2 PhD Positions to Investigate Sustainability Experimentations in European Horticultural Greenhouses

Each PhD candidate will conduct a detailed ethnographic study in both the Netherlands and Spain. The PhDs will be based in the Netherlands and will conduct fieldwork in both countries to fully compare and contrast the sites and findings. The focus areas will be:

• PhD1: Multispecies Relations – studying the interactions between growers, pickers, researchers, plants, and non-human laborers, such as pollinator bees.
• PhD2: Greenhouse Digitalization – investigating how growers, researchers, and workers are adapting to or resisting ‘climate-intelligent agriculture,’ a recent iteration of sustainability.

Briefly, the VITALGREENHOUSE project aims to investigate greenhouses in both countries as sites embedded within a long history of human-environment relations, integrating questions of landscape exploitation, digitalization, mobilities, and human and non-human labor. The project seeks to generate new critical perspectives on planetary transformations and advance theoretical debates in critical infrastructure studies, multispecies relations, and decolonial thought.

Your Tasks

• Conduct ethnographic research on one of the following topics: multispecies relations (PhD1) or greenhouse digitalization (PhD2).
• Participate in a research team consisting of two PhD candidates, one postdoctoral researcher, and the Principal Investigator (PI). Your primary responsibility will be to develop and complete your PhD within the framework of the overall project, resulting in a doctoral dissertation to be defended at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam.
• Contribute to collaborative aspects of the project, including data collection for jointly written publications.
• Provide organizational support for team activities, such as workshops, meetings, and other project events, gaining valuable professional experience while working toward your PhD.
• Reside in Amsterdam (or within commuting distance) when not on fieldwork and actively participate in team meetings and the research environment at the Institute.

The following are essential:

• A Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field within the social sciences or humanities, such as Social and Cultural Anthropology, Human Geography, Political Ecology, or Environmental Humanities. The degree must be obtained by the time of application.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Familiarity with ethnographic research methods.
• Independent thinking and strong analytical skills.
• Strong collaboration skills and the ability to integrate into interdisciplinary academic communities.
• A commitment to academic integrity and transparency.
• The ability to complete the PhD thesis within four years; this includes strong planning, initiative, and academic writing skills.
• Availability to travel to Spain for fieldwork, preferably in the last quarter of 2025.

The following are desirable:

• Affinity with the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS).
• Previous practical experience in ethnographic research.
• Oral and written communication skills in Dutch and Spanish.
• A good understanding of AI (for PhD2).
• Commitment to or previous engagement with topics related to agricultural transitions, sustainability, political ecology, and multispecies ethnographies.

The Meertens Institute, together with the International Institute of Social History and the Huygens ING, is part of the KNAW Humanities Cluster. This is a partnership in which research in the humanities (history, ethnology, literature, linguistics) is carried out using advanced methods, in which computer science plays an important role. The Meertens Institute is a national institute for research and documentation of the Dutch language and culture, and language and culture in the Netherlands. It consists of the research groups Ethnology and Variational Linguistics, both of which hold leading positions in international research on everyday language and culture.