Are you ready for a new challenge? Do you want to develop yourself in a vibrant public administration group, as one of the 16 tenure trackers in the 4TU Resilience Engineering programme DeSIRE? This might be your opportunity!

In an increasingly complex and vulnerable world, governments face the need to design social-technical-environmental systems that are adaptive to changing trends and enable adequate reactions to shocks. Increasingly, making and keeping systems resilient requires absorptive, adaptive and transforming capacities, and taking into account long term climatic, demographic or technological challenges.

The resilience of social-technical-environmental systems is also a question of governance. Governance is the art of making the system perform for the common good, while respecting democratic principles and people's free citizenship. Because social-technical-environmental systems are characterized by complexity and nonlinearity, traditional modes of governance, such as planning and control, are deemed ill-equipped to result in better and more resilient outcomes. However, to date, the complexity of governance processes has hardly been captured by the field of resilience research. This project aims to open-up the black box of governance processes for increasing and maintaining the resilience of social-technical-environmental systems.

At the Public Administration and Policy Group we are looking for an ambitious and enthusiastic social scientist: a team player, devoted to research and education in public administration, governance and policy making. As an Assistant Professor you will participate in our research program 'changing governance, governing change', that develops theories to understand and explain how actors, embedded in institutions, govern wicked sustainability problems across scales. Within this context you will develop your own research line that fits within the domains of Wageningen University, and within the DeSIRE programme. You will lecture courses on policy and governance to students both in social and natural sciences at Wageningen University and co-supervise PhD researchers. In addition, you are expected to contribute actively to the acquisition of research grants and research projects.

Opportunities

DeSIRE (Designing Systems for Informed Resilience Engineering) is an extensive capacity building program, set-up by the 4TU-Centre Resilience Engineering [www.4tu.nl/resilience], connecting the four universities of technology in The Netherlands: Delft University of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Twente and Wageningen University and Research. You will be embedded in a thriving program that has been established to advance the emerging field of Resilience Engineering. You will be working in a team of top scientists and you will have the opportunity to carry out excellent research, set up and contribute to educational programs and work on concrete solutions within our broad network of partners in policy and practice. We foster interdisciplinary collaboration between the 16 tenure trackers, associated scientific staff and public and private partners. All 16 Tenure trackers will be actively involved in the scientific, educational and valorization activities of the DeSIRE program and the 4TU-Centre Resilience Engineering. It offers prospective candidates excellent opportunities to extend their networks with academic and societal partners.

We ask for a candidate who:

• has a PhD in the field of public administration or a related discipline;
• has a proven affinity with the study of governmental decision making on long term sustainability issues, preferably in relation to engineering and infrastructural challenges in the domains of water and climate;
• is familiar with theories in public administration on governance and decision making;
• has published in international refereed scientific journals, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary;
• has strong didactic and presentation skills and enthusiasm for teaching and working with (international) students in a broad range of programmes;
• has an international scientific network;
• has the ability to acquire externally financed projects;
• has a strong interest in working in an interdisciplinary context;
• has good organizational skills;
• is fluent in English and Dutch.

This position requires an excellent English language proficiency (a mininum of CEFR C2 level). For more information about this proficiency level, please visit our special language page

A challenging position with, depending on your experience, a competitive salary from a minimum of € 3.637 to a maximum of € 4.978 for a full working week of 38 hours in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement Dutch Universities (scale 11). In addition, an appointment of 0.8 - 1 FTE is negotiable.

In addition, we offer:

• 8% holiday allowance;
• a 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;
• a flexible working time: the possibility to work a maximum of 2 hours per week extra and thereby to build up extra leave;
• a choice model to put together part of your employment conditions yourself, such as a bicycle plan;
• a 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;
• use the sports facilities on campus.

Wageningen University & Research stimulates internal career opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are ample opportunities for own initiative in a learning environment.

We offer a versatile job in an international environment with varied activities in a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

Wageningen University & Research

The mission of Wageningen University & Research is "To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life". Within Wageningen University & Research, nine specialised research institutes from the Wageningen Research Foundation and Wageningen University have joined forces to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With approximately 30 locations, 5,000 employees, and 10,000 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of the unique approach of Wageningen.

For further information about working at Wageningen University & Research, take a look at thespecial career site.

The mission of the Public Administration and Policy group is to study the governance of wicked problems in the interrelated domains of (1) water and climate, and (2) food and agriculture, and to use the generated insights to develop governance arrangements. By doing so the group aims to contribute to scientific progress, to societal debates, and to policy practice.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.