The Rural Sociology Group (RSO) of Wageningen University is looking for a Research Assistant to work on the review of literature of social inclusion, vulnerabilities and capabilities in rural areas in Europe. This research, conducted with eleven scientific European partner-institutes is part of a joint 4-year EU-funded project (SERIGO) which started January 1st, 2024. The main objective of SERIGO is to produce evidence-based theoretical and practicable knowledge on how the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) can support resilience, social inclusion, and good life in European rural areas.

The position is for 11,5 months at 0.7 FTE. The research assistant will be based at the RSO group, Hollandseweg 1, Wageningen.

In this exciting research position :

• You will contribute to reviewing academic studies, policy studies, and project reports into drivers of social in- and exclusion in rural areas in Europe, elaborating on what defines the vulnerabilities and capabilities and supports social innovation.
• You will help us to keep track of the reviews done by our partners in the wider SERIGO project on other bodies of knowledge and to synthesise the results.
• You will help inventory and review relevant policy documents on rural development and assist in interviewing stakeholders.
• You will work as part of a small RSO-based team to translate the insights into an accessible report.
• There are opportunities to develop the work into an academic article.
• Probably (based on possibly changing timelines in the SERIGO project), you will be involved in collecting data on social innovation on the countryside, by means of two case studies in the Netherlands.

A more detailed profile of the Rural Sociology Group can be found in its 75th Anniversary book ‘On meaningful diversity: past, present and future of Wageningen rural sociology’.

You will work here
The Rural Sociology Group is embedded in the sub-department Space, Place & Society (SPS) together with two other chair groups: Health & Society (HSO) and Sociology of Development and Change (SDC). Within SPS the groups share administrative support and collaborate in education. Together with the Cultural Geography group the sub-department Space, Place and Society has founded the Centre for Space, Place and Society (CSPS), which aims to advance critical-constructive scholarship within the social sciences with a particular focus on issues of socio-spatial inequalities and social and environmental justice. Within the CSPS the chair groups participate in research and PhD supervision and training.

You will be supervised by Jolien Klok and prof.dr.ir Bettina Bock.

You have:

• a passion for inclusive rural areas;
• a BSc (ideally an MSc) in a social science discipline (e.g. rural sociology, cultural geography) and knowledge of rural development literature;
• experience in conducting literature reviews;
• strong analytical and communication skills, ability to process complex information and translate it into accessible and usable formats;
• experience in conducting empirical research is a pre;
• fluency in Dutch and English is required, for this position it is about language level C1 in both languages.

If you do not yet have this level, we will of course help you and you can go to our language center Wageningen in'to Language.

You can see that there are plenty of challenges ahead of you. These challenges can also be seen as development opportunities. So if you do not yet have the track-record required in the vacancy, but do have solid work experience, we would also like to invite you to apply.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 3.072 and € 4.103 for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 8 ).

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University & Research is “To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”. Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With its roughly 30 branches, 7,600 employees (6,700 fte) and 13,100 students and over 150,000 participants to WUR’s Life Long Learning, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. The unique Wageningen approach lies in its integrated approach to issues and the collaboration between different disciplines.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.