The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) with its 1,100 employees has gained an excellent reputation as an international competence centre for environmental sciences. We are part of the largest scientific organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz association. Our mission: Our research seeks to find a balance between social development and the long-term protection of our natural resources.
The jobThe UFZ will establish a Graduate School within its Research Unit “Environment and Society” on the topic: “Governance Monitor – Tracking and assessing governance narratives for sustainability transformations” The Graduate School consists of four PhD researchers. They will participate in a structured training program that facilitates integration and exchange among the different projects involved as well as within the larger UFZ research context. The PhD projects will develop a scientific basis for the comprehensive, long-term monitoring of political developments related to complex environmental issues, including the governance of bioeconomy, chemicals in the circular economy, and climate extremes. The advertised position is part of this Graduate School.
Your tasksThe successful candidate will collect and further develop approaches and methods for the long-term tracking of environmental governance narratives to assess how policies promote or hinder societal sustainability transformations. In particular, the candidate will collect theoretical and methodological approaches that allow a long-term tracking and evaluation of narratives within and beyond single policy fields. This collection will be based on literature review, scholarly expert interviews, as well as close exchange with the other PhD candidates in the Graduate School. The aim of the PhD project is to propose a theoretical heuristic with accompanying methods and data protocols to be used for a long-term tracking and assessment of narratives. In order to meet these project aims, the successful candidate will:
The following experience is beneficial:
Experience within one or more of the fields of research: circular economy, bioeconomy, climate extremes.