PhD student to strengthen research on sustainable food production & consumption

The Society-Environment Interactions Research Group within the Division of Bio-economics is looking for a research Assistant/PhD student to strengthen its research on sustainable food production and consumption.

The Society-Environment Interactions Research Group is a team that deals with the scarcity of land as a resource for meeting the increasing demand for land-based functions, goods and services. We believe it is vital to combine insights on the provision as well as the consumption of these goods and services. We therefore aim to improve land use (configurations) so that an optimal bundle of services is provided, to guide consumers of food and land towards more sustainable behaviors. We thereby give special attention to the decision making processes of land managers like farmers and foresters, as well as end users like recreationists and food consumers. This requires an understanding of their knowledge, preferences and attitudes as well as testing the potential impact of public and private instruments that can catalyze a behavioral shift. The team – composed of researchers from diverse backgrounds such as economics, environmental sciences, bioscience engineering and ecology – believes that an interdisciplinary approach is more than ever needed to decrease pressure on resources while simultaneously meeting societal needs. Therefore, it integrates different quantitative methods from various disciplines such as agricultural and environmental economics, experimental economics, econometrics, geography, life cycle analysis, spatial analysis.

The research group is involved in several European and national projects and is looking for a research assistant/PhD student to strengthen its team.
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Project

The candidate will conduct research on food consumption and production behaviors and in particular on how we can steer these towards more sustainability. This includes:

• Organizing data collection among actors in the agri-food chain, for example through surveys, (lab) experiments, qualitative interviews.
• Analysis of the above mentioned data
• Reporting of research results
• Support with the organization of study days and congresses in the field of sustainable food production and consumption
• Support to various ongoing projects

Profile

• Masters in Economics or Bioscience Engineering with relevant experience in the listed tasks, or a Master’s degree with great affinity with food production and consumption. 
• Interested to work in an international and multicultural environment around agriculture and food. 
• Strong communication skills, both orally and in writing

Offer

• A dynamic working environment consisting of motivated and competent researchers and engineers, where quality, professionalism, diversity and respect for social and cultural differences are among the basic values. 
• A work environment in which bridging research, project management, education and outreach is central.
• A one year position that can be extended after positive evaluation.
• This position is linked to a salary in Academic staff scale 43 (https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/werken-bij-kuleuven/werken-bij-kuleuven)

Interested?

For more information please contact Prof. dr. ir. Liesbet Vranken, tel.: +32 16 32 23 95, mail: liesbet.vranken@kuleuven.be.

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