Is your knowledge in the field of economic value chain performance or industrial organization, do you bring the necessary institutional and firm behaviour expertise and do you have an interest in applied scientific research in the agri-food sector?

We have seven expertise groups at Wageningen Economic Research. You will be working in the expertise group Consumer and Chain. This group has approximately 38 enthusiastic professionals working on agri-food value chain and consumers research projects. About half of these experts perform applied value chain research focusing on topics such as price forming and differentiation, true and fair pricing, value chain actor behaviour, market development, policy evaluations, value chain performance, and sustainability in Dutch, European, and international agri-food value chains. You will work together in projects with the value chain research experts from this group, but also with experts from other expertise groups at Wageningen Economic Research, with colleagues from the rest of WUR, and experts outside WUR.

The current scientific research themes of our expertise group are:

1. societal impacts of food production and true pricing (price differentiation);
2. behaviour of actors in agri-food value chains; including industrial organization, behavioural economics and application in decision support models (e.g., optimisation, simulation, agent based models);
3. prices and margins along the chain and the effects of structure and behaviour on economic performance of actors, and 'Fair pricing';
4. value chain analysis; including structure of the chain and contextual factors, behaviour of actors, and performance of value chains and functioning of markets;
5. market outlooks; projections of market demand and supply including policy impacts;
6. food waste and losses along the chain; socio-economic impacts and policy instruments to reduce food waste.

You will strengthen our team on the first two scientific research themes societal impacts of food production and behaviour of actors in agri-food value chains. We want to increase our knowledge and improve our quantitative research methods on these themes to improve our policy advice to governments, NGOs as well as companies. Research topics on societal impacts on food production include: What are the societal impacts of food production? How to quantitatively estimate these impacts? How can societal issues be included in prices (true price)? How can true pricing be applied to produce food more sustainable? Research topics on actor behaviour include: What kind of behaviour do value chain actors show and what decision do they take? Why do they do so? How to influence this behaviour? How to capture such behaviour in simulation and optimization models? Behaviour can be applied to all kinds of policy areas, such as economic performance, sustainability, food safety, and food waste.

As a quantitative economics researcher in value chain performance and industrial organization, your activities mainly concentrate on the following:

• you will work on multidisciplinary research projects in project teams varying in size from a few colleagues from within the organisation to larger teams of researchers from various national and international organisations (including universities and research institutes);
• you use quantitative methods and techniques, such as simulation and optimisation modelling, you generate quantitative insights based on market and supply chain data and knowledge;
• you contribute proactively to scientific knowledge development, to method and product innovation, and to scientific publications;
• you contribute to acquiring new research projects in which you can apply your expertise in national and international agri-food chains.

You have:

• a PhD degree in Quantitative Economics, more specifically in Industrial Organisation; knowledge about institutional economics, (societal) cost benefit analysis, or behavioural economics is a pre;
• proven knowledge of the agri-food sector or affinity with this sector;
• proven expertise in quantitative modelling such as simulation or optimization models;
• scientific publications on one of the mentioned content themes;
• experience in working in multidisciplinary teams and you are a team player;
• a starting (international) network within knowledge environment, universities and research institutions.

In addition, you identify yourself with the following competences:

• personal leadership; you show ownership and take initiative;
• communication skills: you have strong communication skills, both verbal and written, in Dutch and English.

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

• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• sabbatical leave, study leave, and paid parental leave;
• 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 December bonus of 3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. We offer, depending on your experience, a competitive salary of between €3.336,- and €5.183,- for a full-time working week of 36 hours, in accordance with the CLA Wageningen Research (scale 11). If you do not yet fully meet the job requirements, starting scale 10 may apply. Additionally, a contract for 0,8 FTE can be discussed.

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a multi-faceted position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

Coming from abroad
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. Applicants from abroad moving to the Netherlands may qualify for a special tax relief, known as the 30% ruling. 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 and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling, and other issues.

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University and 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, 6.500 employees and 12.500 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen's unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.
For more information about Wageningen Economic Research, please visit our webpage.

These are the points our employees list as good reasons to come work at WUR: read the 5 reasons to come work at WUR

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.