Job Description
PhD-position: Resilience of food systems; learning from Lighthouse Farm Communities in Colombia and four other countries.
Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is challenged by a myriad of threats and disruptions, including climate chaos, soil and land degradation, price volatility, supply chain disruptions, and pests & diseases. How can we support farmers and other actors in the food system to build resilience to future shocks into the core of their operations? A new approach has emerged that focuses on fostering resilience attributes, also referred to as the intrinsic resilience of food systems, categorized as “ABCD” – representing agency, buffers, connectivity, and diversity. How do these attributes operate, and at which level? How do they relate to sustainability and efficiency? Which resilience metrics can be used to scale the attributes to other communities and value chains?
We expect to learn about these questions from and with farming communities that have many years of experience anticipating and responding to disruptions. These communities have been identified through the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms (LHFs). This PhD position focuses on the LHF community in Colombia, with some flexibility to switch to (an)other community(ies) with similar characteristics.
The position is part of a cohort of in total five PhD positions, which are all part of INTRINSIC (Investigations, Narratives and Teachings on Resilience: Initiating Novel Scaling in an International Context). This is an interdisciplinary program involving five groups of the Wageningen University, five LHF communities (Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and Indonesia) and five development organisations (Gates Foundation, World Bank, GIZ, Rabo Partnerships and the Rwanga Foundation). INTRINSIC is a Wageningen Global Sustainability Program.
At the Wageningen University, this PhD position is embedded in the Business Economics group and the Soil Biology group. This collaboration illustrates the interdisciplinary nature of the program, as resilience attributes cannot be understood from a single domain perspective. As such, there will also be close collaboration with the other INTRINSIC PhDs – and their related groups: Food Quality Design, Soil Physics and Land Management, and Farming Systems Ecology. In Colombia, the PhD position is embedded in the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, Cali. The local project partner is Ecohabitat.
Description and objectives of the PhD project
Before development organisations worldwide can mainstream resilience attributes, more evidence is needed into how these attributes operate when shocks occur, how they relate to sustainability and efficiency, and which metrics can be used to measure their performance. This PhD project aims to assess resilience attributes in agri and food systems in Lighthouse Farm (LHF) communities in Colombia, and in four other countries. More specifically, the aim of the PhD project is to:
- Investigate context-specific resilience attributes for a diversity of threats and shocks, as well as the levels at which they operate, such as the farm, household, or community level. Outcomes provide insight into the operationalisation and performance of resilience attributes in the LHF community in Colombia. Findings also show how these attributes relate to efficiency and sustainability.
- Cross-cutting analyses across five LHF communities: Influence of shocks on ABCD resilience attributes. Through collaboration with the other PhDs in INTRINSIC, cross-cutting analyses are undertaken. Each PhD addresses a specific cross-cutting question. For this PhD project the cross-cutting question focuses on the influence of different types of threats and shocks on ABCD attributes.
- Design resilience metrics for multiple purposes across food systems. To scale resilience attributes to other communities, sectors and value chains, robust and harmonised resilience metrics are needed. Resilience metrics will be designed in close collaboration with stakeholders.
Work Location
The first 10 months of the PhD trajectory are in Wageningen. At Wageningen University, this PhD position is embedded in the Soil Biology group and the Business Economics group. You will be primarily affiliated with the Soil Biology group, where you will be supervised by senior scientist dr Mirjam Pulleman. She is also your main supervisor in Colombia as she is also a senior scientist at CIAT. The supervisory team is complemented by Prof. Miranda Meuwissen, professor in risk management and resilience, and principal researcher dr Hilde van den Hoorn, both from the Business Economics group. After the initial 10 months, you will go to Colombia for field work. In the final phase of the PhD trajectory, there is another period of 10 months in Wageningen.
Requirements
We are seeking an enthusiastic and results-driven candidate who meets the following criteria:
- A successfully completed MSc degree in: Agricultural or business economics, with an interest in agronomy/soil science and food systems; or Food system governance, with proven interest in sustainability and agronomy/soil science; or Biology, soil ecology or agronomy, with an interest in food system resilience.
- Strong teamwork skills for transdisciplinary co-creation and collaboration;
- Proficiency in both oral and written English (C1 level or equivalent);
- Analytical skills with experience and interest in designing new metrics;
- Regional knowledge (preferred): Experience with Colombian agri and food systems and affinity with field work in rural areas/communities.
Conditions of Employment
Fixed-term contract: 48 months. CAO WU (during 10 months in 1st year, and 10 months in 4th year). The gross salary for the first year is € 3.059,- per month rising to € 3.881,- in the fourth year according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. In Colombia, you will be appointed as a visiting researcher. The stipend is € 1380,- per month.
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