Postdoc: The renewable energy transition on farms

In the context of renewable energy production at the farm level, new innovations such as the production of electricity via agrivoltaics or through bio-methanation are practices with realistic and practical potential.

In the agricultural sector, the transition to more sustainable systems requires innovations and practices that enhance environmental conditions whilst improving the economic revenue of the farm. In the EU H2020 Value4Farm project (value4farm – Sustainable renewable energy value chains for answering farmers’ needs), an Audit tool will be developed for supporting and assisting farmers to select and take the best decisions about establishing and upscaling renewable energy production on their farms.

Building on the 3 pillars of sustainability, this Audit tool will help a farmer to evaluate the actual farm potential for renewable energy and provide insights into the key considerations requiring consideration for on-farm renewable energy production.

The audit tool will help a farmer to explore the possibility of producing electricity by implementing agrivoltaics, or via the production of biogas. This solution-oriented tool will have both qualitative and quantitative components, requiring the user to reflect on their own farm situation to provide an assessment for the production of renewable energy.

The Postdoc will help in the development and testing of the audit tool, working closely with an international team from the VALUE4FARM project.

The Postdoc will combine theoretical knowledge with qualitative and quantitative analysis, supported by wider team members. Alongside scientific social research, and multicriteria analysis, the postdoc will collaborate with partners to identify operational needs and elaborate the prototype of the audit tool.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• The co-development and testing of the audit tool
• Social and economic analysis of the implementation of the Audit tool

Your team
You will work with an international team from the VALUE4FARM project. Weekly meetings will take place with local partners of the project, and monthly meetings (mainly online) will be performed with partners abroad.

Independent, self-motivated, curiosity-driven mind, open to communicate and collaborate with peers and partners.

You also possess:

• A PhD in Agronomy, Environmental Engineering, or related areas
• Experience with agricultural practices, agrobusiness, energy production in the agro-sector.
• Strong experience on qualitative and quantitative analysis (multicriteria analysis).

Nice-to-have:

• Field experience, proven by previous studies and/or work
• Knowledge of the European context

In our international working environment there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position it is about language level C1 .

You will work here
In the EU VALUE4FARM Project. The local team is located at the Soil Physics and Land Management Group.

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

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• 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 year-end 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 € 3.546,- and € 5.538,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10). Additionally, a contract for 35 - 40 hours can be discussed. As for your contract, we initially offer a one-year contract that can be extended - if possible within (company) organizational circumstances - on good performance. Of course, we are happy to have a conversation with you if you have any questions about this.

Wageningen University & Research offers plenty of opportunities for growth and development, with a strong internal recruitment policy and excellent training programmes.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment. For 20 consecutive years, we have been voted the "best university" in the Netherlands! A place to be proud of.

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 the video below 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.