Alle 3, 8000 Aarhus C.

In Roskilde, the place of work is Dept. of Environmental Science, 399 Frederiksborgvej, 4000 Roskilde.

The area of employment is Aarhus University with affiliated institutions.


Contact information

For further information, please contact: Senior researcher, Helle Ørsted Nielsen, phone: +45 24607315, email: [email protected]
 

Deadline

Applications must be received no later than 15 January, 2025.


Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range

Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.


Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/