Assistant Professor Environmental and Sustainability Governance

Job description

Utrecht University has opened one new faculty position at Assistant Professor level (tenure track) in the field of environmental and sustainability governance. Successful candidates for this Assistant Professorship are expected to bring broad expertise (as evidenced by key publications and/or successful acquisition activities) on the main themes of our governance research programme, notably on different modes of governance (institutional design and effectiveness); on the normative foundations of governance (such as social justice and democratic legitimacy); and on the governance of societal transformations. The new Assistant Professor will undertake cutting-edge research on the global, regional or local level of environmental and earth system governance and develop competitive research proposals in the field. Empirically, the successful candidate will have strong affinity with governance challenges in fields such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, sustainable production, biodiversity conservation, water management or sustainable urban development. However, there is no specific empirical field or governance level linked to this recruitment. In addition, our research programme supports in all of its activities a transformative vision of change, expecting faculty members to engage in fresh thinking that goes beyond existing political institutions and governance systems, which have failed so far to address the fundamental sustainability challenges of our time.

The new Assistant Professor will teach in the newly developed BSc in Global Sustainability Science and the internationally leading MSc in Sustainable Development. In addition, the successful candidate will be expected to supervise Bachelor's and Master's thesis projects, to act as daily supervisor of doctoral students, and to contribute to the acquisition and execution of externally funded projects.

All teaching and supervision will be in English, which is also the working language of our research group and institute.

Qualifications

The successful candidate will:

• hold a doctoral degree (PhD) in Environmental Studies, Environmental Sciences, Sustainability Science, Political Science, Public Administration, Sociology, International Relations or a related social science discipline;
• have experience with and talent for academic teaching;
• have a strong record of international peer-reviewed publications or a promising pipeline of papers;
• have experience in successfully acquiring and carrying out externally funded projects or have good prospects in doing so;
• be well connected to relevant academic partners as well as stakeholders in society;
• have excellent communication skills, be good in interpersonal relationships and a team player;
• have affinity with working in an interdisciplinary research and teaching environment;
• have affinity with public outreach, working with societal stakeholders and transdisciplinary research.