Introduction
Are you ready for the next step in your career? Do you want to become part of an enthusiastic group of colleagues, who seek to push the boundaries of environmental knowledge and teach in the highest graded educational programmes in the Netherlands? Do you have the right skills to lead and enhance the growth and direction of our Department? Then please apply to the vacancy for a Full Professor in Integrated Environmental Modelling at the Department of Environmental Sciences at the Open Universiteit.

What do we expect from you?
The successful candidate for this position has excellent qualifications in the realms of research, teaching and management. She/he is a renowned expert in the modelling of social-ecological systems, is well-published in this domain, and has experience with interdisciplinary collaboration. He/she is a leader in the debate about social-ecological system dynamics and has effectively used his/her skills to acquire research funding, set-up and direct teams which analyse social-ecological systems in an interdisciplinary setting, and translated their knowledge into teaching programs and courses. Theme wise, the successful candidate has addressed issues including -but not limited to- global biodiversity, resource efficiency, land-use change, life cycle assessment, the energy-water nexus, social metabolism, or climate change.

Tasks
We expect the chair holder to establish and initiate research fitting with the Department’s Research Programme “Learning and Innovation for Resilient Social-ecological Systems”. He/she will show leadership in research, and collaborate with the other chairs in the Department and with other departments of the OU. She/he is expected to have and maintain a strong publication record in refereed journals, to attract new research funding (EU, science foundations, internal funds), and to play an active role in the societal debate on environmental issues. She/he will be asked to contribute to the curriculum of the Bachelor and Master academic degree programmes offered by the department of Environmental Sciences. She/he will be asked to teach existing courses and to develop new visions for the programmes and new courses where appropriate, and to guide students in their MSc graduate research. Further duties will include important management tasks in the department (such as Department Chair, programme leader), representation of the department within and outside the OU, and liaising with civil society, governments and research institutions in the environmental field.

Candidates must meet the following criteria:

• A PhD- degree in the field of environmental sciences or similar;
• A strong academic profile in integrated environmental modelling, as demonstrated by an excellent publication record, successfully completed PhD project supervisions, and proven ability to attract external funding;
• An established record of successful interdisciplinary collaboration;
• Excellent teaching skills, and experience with the development of new academic programmes or courses in the field of environmental sciences;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and an ability to connect with researchers from different disciplines and inspire/ motivate them to work in joint projects;
• In possession of the Basic qualification for academic teaching (BKO) from a Dutch university, or similar.
• Management skills, with a willingness to take on leading roles in the Department (Department Head, Programme leader, etc.);
• A command of the Dutch language or willingness to learn it;

The successful candidate will get a permanent contract with a probationary period of 5 years. The salary will be determined on the basis of your experience and qualifications but will be in accordance with the general salary scale H2 of the CAO-NU. An indication of the maximum gross salary is € 8371.-  per month, for a full-time appointment.

The Open Universiteit provides good secondary benefits such as training, mobility, part-time employment and paid parental leave. Candidates from abroad might qualify for the 30% tax facility.

The Open Universiteit

The Open Universiteit: flexible studying anywhere in the Netherlands and (Belgium) Flanders

The Open Universiteit (OU) is the part-time university in the Netherlands. Students follow personalised and activating academic distance education and disciplinary research is carried out within the various fields of science. Students can complete bachelor and master programmes in seven fields of study. The characteristics of education are openness, flexibility and quality (see www.ou.nl/rankings). Much attention is paid to improving the study success of students. The OU has over 18,000 students and more than 700 employees. The OU has branches in the Netherlands and Belgium (see www.ou.nl/studiecentra). The main office is located in Heerlen.

The latest technologies and educational insights are applied both in the bachelor's and master's programmes and courses and in projects and programmes with partners. Nationally and internationally, the OU plays an important role in the innovation of higher education. Education is interwoven with research, which also ensures that the current state of science is incorporated. The OU invests not only in disciplinary research in eight scientific fields, but also in research in a multidisciplinary programme: Innovating for resilience.

Faculty of Science

Department

The Department of Environmental Sciences is part of the Faculty of Science at the Open Universiteit (OU) of the Netherlands. The Department embodies the commitments of the OU to excellence in the environmental sciences, science for impact, and lifelong learning in the sustainability domain. The Department brings together people working on integrated environmental modelling, sustainability learning, and environmental governance and has about 20 team members. The Department has long recognized that solutions to environmental problems require interdisciplinarity between various natural sciences, and with the social sciences. Reflecting this, the Department holds chairs in Integrated Environmental Modelling, the Environmental Natural Sciences, Education in Environmental Sciences, and it holds the longest standing Chair in Environmental Policy in the Netherlands. The Department of Environmental Sciences has a strong track record in research, as witnessed by its publication record in outstanding academic outlets and its acquisition of prestigious grants (NWO, EU, Marie Curie, INTERREG to name a few). The research of the Department aims to contribute to the understanding of socio-ecological systems, the development of solutions for environmental issues, and to the wider body of knowledge that helps societies to reach their sustainability goals. There is a close link between the research and the education programs of the Department – our students are actively encouraged to get involved in our research program, and in turn, our research helps us maintain the level and currency of our education programs to the benefit of these same students. The Department is constantly working on the development of new courses that reflect research advances.

Faculty of Science

The faculty of Science is one of the six faculties of the OU. Education, research and valorisation are the main tasks. The faculty offers academic bachelor and master programs in the fields of Environmental Sciences and Computer and Information Science. The faculty’s research program focuses on Learning and Innovation in Resilient Systems. Furthermore, the faculty is partner in the Center for Actionable Research of the Open Universiteit (CAROU). The faculty has a large number of Ph.D.-students who conduct research on various current topics within this research program. As a result of the interdisciplinary focus on education and research, as well as the close link with practice, work at our faculty provides many innovative and challenging opportunities for entrepreneurial researchers.