PhD position Restoring biodiversity in Dutch agricultural grasslands (1.0 FTE)

In The Netherlands, livestock farming areas face a range of challenges including ecosystem degradation, climate change, and biodiversity decline, and novel ways to collaborate and to develop and implement solutions are explored. These collective actions play a key role in the transition of rural areas. In this PhD project, you will compare various collective actions aimed at restoring characteristic grassland biodiversity of plants, invertebrates and birds in The Netherlands. Our primary study sites will be in the provinces Noord- and Zuid-Holland, and Friesland; the wetter, lower parts of the country where dairy farming is an important rural land use. Objectives of the project are to: 1) Construct a biodiversity database for different land-use types and collective actions, 2) Find out how grassland management and landscape interventions impacts biodiversity, 3) Learn how the organisation of collectives impacts biodiversity, 4) Identify mismatches between ecological and social/economic aspects of farming practices, and identify solutions to resolve these. You will use available environmental, management and biodiversity data (on meadow birds, vegetation, earthworms, terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates) and collect new data where needed, to quantify how and why biodiversity is different between different land management practices and forms or collective organization.



Research environment

Research will be mainly performed in the Conservation Ecology group at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES), with field work across The Netherlands.

This is position NL-PhD1 of the Curvebend program (https://sites.google.com/rug.nl/curvebend) in which 8 PhD students and 2 postdocs across 9 institutions will collaborate to investigate how to restore biodiversity and promote a nature-positive society through mobilisation of collective action at the landscape level - a program working on three continents worldwide with a focus on livestock-dominated landscapes.



Organisation

Founded in 1614, the University of Groningen enjoys an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative institution of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Flexible study programs and academic career opportunities in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 34,000 students and researchers alike to develop their own individual talents. As one of the best research universities in Europe, the University of Groningen has joined forces with other top universities and networks worldwide to become a truly global center of knowledge.

Requirements:

We are looking for a motivated and skilled candidate with a solid background in (field) ecology, conservation, environmental sciences or equivalent (MSc level), and affinity with biodiversity research. Besides good analytical and field ecology skills, the candidate should possess excellent social skills to communicate with the (primarily Dutch) stakeholders and within the multidisciplinary team. The successful candidate should have a strong commitment to transdisciplinary research. Good verbal and written communication skills in English are also required (TOEFL iBT 90+ or equivalent level). Knowledge of the agro-ecological system and occurring key-species groups and habitats is a pre.

Salary Benefits:

In accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities, we offer



- A salary of € 2,901 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 3,707 gross per month in the fourth and final year for a full-time working week.

- A holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income and 8.3% end-of-the-year bonus over the annual gross salary.

- A full time (1.0 FTE) position for four years where first, you will get a temporary position of one year with the option of renewal for another three years. Prolongation of the contract is contingent on sufficient progress in the first year to indicate that successful completion of the PhD thesis within the contract period is to be expected. A PhD training program is part of the agreement and you will be enrolled in the Graduate School of the Faculty of Science and Engineering.



Starting date: 1 May 2025

38 hours per week

Broerstraat 5