Post Doc: Integrating biodiversity data into spatial energy planning

The accelerating transition toward climate-neutral energy systems is reshaping landscapes and affecting biodiversity worldwide. Achieving net biodiversity gain while advancing renewable energy development is an urgent societal challenge. Do you want to help address this challenge and make real impact? Join us as a postdoctoral researcher!

Your job
The BIOGAIN project (Enabling biodiversity-positive transformation of energy planning towards climate neutrality), funded through the Biodiversa+ programme, brings together leading universities and research institutes from across Europe to identify pathways for biodiversity-positive energy planning.

As a postdoctoral researcher, you will focus on integrating biodiversity data and spatial optimisation methods into renewable energy planning. This involves exploring how advanced data on nature and biodiversity (derived from AI-supported monitoring and analysis of sources such as satellite imagery, acoustic sensors, and camera traps) can inform spatial planning and decision-making for solar and wind energy infrastructures. Working closely with European partners in ecology, data science, and planning, you will assess biodiversity data availability and develop methods to spatially identify areas of synergy and conflict between renewable energy and biodiversity objectives.

Your tasks and responsibilities are:

• identifying and analysing essential biodiversity indicators relevant for spatial energy planning across different European contexts;
• screening planning documents and data sources to assess how biodiversity information is currently quantified and integrated;
• evaluating additional baseline data and explore how AI-supported biodiversity monitoring can strengthen planning evidence and decision support;
• developing and applying spatial optimisation methods to identify areas of synergy and trade-off between renewable energy development and biodiversity objectives;
• collaborating with consortium partners working on ecology, data science, and governance to ensure methodological coherence and integration across work packages;
• engaging with policymakers, developers, and other stakeholders to make biodiversity data and spatial tools accessible and useful for planning practice;
• publishing scientific papers and contribute to transdisciplinary outputs, stakeholder workshops, and dissemination activities within the BIOGAIN consortium.

While the tasks in the BIOGAIN project have to be completed as outlined, you get the flexibility to emphasise your own research interests and strengths. We will provide you with the conditions and support to advance in your academic and/or professional career. Resources are secured for participation in multiple international conferences, interaction on site with stakeholders in the Netherlands and participating in project meetings on site with our European partner organisations.

• A 32 months postdoctoral position in an international, interdisciplinary consortium funded through Biodiversa+;
• a working week of 38 hours (1.0 FTE) and a gross monthly salary between €3,546 and €5,538 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 10 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;
• opportunities to contribute to both high-impact academic publications and policy-relevant outputs.

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.

A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Pathways to Sustainability. Sharing science, shaping tomorrow.

Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty of Geosciences is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Human Geography & Spatial Planning, Physical Geography, and Sustainable Development.

In particular you would be working for the Energy and Resources Section of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. The Copernicus Institute is a vibrant international research community that aims to help accelerate the transition to a sustainable society. We do this by developing excellent and relevant knowledge, collaborating with citizens, politicians, policymakers, NGOs and firms to learn from each other and influence decision-making, and by educating the change agents of the future.

For more information about this position, please contact Dr Luis Ramirez Camargo at l.e.ramirezcamargo@uu.nl or Dr Pita Verweij at p.a.verweij@uu.nl.

Please note that you will need to live and be registered in the Netherlands no later than shortly after the start of the contract. Applications from outside the Netherlands are very welcome—we are a highly international team—but you will need to relocate here for the duration of your contract.

Candidates for this vacancy will be recruited by Utrecht University.