PhD “Climate Change and Cooperation in Asia, 1945 to the Present"

This project studies cooperation as an adaptation tool to climate change, innovatively combining empirical methods from history and social psychology.

Your job
Around the world, climate risks facing agriculture have intensified in recent years. The capability of rural societies to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change hinges on their capacity for cooperation. This project studies the historical roots of cooperation in rural societies faced with climate uncertainty. In the post WWII period, rural societies in Asian countries underwent a dramatic transformation. The introduction of new agricultural technologies increased crop productivity and rural incomes. At the same time, these changes reshaped economic, political, and social power in rural communities. They also exposed farmers to new forms of climate risk, contributing to variation in cooperation and conflict. Focusing on local processes during this period allows us to trace when and why cooperation breaks down or endures, and to assess the consequences for sustainable development.

Through a comparative and long run study of rural Asia, the project will investigate interactions between climate, institutions and cooperative behaviour. This will involve the collection of archival data at the household or village level to understand how local conditions and cooperative behaviour changes over time and across regions or countries. The project will analyse the drivers of cooperation through historical analysis, with additional insight from the field of social psychology that helps to understand cooperation at an individual and group level. By clarifying when cooperation succeeds or fails in historically climate-vulnerable agricultural contexts, the project offers lessons for climate adaptation in other countries around the world.

We are looking for a team player who wants to play an active role in an inter- and transdisciplinary research community and training programme, who meets the following requirements:

• a MA/MSc degree in economic history; interest in, and ideally some familiarity with social psychology;
• interest in the topic of social cohesion and in collaborating in a broad research consortium with academic and non-academic stakeholders;
• strong interest in interdisciplinary research, including analytical and theoretical dimensions;
• professional competence in English;
• experience in working with historical sources;
• experience in applying quantitative and/or qualitative methods is a plus.

• a position (1.0 FTE) for 18 months, with an extension to a total of four years upon a successful assessment in the first year, and with the specific intent that it results in a doctorate within this period;
• a working week of 36 - 40 hours and a gross monthly salary between € 3,059.- and € 3,881.- in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P 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 also offers a range of its own schemes for employees. This includes arrangements for professional development, various types of leave, and options for sports and cultural activities. You can also tailor your employment conditions through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage you to keep investing in your personal and professional development. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

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This PhD project is part of the SOCION consortium. SOCION addresses a pressing challenge of our time: fragmentation in societies. Social cohesion is key to sustainable societies and citizens’ well-being. However, it is increasingly undermined by erosion and polarization between communities, groups and individuals. In this project, psychologists, historians, demographers, philosophers, and sociologists collaborate with civic organizations to generate and integrate insights into how connections between individuals, groups, and institutions contribute to new pathways to and forms of social cohesion. See https://socion-program.org/research/

For more information about this position, please contact (Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk) at (e.j.vannederveenmeerkerk@uu.nl).

Candidates for this vacancy will be recruited by Utrecht University.