About the project
The postdoc will work on the SMARTEES project. The SMARTEES project is a Horizon 2020 project aimed at simulating a number of successful social innovations in the energy transition, and developing - together with people in the field - a “sandbox model” to experiment with strategies to stimulate societal change. 11 European partners will work together in this exciting project that will run for 3 years. We hope SMARTEES will make a difference in policy making, addressing the social forces that often are critical in reaching a tipping point towards change.

The research of the postdoc will be focusing at the modeling of human behaviour based on a number of empirical cases of successful community transitions. The consumat framework will be used as architecture for developing a simulated population for selected cases. Empirical data from other work packages will be implemented in the model to construct a valid and representative population. Simulation runs will have to be capable of replicating empirical cases. This will serve as a validation before using the simulation in a sandbox setting – developed in another work package - to test policies in new cases.
Whereas this is a research position, occasional participation in education and extra-curricular activities at UCG is expected.

UCG is looking for candidates with the following credentials:
- a (nearly completed) PhD
- experience in using social computational methods, in particular agent based modeling
- having an interest in social change towards sustainability
- programming skills
- experience in cross-disciplinary research
- preferably experience in working in interdisciplinary (research) teams
- proven fascination for the use of simulation models in supporting a transition towards a sustainable planet
- team player and good communicator
- excellent command of the English language and excellent writing skills.

Competences of a postdoctoral researcher:
• conceptual capacity and creativity
• social-environment orientation
• presenting and writing skills
• result orientation.

Fixed-term contract: 36 months.

The University of Groningen offers a salary dependent on qualifications and work experience of € 2,588 gross per month up to a maximum of € 4,084 (salary scale 10 Dutch Universities) gross per month for a full-time position. This position is defined according to the UFO function profile 'researcher 4'. The appointment is temporary for a period of 3 years.

Application
You may apply for this position until 1 March 23:59h / before 2 March 2018 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

We ask you to submit:
• a motivation letter
• your CV, including a list of academic output and the names and contact details of two referees
• a short note on which parts of the project you would be particularly interested in working on, and how this work would relate to previous work you have done.

Starting date preferably around May 2018

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

University College Groningen

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative centre of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Balanced study and career paths in a wide variety of disciplines encourage the 30,000 students and researchers to develop their own individual talents. Belonging to the best research universities in Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

The University College Groningen (UCG) is a faculty of the University of Groningen. The UCG community is internationally oriented, with staff and students from across the globe. UCG is primarily an educational faculty addressing global challenges from a multidisciplinary perspective. The GCSCS is being hosted by the UCG, and is connecting researchers from different faculties at the UG.