Postdoc position: Strengthening One Health governance

Are you motivated to improve the way societies govern complex human, animal and environmental health challenges? Do you enjoy working across disciplines, engaging with diverse partners, and translating research into actionable strategies for policymakers? Are you excited by the prospect of performing a mixed-methods study on evaluating One Health surveillance systems, governance, and law in real-world settings?

The ‘One Health’ approach recognizes the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health. Creating a supportive governance and regulatory environment—spanning institutional structures, policies, and legal frameworks—is essential for making this approach work in practice. This project aims to accelerate the regulatory, policy and societal adoption of One Health by refining assessment tools for policymakers and stipulating pathways for strengthening the surveillance systems, governance, policy, and legal conditions needed for the control of zoonotic and antimicrobial diseases in different country settings, with a specific focus on biocide impacts on antimicrobial resistance in One Health settings.

Tasks
Your project consists of two interrelated tasks. Firstly, in the context of the BIORESIST project, the postdoc will review biocide regulation for the prevention of zoonotic diseases (i.e., poultry diseases) in selected countries, analyse relevant policy frameworks, and carry out semi-structured interviews with stakeholders including in national reference laboratories, local farmers, veterinarians, and policymakers.

Secondly, in the context of the ERRAZE project, the postdoc will evaluate a WUR prototype One Health policy screening tool on the usability, scalability and adoptability of One Health policies by decision-makers, and expanding the regulatory dimension and utility of the tool at different governmental levels.

In the context of these two assignments, you will play a key role in advising national governments - some already pioneering with a National One Health Strategy on implementation and compliance conditions for One Health - at county-level. This includes mapping governance gaps, advising on policy and regulatory reforms, and co-creating with local partners a roadmap for improving zoonotic and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance systems, governance structures, funding streams, institutional coordination, and multistakeholder and farmer engagement and self-sustaining capacity for societal resilience.

This work requires both analytical and qualitative research skills, policy analysis experience, and experience working in different One Health settings abroad.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Contribute to the BIORESIST study by evaluating biocide regulations to prevent biocide resistance, zoonotic diseases and anti-microbial resistance.
• Contribute to the ERRAZE study by evaluating and reporting on the prototype One Health policy screening tool through testing and stakeholder engagement.
• Collaborate with, and formulate advice to international partner country governments, policymakers, and user organizations to co-develop actionable knowledge on conditions for the formation, adoption, implementation of One health policies and regulations as well as societal resilience and self-sustaining capacity within and across country contexts.
• Based on this work, prepare two papers for publication.

Your team

Health & Society (HSO) Group
The Health and Society group is embedded in widening circles of engagement with the major challenges facing human and planetary health today. HSO studies the domain of people, places, policies, or the planet more broadly, engaging with these domains with the aim to improve health and society. The chairgroup HSO focuses on the sociological study of public health, health promotion and health protection, in both resource poor and research rich contexts, with emphasis on (1) the social, natural and built environment, and (2) the role of actors and social institutions in advancing health and wellbeing.

You will work here
Because of the interdisciplinary character of the project, the Postdoc will be embedded within the Healthy and Society Group, and you will collaborate with the Law Group. You will have access to a vibrant interdisciplinary research community and opportunities for professional development through workshops, conferences, and collaborations. Due to the short-term nature of the contract, we will only consider applications of candidates that are already based in the Netherlands.

This position is part of the Academic Career Framework (ACF) at Wageningen University & Research.

This project bridges multiple social science disciplines, including public health, sociology, law, and public administration. You are not expected to be an expert in all these fields, but you should have wide intellectual curiosity and a strong methodological skills set, the ability to navigate across disciplines, and enthusiasm for cross-sector collaboration. There is space to shape the research to your interests, so creativity and initiative are essential. There might be opportunity for travel, so the candidate should be willing to travel.

You also possess:

• A completed PhD in public health, public policy, sociology, development studies, law, or a related discipline with a special focus on human, animal and/or environmental health;
• Demonstrated expertise in mixed-method research designs, including qualitative research methods (e.g., conducting interviews, document analysis, stakeholder mapping, thematic content analysis); experience with regulatory and governance analysis is essential. Fluency in Atlas.ti is an asset.
• Netherlands-based residency
• You have a strong interest in the intersection between One Health, governance of zoonotic disease prevention, AMR/biocide regulation on the one hand, and regulatory and governance systems as well as societal engagement and capacity on the other hand.
• Experience working with stakeholders, preferably with experience abroad, or enthusiasm to build such networks
• Excellent communication skills, an open and collaborative attitude, and the ability to work independently
• Scientific track record in publications.
• Willingness for international travel for fieldwork and partner collaboration.

Proficiency in English is required, Dutch is an asset. In our international working environment there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position your command of the English language is expected to be at language level C1 .

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 € 3546,- and € 6.433,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10/11). This is an appointment with a maximum of 0.7 FTE. We initially offer a one-year contract that, if possible within the (economic) organizational circumstances, can be extended by 14 months based on satisfactory performance. The total duration of the appointment will then be a maximum of 26 months.

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.

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.

Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees.

Because we expect you to work and live in the Netherlands our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.

Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, our Welcome Center can assist you with any additional advice and information about for example housing, opening a bank account, dual career programs or schooling. Finally, certain categories of international staff may be eligible for a tax exemption on a part of their salary during the first five years in the Netherlands.