The development of solar parks is met with increasing resistance. Concerns about the competition between solar energy generation and food production, or about their impacts on biodiversity and spatial quality, necessitate a further improvement of solar parks. The Solar Research Program is a joint initiative of Wageningen University and Wageningen Environmental Research (WEnR) to consolidate and advance cross-domain research for a sustainable implementation of solar energy technologies in the landscape. In this One Wageningen program, researchers from spatial, social, technical and other sciences jointly address the shortcomings of conventional solar parks. For this, we currently distinguish six themes: spatial quality, biodiversity, soil quality, public acceptance, agriculture, and technological innovation.

We are looking for a postdoc to support the Solar Research Program and to conduct research with a focus on spatial quality, employing novel theories such as 'relational space' from energy geography. According to this theory, spaces of energy development are actively constituted through a series of social and materials relations. Landscape, in other words, is not a pre-existing, fixed commodity but an unfinished project shaped by societal preferences and technological possibilities.
The Solar Research Program provides a multi-year platform for committed postdocs, talented PhD candidates, and senior researchers to collaborate with relevant societal and industrial partners on pressing scientific questions. The programme is a viable addition to the growing research community for energy transition in Wageningen (e.g. WUR Energy Alliance). The postdoc will collaborate intensively with the two coordinators of the Solar Research Program, the members of the core team, and several PhD candidates studying the solar-landscape nexus. The key activities of the postdoc can be divided across five fields:

• Strategic collaboration including project acquisition (e.g. consortia building and proposal writing)
• Coordinating research programming with commercial/public partners (e.g. test field alliance)
• Conducting research (e.g. field labs) and publishing academic as well as professional papers
• Contributing to education (e.g. guest lectures, co-supervising Bachelor and Master theses)
• Organisation and communication (e.g. program outreach and supporting WUR Energy Alliance)

We are searching for a highly motivated and skilled colleague who should have:

• A PhD in relevant environmental, social or technical disciplines
• Experience in solar research and the integration of renewable energy in the larger environment/landscapes
• Proven acquisition and project management skills
• Excellent command of English and Dutch
• Excellent communication and writing skills
• Affinity with working in interdisciplinary teams
• Experience in supervising PhD students is considered an advantage

We offer a stimulating and creative academic working environment with good relations to Landscape Architecture, Spatial Planning and related disciplines in the Netherlands and abroad. Training and coaching are provided and international cooperation is stimulated. More specifically, we offer you a 0.8 FTE temporary position for a period of two years. Depending on your expertise and experience a salary from a minimum of € 2709,- (gross) to a maximum of € 4978,- (gross) based on fulltime employment.

In addition, we offer:

• 8% holiday allowance;
• structural year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent training opportunities and secondary employment conditions;
• flexible working hours and holidays can possibly be determined in consultation so that an optimal balance between work and private life is possible;
• excellent pension plan through ABP;
• 232 vacation hours, the option to purchase extra and good supplementary leave schemes;
• flexible working time: the possibility to work a maximum of 2 hours per week extra and thereby to build up extra leave;
• choice model to select a part of your employment conditions yourself, such as a bicycle plan;
• lively workplace where you can easily make contacts and where many activities take place on the Wageningen Campus. A place where education, research and business are represented.
  

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen University & Research
Delivering a substantial contribution to the quality of life. That's our focus - each and every day. Within our domain of good and safe food & food production, food security and a healthy 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, 5000 people work on 'the quality of life', turning ideas into reality, on a global scale.

We are the Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning Group at Wageningen University. Our research addresses present and future environmental challenges by means of planning and design. These challenges include climate mitigation and adaptation, sustainable water management, ecological networks, urbanisation, and the energy transition. Our specific competence is to analyse complex and dynamic landscape systems at various scale levels, and to propose inspiring and meaningful planning and design solutions. We consider it essential to base solutions on a thorough understanding of the nature of the landscape, so we have a strong emphasis on the analysis of landscape dynamics. Accordingly, we educate and train a growing numbers of Bachelor, Master and PhD students to become knowledgeable, reflective, and creative landscape architects and planners. We are embedded in the department of Environmental Sciences of Wageningen University, which provides fundamental research and academic education on our living environment. We are member of the Wageningen Institute for Environment and Climate Research (WIMEK).