Postdoc in Climate & Conflict Studies – CLIMCON

The Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning at Utrecht University is looking for a two-year postdoctoral researcher for the NWO-funded project 'Centring Armed Organizations in the Climate-Conflict Nexus' (CLIMCON).

Your job
The CLIMCON project aims to generate new insights into the multidirectional links between climate change and armed conflict. Comparing two areas of protracted armed conflict in the borderlands between DRC, Burundi and Uganda, CLIMCON will examine how the emerging effects of climate change shape processes of armed mobilisation and how armed conflict in turn shapes vulnerability to climate change. To capture these interacting processes, it will focus on armed organisations and their supporters, including elites.

You will be part of a research team consisting of two PhD candidates and the Principal Investigator Judith Verweijen. Your main role will be to develop and conduct research exploring local perceptions and experiences of climate change, armed conflict and their interactions, including through participatory mapping. You will also contribute to developing and executing research on the effects of climate change on armed organisations and their supporters.

This includes:

• developing and refining, together with the PI, the research instruments;
• conducting and overseeing fieldwork in eastern DRC, Burundi and Uganda;
• (co-)authoring publications based on the field research.

• A position for two years, starting ideally on 1 August 2025;
• a working week of 32 hours and a gross monthly salary between €3,378 and €5,331 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 10 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU));
• 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus;
• a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University has a number of schemes and facilities of its own for employees. This includes schemes facilitating professional development, leave schemes and schemes for sports and cultural activities, as well as discounts on software and other IT products. We also offer access to additional employee benefits through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage our employees to continue to invest in their growth. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

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Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty of Geosciences is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Human Geography & Spatial Planning, Physical Geography, and Sustainable Development.