Do you have a passion for biodiversity? Are you concerned about the declines of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes? Are you motivated to identify effective mitigation strategies? Then we invite you to apply for a PhD position in our team!

The current Dutch nitrogen crisis illustrates the difficult balance between the needs of nature, agriculture and society and highlights the importance of conservation science that explores nature-based solutions. We offer an outstanding opportunity to two PhD candidates that are motivated to work on providing the evidence for benefits of managing biodiversity on farmland. The first PhD position will examine whether and how biodiversity effects of conservation management targeting a specific species group can be extrapolated to higher spatial scales, to other species groups and to ecosystem service delivery. The second position will study nature-based solutions for reducing nitrogen leaching and run-off in different farming systems. The research is part of the recently funded H2020 project 'Showcase' in which 21 partners from across Europe collaborate. Empirical work in the Netherlands will focus on South-Limburg.

You need to be dedicated to and constructively interact with international partners, local collaborators and the Wageningen research team and at the same time perform high-quality research. You will publish your findings in leading international academic journals and will communicate them to audiences that may be able to use your results. You will supervise MSc students as they are doing thesis research within the framework of your own studies.

• MSc in ecology, conservation biology, nature conservation or related field;
• great teammate; • experience with agro-ecological studies;
• good organizational and communication skills;
• an analytical mindset and interest to work with complex datasets;
• fluency in Dutch or willingness to learn Dutch through an intensive course;
• experience in collaborating with partners from a variety of backgrounds is a plus.

You will receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team. The gross salary for the first year is € 2.395,- per month rising to € 3.061,- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreement (scale P). This is based on a full working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project (4 years total) if you perform well.

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 efficient 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;

Wageningen University & Research

The mission of our University is to explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life. 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, 6,500 employees, and 12,500 students, it is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. A coordinated approach to problems and the cooperation between various subject areas are at the heart of the outstanding approach of Wageningen. We have been named Best Employer in Education category 2019-2020.

Our team of the Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation (PEN) group investigates the processes that underlie healthy and resilient ecosystems. Biodiversity and ecosystems service delivery are key terms therein, and we seek to use our fundamental scientific knowledge to find sustainable solutions to conserve nature and biodiversity in a world where this is under threat. PEN is embedded in the department of Environmental Sciences (ESG) of Wageningen University & Research.