PhD candidate in "Narratives for the Energy Transition" (0.8 - 1.0 FTE)

The project
The transition towards a climate-neutral energy system demands for a fundamental shift in the energy resources we rely on. One of the key challenges faced by governments, energy companies, and network operators is to find support for the necessary transition: there is a clear discrepancy between the availability of energy transition solutions on the one hand, and the adoption of these solutions by the public on the other hand. This challenge is largely a communication problem: oftentimes the narratives that are used in persuasive energy communication do not align, leading to reactance and inaction. 

We are looking for a talented and motivated PhD researcher who is eager to work on this problem in a fully funded, 4-year project called “Narratives for the Energy Transition”. The goal of this project is threefold: 1. To assess the narratives that are currently used by governments, energy companies, and network operators to communicate about the energy transition; 2. To identify one or more shared narratives for this communication that resonate with all stakeholders involved, including the public; and 3. To establish and test these narratives in ready-to-use and scalable tools for accessible energy communication. 

The position is hosted by the Department of Communication and Cognition (Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences) and embedded in the university-wide Academic Collaborative Center on Climate and Energy (ACCCE) at Tilburg University, which also provides the funding for the project. The ACCCE brings together various disciplines across the university as well as societal partners to contribute with scientific knowledge and practical solutions to a socially just energy transition. Key to the position is close collaboration with both academic and societal partners of the ACCCE, bridging the gap between academia and practice. For the candidate, this offers a unique opportunity to combine high-level cutting-edge academic research with tangible societal impact, helping to shape a sustainable energy future. 

Are you passionate about sustainability, contributing to the energy transition, persuasion, and emerging tools for energy communication? Do you want to contribute to cutting-edge research, in close collaboration with governmental and industry partners, that will help shape the future of sustainable energy? Then we invite you to apply!

Your position
As a PhD student in this position, you will explore fundamental questions such as: 

• Do stakeholders in the energy transition share an understanding about what is at stake, do they agree about where responsibility lies, and how the problems are to be understood?
• What are the current narratives governments, energy companies, and network operators use in their communication about policies, solutions, and technologies for the energy transition? 
• To what extent do these communicative strategies align with each other, and, crucially, with those of the clients they serve? 
• Are there shared narratives for the energy transition that resonate with all parties involved, and what is the potential of these narratives for persuasive energy communication? 

A mixed-methods approach will be used to answer these questions. The project departs from content analyses of existing strategies used to communicate about the energy transition. Here the candidate will work with the partners of the ACCCE, such as the municipalities of Tilburg and Breda; the Province of Noord-Brabant; and network operators such as Alliander. The findings will be applied as input for interviews with representatives of these partners, as well as with their clients, to identify narratives that appeal to shared feelings and worldviews of all parties involved. The final stage of the project employs the identified shared narrative(s) in one or more emerging and scalable tools for accessible communication, such as interactive digital narratives, serious games, or personalised narratives generated by large language models. Such tools are developed in collaboration with selected stakeholders of the ACCCE and tested with their clients in field experiments for their impact on emotions, reactance, and persuasion.

Candidates for this position should have a (research) master’s degree in communication (and information) science, cognitive science, social psychology, culture studies, (applied) linguistics, media design, cultural anthropology, or comparable. In addition, the ideal candidate:

• Has expertise (or interest) in the energy transition, and sustainability in broader terms;
• Has experience with both qualitative (content analysis, interviews) and quantitative (field experiments) research methods;
• Is eager and able to collaborate with diverse stakeholders, to bridge connections between researchers and practitioners, and to switch from working with researchers to working with partners from practice;
• Communicates effectively, presenting ideas clearly with diverse audiences;
• Has excellent social and organizational skills;
• Has excellent written and oral communication skills in English and, preferably, also Dutch;
• Wants to contribute to Tilburg University’s dynamic research community on climate and energy.

We understand that no candidate will meet every single requirement. If you are excited about this position but do not tick every box, we still encourage you to apply. In your application, tell us not only about the qualifications you bring but also about the areas you are eager to develop further. International PhD’s with scholarships below the IND income standard (€1,564) are unfortunately not eligible for this vacancy.

Tilburg University offers excellent benefits in a pleasant working environment: 

• A position based on 1.0 fte (40 hours per week).
• A salary of minimum €2,901 and maximum €3,707 gross per month for full-time employment, based on UFO profile PhD Candidate and salary scale P.
• This is a vacancy for a PhD in accordance with Article 2.3 paragraph 8 sub b CLA DU. You will initially be given a temporary contract for the duration of 12 months, concluded by an evaluation. Upon a positive outcome of the first-year evaluation, the candidate will be offered an employment contract for an additional 3 years.
• Vacation pay of 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.
• Over 8 weeks of vacation leave.
• The opportunity to work partly on campus and partly from home with a home office allowance of €2 per day.
• Reimbursement for sustainable commuting: walking, cycling, and public transport.
• A monthly internet allowance of €25.
• An options model in which you exchange benefits for things such as additional leave, more pension, a bicycle or personal training at our Sports Center.
• Employees from abroad may be eligible for a tax-free allowance for extraterritorial expenses equal to 30% of taxable salary.
• A pension with ABP; the largest Dutch pension fund.Training in personal development, career development, leadership, education, and research. Or a language course at our Language Center. A work culture in which we embrace differences, everyone is welcome and given equal opportunities.
• A vibrant campus in green surroundings that is easily accessible by public transport. 

For more information, see our website and the CLA Dutch Universities. 

Tilburg University is an academic, inclusive, and engaged community. Together with nearly 3,000 employees, we are committed to broad prosperity, sustainably, and inclusion. For current and future generations. We develop and share knowledge for the requirements of people and our society. This is how we contribute to solving complex social issues and help society move forward.

We educate our 19,500 students of 110 nationalities to become responsible leaders with knowledge, skills, and character. With our education and research for broad prosperity, we exceedingly focus on themes such as mental and preventive care, an inclusive labor market, the energy transition, and digitalization.

About the department of Communication and Cognition
The Department of Communication and Cognition (DCC) conducts research into cognitive and social aspects of human communication through a multidisciplinary approach, combining careful experimentation with survey methods, corpus analyses and computational modeling. The research group consists of about 50 researchers covering a broad range of topics relevant for cognition and communication, and this includes a vibrant community of approximately 25 PhD students. Core research domains include communication and technology, cross-cultural communication, information visualisation, marketing and business communication, language production, and non-verbal communication, with a strong emphasis on digital methods and societally relevant research.

About the Academic Collaborative Center for Climate and Energy
Within Tilburg University, researchers from various disciplines collaborate on research related to climate and energy. Researchers do this together with governments, businesses, and civil society organizations in the Academic Collaborative Center for Climate and Energy. The Collaborative Center strives for long-term structural collaboration with all these parties to conduct research together with them, put it on the agenda, and translate it into interventions.