JOB DESCRIPTION

Applications are invited for six PhD positions. The PhDs will jointly work on the
ERC Advanced Grant project titled “Earth@lternatives”, together with two new
postdocs and staff from the Water Management group at the Faculty of
Engineering Technology, under leadership of professor Arjen Hoekstra.
Hoekstra’s research group carries out interdisciplinary research on the
interlinkages between water, land, food and energy systems.  

ERC Advanced Grant. ERC Advanced Grants are Europe’s most prestigious

personal research grants, in an annual competition provided to a limited
number of top-researchers with an ambitious research plan.
The Earth@lternativesproject plans to quantify and map the use of land and
water resources for food and energy supply at global scale and unprecedented
level of detail through a next-generation modelling approach.  

The Earth@lternatives project. Humanity faces major challenges: stay below

local and global ecological thresholds; increase natural resources use
efficiency; share resources fairly; and increase social-ecological resilience. Most
research focusses on one or two of these challenges at a time; there is a major
scientific gap in understanding synergies and inevitable trade-offs between the
development principles of environmental sustainability, equitability, efficiency
and resilience. This project aims to analyse synergies and trade-offs between
environmental sustainability, resource efficiency, social equity and social-
ecological resilience in the context of land and water use for food and energy
supply. We consider production, consumption and trade patterns globally, at
high spatial resolution, analyse past developments, and develop alternative
future pathways, based on coherent sets of assumptions regarding
demographic and economic developments, technological innovation, changes
in local diets and energy mixes, and climate change. The project team will
pioneer in integrating methods and computational tools from the fields of
Environmental Footprint Assessment, Life Cycle Assessment and Input-Output
Analysis, applied at unrivalled high level of granularity. Coherent perspectives
on handling uncertainty and risk from cultural theory will be used in a unique
approach to develop alternative futures. Finally, an original framework will be
developed to analyse synergies and trade-offs between competing
development principles. The project will revolutionize our understanding of
different pathways to food and energy security given limited land and water
resources, and particularly how each pathway will make trade-offs between
environmental sustainability, fair sharing, efficient resources use and
resiliency. This knowledge is key in understanding how to achieve UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals with limited land and water resources and
reveal synergies and trade-offs embedded in specific strategies. 

Focus areas. The PhDs will have different focusses in their research. Division
of tasks will be based on the interests and capacities of the final team
members. The list below shows specific focus areas of the research
programme. Applicants are requested to indicate clearly in their motivation
letter in which of these focusses they are interested most in particular. 

 Quantifying and explaining changing land & water footprint patterns of

food production
 Quantifying and explaining changing land & water footprint patterns of
energy production
 Land and water footprints of food consumption and trade
 Land and water footprints of energy consumption and trade
 Scenario development based on different perspectives from cultural
theory
 Geographically explicit footprint modelling
 Hybrid environmentally-extended multi-region input-output modelling
 Indicator framework for measuring progress on different development
principles*
 Analytical framework to assess synergies and trade-offs between
different development principles*

* Different development principles include environmental sustainability,

resource efficiency, social equitability and social-ecological resilience.
YOUR PROFILE

You are ambitious and highly motivated to undertake ground breaking

interdisciplinary research on the relations water-land-food-energy, developing
and using sophisticated models, to analyse issues of environmental
sustainability, resource efficiency, equitable sharing and resiliency.

 You rate top-5% among your peers.

 You have a background in the natural science, technical or
environmental science domain.
 You have experience and deep interest in working at the crossroads of
disciplines.
 You have strong analytical and conceptual skills
 You are an open, creative thinker.
 You preferably have experience with programming, SQL and GIS.
 You have a strong interest in societal relevance.
 You enjoy working as part of a team, but are capable of working
independently as well.
 You have excellent communication skills and good English language
proficiency.

INFORMATION AND APPLICATION

For additional information regarding this position, you can contact prof. dr
Arjen Hoekstra ( a.y.hoekstra@utwente.nl, www.ayhoekstra.nl). Applications
should include the following documents: 

 Motivation letter, including (a) why you want to do a PhD, (b) why are
you applying for this specific research programme (c) in which two to
four of the above-listed focus areas of the research programme you are
most interested, (d) why you consider yourself a suitable candidate for
this research, (e) your view on giving content to the research field and
how you would build on your past experience, (f) a list of three
achievements in your life that you are proud of and how you think they
are relevant for doing research.
 Detailed curriculum vitae, listing education; work experience; relevant
other activities; publications; your average grade in your Master studies
and position among your peers (like top x%), provided with evidence;
date you could start work at UTwente; and coordinates of up to three
referees. If applicable, separately indicate Web of Science-listed
publications and include the impact factor of the journals.
The invitation to apply will remain open until all vacant positions have been
filled. Candidates preferably start 1 September 2019, but earlier or later start
can be discussed. Applications will be handled within three weeks after
submission. Selected candidates will be invited for an interview by means of
video-conferencing. Candidates passing the first interview will be invited at the
campus for a presentation and a series of more in-depth meetings with
the Earth@lternatives team.

OUR OFFER

 We offer a challenging fulltime PhD position. The duration of the

contract is 4 years; working 0.8fte for five years instead is an option.
 A starting salary of € 2.325 gross per month in the first year and
increasing to € 2.972 gross per month in the fourth year.
 An annual holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, and an
annual year-end bonus of 8.3%.
 A solid pension scheme.
 Minimum of 29 leave days in case of full-time employment.
 We provide excellent mentorship and a stimulating research
environment to accelerate your further professional and personal
growth.
 The University of Twente is situated on a green and lively campus with
lots of facilities for sports and other extracurricular activities.