PhD Position in Environmental Sciences: ‘Value pluralism and social learning for better biodiversity decisions’- Deadline 24 January 2022

Are you ready for the start of your academic career? Do you want to become part of an enthusiastic group of colleagues, who seek to push the boundaries of environmental knowledge and teach in the highest graded educational programs in the Netherlands? Do you have the right skills to do cutting-edge research in an interdisciplinary setting? Then apply for a PhD-position in the project “Better tools, less conflicts. Value pluralism and social learning for better biodiversity decisions” at the Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management at the Open Universiteit. Be ready for a multi-disciplinary approach and cross-overs to chain management.

Background

The current global biodiversity crisis has a negative impact on nature’s ability to sustain human needs. Despite many initiatives designed to reverse biodiversity decline, overall progress towards improvement in the resilience of ecosystems is still weak. Sustainability & biodiversity assessment is supposed to help decision-makers make the right decisions to curb the decline of biodiversity from the global to the local level. However, existing assessments often fail to have an impact on the ground and often cannot avoid conflict between stakeholders, and assessments can sometimes even trigger such conflict. The current project is premised on the idea that assessment is ineffective because of lack of attention to the plural values of nature (e.g. instrumental, intrinsic and relational values) and to social learning processes. The processes and the conditions to develop value-inclusive and adaptive biodiversity assessments are yet poorly understood and the project seeks to ameliorate this.

Objectives

The project aims to contribute to: i. make nature valuation more inclusive, with a focus on value pluralism, ii. make nature valuation more practical (developing actionable insights on assessment tools), and iii. facilitate the integration of plural biodiversity assessment tools in existing decision making frameworks, to enhance reflexiveness and adaptability.

To achieve these objectives the project will systematically inventorize evidence and insights on biodiversity assessment tools and how these can foster learning and inclusiveness. A tentative conceptual model will be developed through systematic literature review. In addition, the project will contribute fresh empirical evidence by means of case studies, focused on perception and use of existing biodiversity assessment tools, and examining the relationships between inclusive biodiversity assessment tools, social learning and biodiversity decisions. The case studies will take place in both the Global North and South.

Finally, the project will develop a series of recommendations on how value-inclusive assessment tools can contribute to social learning in both businesses and governmental organizations. The tools will be developed and tested in collaboration with practitioners of sustainability assessment. Such practitioners will include public and private decision-makers, local communities, non-governmental actors and scientists.

Tasks

The PhD project is a collaboration between the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Management with supervisors from both Faculties. The PhD candidate will:

• engage in supervised scientific research that will ultimately result in a doctoral thesis (systematic review, database construction, comparative analysis, and case studies);
• participate in the relevant activities of the “Innovating for Resilience” Program, the two Faculties involved in the project, the Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Marketing & Supply Chain Management;
• participate in the organization of scientific and practice-oriented events (workshops, conferences), in close collaboration with the supervisors;
• follow a tailor-made course program for PhD-candidates of the OU Graduate School and the National Research School SENSE;
• publish research results in the form of conference papers, contributions to peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as through popular publications and presentations.