School of Business Administration and Economics bei Universität Osnabrück

The DFG-funded Research Training Group “Ecological Regime Shifts and Systemic Risk in Coupled Social-Ecological Systems” (ECORISK) deals with the causes of ecological regime shifts and their potential consequences in social-ecological systems in an interdisciplinary approach. ECORISK aims at training a new generation of innovative scientists capable of dealing with complex sustainability challenges. It brings together perspectives from behavioral economics, ecological modeling, environmental systems science, geography, geoinformatics, political science, and sociology. ECORISK is located at Osnabrück University, which is renowned for its outstanding interdisciplinary research and embedded in a city with an excellent quality of life.

In the subproject ›Regime shifts and human behaviour in agricultural systems‹ at the Department of Environmental Economics in the School of Business Administration and Economics, a position as

Research Assistant / PhD Candidate (m/f/d)
(Pay grade 13 TV-L, 75%)

is to be filled on a fixed-term basis until September 30, 2027, starting on October 1, 2024.

Your Duties:

• Scientific work on the mentioned subproject by carrying out an environmental and behavioural economic study on the perceptions of regime shifts and systemic risks of farmers in Germany, which also forms the basis for your own academic qualification in the form of a doctoral degree
• Participation in and contribution to the events of the Research Training Group

Requirements:

• Good completed academic degree in the fields of economics (agricultural, environmental, behavioural or experimental economics), systems science, behavioural science (environmental psychology, agricultural sociology) or in a related discipline or related interdisciplinary program
• Strong research interest in environmental and behavioural economic perspectives on questions of ecological regime shifts and systemic risks in social-ecological systems in the agricultural context
• Very good German and English language skills in both spoken and written form
• Experience with economic experiments, quantitative data analysis or methods of qualitative social science research (at least one)
• Motivation to work in an inter- and transdisciplinary team working on socially relevant research questions

Additional Qualifications:

• Experience in interdisciplinary and international collaboration
• Very good knowledge of one or more of the following topics:
  • Behavioural and experimental economics
  • The German agricultural sector
  • Regime shifts and systemic risks

We offer:

• Participation in an exciting and highly topical research project
• A structured doctoral program at Osnabrück University
• Opportunities to acquire relevant research experience
• Collegial collaboration in an interdisciplinary, international, and diversity-oriented team that values equity
• Tailored training opportunities
• Opportunities for partial remote work and flexible working hours

Osnabrück University is a family-friendly university and is committed to helping working/studying parents balance their family and working lives.

Osnabrück University seeks to guarantee equality of opportunity for women and men and strives to correct any gender imbalance in its schools and departments.

If two candidates are equally qualified, preference will be given to the candidate with disability status.

Please send applications, including a maximum two-page motivation letter for the advertised position, a curriculum vitae (CV) (possibly including a list of publications), transcripts of previous academic degrees (BA/MA, including Transcripts of Records), and the name and email address of a potential reference, in electronic form as a single PDF file via email
by June 22, 2024 to: ecorisk@uos.de.

For questions regarding this job advertisement, please contact the subproject leader Dr. Fabian Thomas (fabian.thomas@uni-osnabrueck.de).

Further information about this subproject and the Research Training Group can be found at: www2.uni-osnabrueck.de/ecorisk.