15 Postdoc positions - 5 Postdoc positions for the hub Deep Decarbonization: Towards Industry with Negative Emissions

Within Utrecht University’s strategic theme Pathways to Sustainability an interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed the impact-oriented research programme ‘Deep Decarbonization: Towards Industry with Negative Emissions’. In this programme, a broad group of researchers (spanning renewable energy systems, physics, chemistry, geology, climate policies, innovation studies, governance, economics and law) will be working together with an equally broad group from industry, government and civil society, to generate new concepts to support the radical transformation of industry needed for our society to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement. The sustainable energy transition is well underway and gathering pace as far as electric renewables and electrification are concerned. However, it is still unclear how Industry will deal with carbon for fuel and feedstock, when total CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions must be brought down to zero around mid-century to meet the Paris target. It might well be necessary for industry to have effectively negative emissions, to offset unavoidable emissions in other sectors. Against the backdrop of an evolving landscape of existing and new technical options, society has to create the conditions under which the required investment decisions can be made now. This involves creating positive visions new infrastructure, regulatory frameworks and governance structures that help industry to deal with technical uncertainty and non-technical risk that otherwise holds back investment.

In the Deep Decarbonization Hub, we aim to collaboratively develop a shared understanding of industrial transformation that actively supports the energy transition in industry. The focus will be on the Netherlands. This regional specificity is crucial to answer the central question of industry transformation. But as an open and industrialized economy, the results will have relevance for industry transitions globally.

How to achieve this transformation in the decades to come is the research challenge that this Hub takes on. The key research question is: How can industry transform, and how can companies, government ans other stakeholders act on their shared responsibility so that the Netherlands meets the Paris climate agreement? The hub pursues three research lines to answer this overarching question:

(1) Biofuels with Negative Emissions (BFNE): (a) What are the current and future prospects for second-generation biofuel and negative emission technologies in the Netherlands? What are the corresponding scientific, technological and economic challenges? How will future technologies improve and maximize the sustainable use of biomass compared to current biofuels production, distribution, and consumption? (b) What are plausible and sustainable future visions for the introduction, regulation and governance of second-generation biofuels in the Netherlands that may also require biomass in combination with CCS for negative emissions (BECCS)? (c) What strategies can be implemented for responsible and sustainable innovation in this domain as part of a broad strategy of biomass use in the Netherlands to achieve the sustainable visions in line with the Dutch commitment to the Paris Agreement?

(2) Subsurface Resources for Negative Emissions (SRNE): (a) What are the current and future capabilities for of subsurface carbon trapping, energy storage and subsurface catalytic/chemical processing in the Netherlands, what are the corresponding economic, legal, and governance drivers, and how sustainable are current practices? (b) What are plausible and sustainable future visions for such subsurface activities and their corresponding economic, legal, and governance drivers, in the Netherlands (in line with the Paris climate agreement)? (c) What strategies can be implemented for responsible and sustainable innovation, i.e., for transformative use of the subsurface for carbon trapping, energy storage and industrial processing to help achieve the Dutch commitment to the Paris Agreement?

(3) Industry in Transition (IiT): (a) What is the current state of industry in the Netherlands regarding energy use and GHG emissions as well as economic, legal, and governance drivers? (b) What are plausible and sustainable visions that sets the Dutch industry on a pathway to radically reduced and ultimately negative emissions based on implementation of existing as well as new technologies, including those explored under research lines (1) and (2). (c) What are the corresponding economic, legal, and governance drivers? (d) What are strategies to transition the Dutch industry to achieve the sustainable visions in line with the Dutch commitment to the Paris agreement?

The hub brings together the a broad spectrum of disciplinary expertise with system-analytical and transformational knowledge of researchers at Utrecht University and works closely together with stakeholders. It will explore novel ways to share, validate, and co-create knowledge using transdisciplinary approaches. The hub intends to look across sectoral and oFTEn ‘siloed’ energy technologies within specific industrial settings in the Netherlands. The hub develops and explores pathways to sustainability and will engage with various industries in the Netherlands.

We invite applications from candidates whose previous research activities and publication record reflect a strong interest and/or proven expertise in conducting transdisciplinary research on sustainability transitions in energy and industry. We look for candidates who are able to not only analyze sustainability transitions, but are also able to generate actionable knowledge and inspiring perspectives that practitioners can use and apply in their sustainability transition efforts within industry.

 
“SRNE: Subsurface Resources for Negative Emissions” (1.0 FTE, Faculty of Geosciences) 
This research requires a PhD in the area of earth materials, chemistry and catalysis or geochemistry as well as inter/transdisciplinary experience or interests. Close collaboration with the other postdoctoral researchers and hub participants is required in order to integrate the research findings to achieve the overall project objectives. Contact: Prof. Chris Spiers, Department of Earth Sciences, Prof. Krijn de Jong, Debye Institute forNanomaterials Science, Prof. Ernst Worrell, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.

The postdoctoral researcher will analyse current and new concepts for subsurface use, ranging from subsurface carbon trapping and energy storage to subsurface synthesis of biofuels, and deep solution-mining to produce mineral resources and carbon-trapping geo-polymers. The main research activities are: (a) current state analysis and sustainability assessment of the prospects of the portfolio of technologies for future subsurface resource use in aid of the industry transition; (b) apply the results to support the Hub’s sustainability visioning and strategy development for responsible and sustainable innovation.

IiT-1: “Industry in Transition – Economics of uncertainty in Sustainability Visions” (1.0 FTE, Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance)
The postdoctoral researcher will develop a small set of plausible sustainable and societally-acceptable future visions for Industry with Negative Emissions in the Netherlands. These visions should account for the societal and economic conditions required to enable that sustainable future state. These sustainability visions can be compared and contrasted with non-intervention scenarios generated by established quantitative models, that represent the industrial structure and energy system in the Netherlands.

The preferred candidate for this position has a PhD in energy systems analysis or energy economics with proven interest in futuring. An interest and some background in corporate finance and investment decision making is appreciated. In addition to quantitative analysis, the researcher will also work on ways to communicate future scenarios and visions in more appealing, tangible and imaginative ways. The research will therefore be conducted in close collaboration with colleagues from different disciplines and stakeholders from industry, government and civil society. The researcher will support Positions 1 and 2 in their visioning research efforts. Close collaboration with the other IiT postdoctoral researchers (IiT-2) and hub participants is required in order to integrate the research findings for achieving the overall project objectives outlined above. Contact: Dr. Mark Sanders, Utrecht University School of Economics, Prof. Gert Jan Kramer, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.    

IiT-2: “Industry in Transition – Creating Sustainability Visions” (1.0 FTE, Faculty of Geosciences)
The postdoctoral researcher will design, structure and implement an engagement process to generate a number of robust visions of positive futures for the deep decarbonization of industries in the Netherlands. The researcher engages stakeholders in a process of coalition building that is needed to realize a transition towards industries that are economically vital, ecologically sustainable and societally just and beneficial. The sustainability visioning process will combine knowledge developed by the other post-docs in the hub, knowledge from other hub researchers and external stakeholders, with a design orientation and process that visualizes and narrates possible futures in order to support sustainability solutions implementation and impact. This position is open to researchers with a background and experience in creating and delivering engaging futuring processes and with a well-developed capacity to engage diverse stakeholders and draw together their quantitative, economic and technical knowledge. The researcher will work with designers and others on ways to visualize visions of positive futures in tangible, imaginative and salient ways. This research and engagement process will be conducted in close collaboration with colleagues from different disciplines and stakeholders from industry, pioneering companies, government and civil society. The researcher will support the other hub postdocs positions in their visioning research efforts. Close collaboration with the other postdoctoral researchers and hub participants is required in order to integrate the research findings for achieving the overall project objectives outlined above. Contact: Prof. Gert Jan Kramer, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Dr. Jesse Hoffman, Urban Futures Studio.

IiT-3: “Industry in Transition – Sustainability Transition Strategies” (1.0 FTE, Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance)
The postdoctoral researcher will conduct research on developing and exploring effective transition strategies for the industrial sector of the Netherlands. To this end, the researcher will investigate the multilevel governance challenges involved in making the energy transition in the Dutch industry happen and on how to overcome these challenges. The researcher will identify what global, regional, national and local governance entities can and should act, with explicit emphasis on the legal competencies, the design of the necessary regulatory framework and the instruments available or to be developed, in order to reach the sustainability visions (see Position 3).
In this process, the researcher will specifically account for how to govern the corporations’ use of emerging and existing technologies related to BFNE and SRNE (see Positions 1 and 2). Additionally, the researcher will consider the global reach of industrial value chains and the corporate governance of multinational industries as well as global competition and industry dynamics. The result of this research is an evidence-supported effective transition pathway where different governance actors and entities at different levels cooperate to foster the transition.This position requires a legal or governance science background and prior experience in working across disciplines as a boundary spanner. Research will be conducted in close collaboration with colleagues from different disciplines and stakeholders from industry, government and civil society. The researcher will support Positions 1 and 2 in their transition strategy research efforts. Close collaboration with the other postdoctoral researchers and hub participants is required in order to integrate the research findings for achieving the overall project objectives outlined above. In view of the focus of the research on legal and governance aspects in the Nederlands, a good command of Dutch is required. Contact: Prof. Marleen van Rijswick, Utrecht Centre for Water Oceans and Sustainability Law, Prof. Gert Jan Kramer, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.

Employment conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch Universities. We offer five positions (0.8 – 1.0 FTE) for a period of 24 months, starting in September 2018 or as soon as possible thereafter. We intend to extend the positions up to 42 months subject to good performance and to the acquisition of additional funding. The gross monthly salary is based on experience and qualifications, and ranges from a minimum of €2,984 to a maximum of €4,757 on a full-time basis (salary scale 10 -11). The salary is supplemented by a holiday allowance of 8% per year and a year-end bonus of 8.3%.

We offer a pension scheme, collective insurance schemes and flexible employment conditions (multiple choice model). Facilities for sports and childcare are available on our campus, which is only 15 minutes away from the historical city centre of Utrecht. More information is available at: 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 societal themes and the university is committed to a strategic orientation on four overarching themes Pathways to Sustainability; Institutions for Open Societies; Dynamics of Youth; Life Sciences.

Utrecht University has been ranked first nationally in the 2017 Academic Ranking of World Universities, and 47th globally. The city of Utrecht is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, with a charming old city centre and an internationally oriented culture that is strongly influenced by its century-old university. Utrecht city has been consistently ranked as one of the most livable cities in the Netherlands.

More information on the research approach of the hub can be obtained from Gert Jan Kramer.

To apply you can click one of the buttons below. If you are interested in more than one of these positions you will need to apply for each position individually. Please provide:

• a letter of application which describes your motivation and qualifications;
• a one-page document stating how your academic expertise and ideas and also your previous experience in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary sustainability research could contribute to the research hub;
• your curriculum vitae and a list of publications;
• a one-page document listing your teaching expertise;
• the names and addresses of two referees

1. “BFNE: Biofuels with Negative Emissions” (1 FTE, 24-42 months) – apply here
2. “SRNE: Subsurface Resources for Negative Emisssions” (1 FTE, 24-42 months) - apply here
3. “IiT-1: Industry in Transition – Sustainability Visions” (1 FTE, 24-42 months) - apply here
4. “IiT-2: Industry in Transition – Sustainibility Visions” (1 FTE, 24-42 months) - apply here
5. “IiT-3: Industry in Transition – Sustainability Transition Strategies” (1 FTE, 24-42 months) - apply here

The application deadline is: 21 June 2018