Behavioural Economist for Sustainable Cities and Communities (Assistant/Associate professor)

Are you curious about how we can encourage cooperation within communities, businesses, and institutions? How can we design policies and interventions that truly drive pro-environmental behavior in food or energy consumption, or circular practices and help our cities/regions to stay within planetary boundaries? We are looking for a behavioural economist, environmental psychologist, or someone with a similar relevant background.

People are more than rational agents, they do not have full information at their disposal, they make choices while being distracted and it matters with whom and where they are when choosing what to eat, to buy, or how to collaborate with others.

Therefore, a good understanding of people’s behaviour is important for policy making, the achievement of technical and social innovations. It is also crucial to understand the staying within planetary boundaries and coping with climate change and related societal challenges.

What factors drive people to cooperate in order to achieve better outcomes for the community, for example, better collaboration with colleagues, interaction with neighbors and institutions, but also economic interaction, for instance, between a seller and a buyer. How do values, culture and context play a role?

What factors influence consistent pro-environmental behaviour and strategies to change environmental actions, in terms of (food) consumption, energy use and the acceptability and effectiveness of circular economy/society policies.

How can we design and gain behavioral economic research to produce scientifically sound evidence on effectiveness of interventions? For example, through (online) choice experiments, field experiments, surveys, and/or ecological momentary assessments.

We are looking for a behavioural economist, environmental psychologist or someone with a similar background who can contribute to advancing insights to these kinds of questions via the research and teaching within the Urban Economics group.

This position is part of the Academic Career Framework (ACF) at Wageningen University & Research, which has replaced the traditional Tenure Track. This new career framework for all academic staff at Wageningen University starts on 9 March 2025. One of the 3 career paths is the Professor Career Path. The aim of this ACF is to achieve a new balance in recognising and valuing academics where both team collaboration and the unique talent of individual scientists are seen, by creating more differentiation in career paths, putting the emphasis on the quality of work and less on quantitative results, doing justice to the individual qualities and ambitions of academics as much as to team performance, promoting all aspects of open science and encouraging high-quality leadership in the academy.

Requirements:

You are / You have:

• background in behavioural economics, environmental psychology, or a similar field;
• experience with (heterodox) economics;
• experience in one of our three domains: energy transition, circular food systems, health & wellbeing (including the relevance of urban green);
• experience in supervising msc and/or phd students;
• experience in teaching bsc and/or msc courses;
• interest in working in transdisciplinary teams: with scientists from different (social and environmental) disciplines, with citizens and public stakeholders;
• have a connecting leadership style.

Urban Economics Group
To get the best out of cities, at UEC, we study the link between place and behaviour, both inside the city and between urban and rural areas. How does the physical and social environment allow or constrain people to be more energy efficient, to insulate their homes, use electric (shared) vehicles, invest in solar panels, and how does this affect inequality in terms of energy poverty? How do individual and collective food strategies impact health, resilience, and food security at different spatial scales across the world? We focus on three themes: energy transition, circular food systems and health & wellbeing

We are an interdisciplinary group: we use insights from urban, regional, and behavioral economics to improve the understanding of consumer and household decision making concerning sustainability, health & well-being and the systemic impacts at the individual, urban and regional level. In addition, we aim to contribute to new economic thinking and bring in concepts and approaches from heterodox economic streams like ecological, wellbeing and feminist economics.

Furthermore, we link micro- to macro insights by using a wide range of methodologies from (behavioral) experiments, to surveys, spatial econometrics, simulations, and agent-based models.

Salary Benefits:

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• there is a strong focus on vitality, and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will be offered a fixed-term, 18-month contract which, upon positive evaluation, can lead to a permanent employment contract. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between €5.495 and €7.056 for a full-time working week of 38 hours in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 12).

Wageningen University & Research offers plenty of opportunities for growth and development, with a strong internal recruitment policy and excellent training programmes.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment. For 20 consecutive years, we have been voted the "best university" in the Netherlands! A place to be proud of.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Because we expect you to work and live in the Netherlands our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.

Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example, helping your partner to find a job, housing, or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.

38 hours per week

Droevendaalsesteeg