"PhD on impact-based climate forecasting for vulnerable population groups in Africa"

Job Description

Are you passionate about tackling climate-related challenges and empowering climate-affected communities in Africa? Do you want to pursue an interdisciplinary PhD research project with a real-world impact that supports the climate resilience of at-risk populations in five African countries? If so, an exciting job opportunity is waiting for you! We are looking for a pro-active, analytical and self-motivated PhD candidate to contribute to our understanding of advances, gaps and opportunities for impact-based forecasting for vulnerable population groups across Africa. You will work at the Earth Systems and Global Change group of Wageningen University and collaborate with researchers in Wageningen Environmental Research and colleagues at various other institutes. Your project will be embedded in the CLIMARES consortium.

About CLIMARES

CLIMARES is a consortium of researchers across Senegal, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Morocco, Mozambique, and the Netherlands. The project is supported by the Dutch research council (NWO) via the Research on Routes by Consortia (ORC) programme, Dutch Research Agenda (NWA). Our mission is to support at-risk populations—urban street vendors, fisherfolk, urban outdoor workers (street vendors in Mozambique and construction workers in Morocco), pastoralists, and displaced people—by transforming weather and climate data into actionable insights that enhance resilience and enable early adaptation.

Your Tasks

• Analyzing current advances, critical gaps, and opportunities in impact-based forecasting, with a focus on underrepresented population groups and hazard types.
• Developing and applying novel methodologies for identifying and quantifying under-researched climate-related hazards (e.g. for fisherfolk, urban outdoor workers, internally displaced persons, and pastoralists) as inputs to impact-based forecasting systems.
• Co-creating multi-hazard impact forecasting frameworks in close collaboration with local communities, practitioners, and decision-makers.
• Engaging in transdisciplinary research that integrates qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams at Wageningen University, Wageningen Environmental Research, and international partners within the CLIMARES consortium.

This position offers the opportunity to make a real-world impact by helping transform climate and weather data into actionable, locally relevant insights that strengthen resilience and enable early adaptation for at-risk communities.

You will work here

You will be embedded in the CLIMARES Consortium of PhDs and researchers, and participate in cohort-building activities, consortium meetings and trainings. In your daily work, you will be part of the Earth Systems and Global Change Group, a diverse, interdisciplinary team focused on contributing to a better understanding of the challenges and to pioneer actionable solutions; and the Climate Resilience Team at Wageningen Environmental Research.

Requirements

The candidate must have the following qualities: A completed MSc degree in environmental sciences, climate studies, earth sciences, hydrology, physical geography or a related field, with a strong quantitative and systems-thinking foundation. Proven experience or strong interest in working at the interface of climate science, vulnerability assessment, and early warning systems. Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary, multicultural research environment. Strong analytical skills, with experience in statistical analysis, geospatial data processing, or modelling of socio-environmental systems. Proven programming skills in Python, R, or a comparable language. Interest in developing methodologies to assess localized climate hazards, exposure, and vulnerability as inputs to impact-based forecasting systems. Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with sensitivity to working with communities in diverse African contexts. Familiarity with impact-based or anticipatory forecasting or climate adaptation in low-income or informal settings is an asset. Excellent scientific writing skills in English. Experience publishing in peer-reviewed journals is desirable. Willingness to travel to and collaborate closely with stakeholders and research partners in one or more of the CLIMARES countries (e.g. Senegal, Mozambique, Uganda, Morocco, DRC). You must also possess: For this position your command of the English language is expected to be at C1 level.

Conditions of employment

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include: Partially paid parental leave, Working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance, The option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, 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 8.3%, Excellent pension scheme. In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team. The gross salary for the first year is €3059 per month rising to €3881 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. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.