Job Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) - Post doc 'Drip Irrigation in Perspective

An ambitious post-doc in the field of irrigation, with an interdisciplinary perspective, to work in the following project: DRiP – Drip irrigation realities in Perspective – financed by NWO, the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research.
Summary of the project:
Water saving technologies such as drip irrigation figure prominently on agricultural and environmental policy agendas, as means to produce more food with less water. Many countries actively promote the transfer to drip to increase water use productivities. Although drip irrigation is normally associated with large commercial farmers, smaller ‘drip kits’ are now also being developed to make the technology accessible to smaller farmers in developing countries, as part of broader poverty alleviation strategies. In spite of policy enthusiasm, little is as yet known about which farmers use drip, why and with what results and impacts.
This research program sets out to systematically analyse the conditions under which drip irrigation ‘works’, for whom and at what costs, from an explicitly interdisciplinary framework that considers technology and society as mutually constitutive. It combines: (1) a historical ethnographic analysis of the social construction of the design and promotion of drip irrigation, analysing how the hopes and ideas of different actors become embodied in the technology; (2) a multi-country comparison of the (historical trajectories) of adoption of this technology, looking at different ways in which technical and social-cultural elements become aligned in hydrosocial networks; (3) two in-depth studies of the impacts of drip irrigation at different scales in Morocco and Burkina Faso, analysing benefits and costs and how these are distributed; (4) a meta-level ethical discussion about the desirability of the changes and development drip entails. Results will directly feed back into re-designs through the explicit creation of spaces for joint learning with stakeholders at different levels during the research process.
This specific vacancy is for a post-doc to be engaged in (1), (2) and (4), who will work in close collaboration with PhD students (based in Morocco and Burkina Faso) and help synthesize the outcomes of their individual studies. We request applicants to write a 2 page concept note, detailing their ideas about how they would approach this. The person we are looking for will also assume some project management tasks.

We are a chairgroup of committed water professionals engaged in interdisciplinary teaching and research aimed at promoting irrigation and water management practices that contribute to an equitable distribution and sustainable use of water. You can find us: www.iwe.wur.nl/uk


The department of Environmental Sciences of Wageningen University provides fundamental research and academic education on our living environment: nature, landscape, land usage, adaptation to climate change, water and ocean management, and the various competing claims on space. This also includes biodiversity and the sustainability of management and production. Wageningen University is part of the Wageningen University and Research Centre concern.

Wageningen University and Research centre
Delivering a substantial contribution to the quality of life. That's our focus – each and every day. Within our domain, healthy food and living environment, we search for answers to issues affecting society – such as sustainable food production, climate change and alternative energy. Of course, we don’t do this alone. Every day, 6,500 people work on ‘the quality of life’, turning ideas into reality, on a global scale.

Could you be one of these people? We give you the space you need.

For further information about working at Wageningen UR, take a look at www.jobsat.wur.nl.


Acquisition regarding this vacancy is not appreciated.