Key Skills

Job Description

In this PhD position, you will develop integrated and innovative biodiversity monitoring and data analysis techniques to aid in the decision-making of businesses within the dairy sector for the benefit of biodiversity. Biodiversity recovery is essential to sustain resilient food systems, robust businesses and healthy societies. A transition to a more nature-inclusive dairy sector in the Netherlands would be pivotal to biodiversity recovery, because of its influence in shaping landscapes through land use and management, and because of its socio-economic relevance. To properly assess the suitability and effectiveness of key performance indicators and the effects of management practices on local biodiversity, it is crucial to monitor, for example, breeding birds, bats, insect communities and soil life (depending on the KPI). By adapting and developing biomonitoring techniques programmes at dairy farms that are in line with long-running or recently developed monitoring schemes, you will utilise the full potential of datasets and methods to quantify biodiversity gains resulting from nature-inclusive farming as well as the potential for further biodiversity recovery. Novel instruments such as DIOPSIS smart insect cameras, LED buckets and bat loggers generate huge amounts of biodiversity data from across the Netherlands and can be used to detect and identify biodiversity automatically. National schemes like the breeding bird monitoring project, the butterfly monitoring scheme and the dragon fly monitoring scheme (standardised and coordinated by NGOs such as Sovon and Dutch Butterfly Conservation, and powered by thousands of citizen scientists) generate standardised long-term trends based on thousands of plots around the country. You will design novel, integrated analyses to quantify the effects on biodiversity from existing and new data while accounting for factors such as observers' bias, weather and surrounding landscape configuration. In this project you will: Bring coherence across the diverse monitoring systems and KPI developed so far and adapt sets of KPI's suited to peat soils. Document the relationships between different nature-inclusive measures taken by heterogeneous farm types, and the different aspects of biodiversity and ecosystem services considered. The precise type of monitoring and the number and locations of monitoring points will be decided in collaboration with stakeholders. Further develop effective and integrated monitoring to guide decision-making in businesses and develop reward schemes. Your teaching load may be up to 10% of your working time. Would you like to learn more about what it’s like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate. Profile You have an MSc degree in Biology, Ecology, Environmental Sciences or a related discipline with an interest in social sciences. You have good communication and writing skills in both English and Dutch. You have designed scientific studies, and it would be advantageous if you have experience with writing scientific and non-scientific manuscripts for publication. You have an affinity for, and proven experience with, computer programming, statistical modelling and large datasets, and you know how to perform qualitative analyses based on quantitative data. You have an understanding of field work in practice, have a passion for biodiversity and are keen to absorb and share knowledge with others. You are a team player, eager to work on a truly interdisciplinary project. We offer We will give you a temporary employment contract (0.8 FTE 5- year contract - 1.0 FTE 4- year contract) of 1.5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract) or 3.5 years (5-year contract). You will receive a starting salary of €3,204 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €4,051 from the fourth year onwards (salary scale P). You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. Additional Employment Conditions Work and science require good employment practices. This is reflected in Radboud University's primary and secondary employment conditions. You can make arrangements for the best possible work-life balance with flexible working hours, various leave arrangements and working from home. You are also able to compose part of your employment conditions yourself, for example, exchange income for extra leave days and receive a reimbursement for your sports subscription. And of course, we offer a good pension plan. You are given plenty of room and responsibility to develop your talents and realise your ambitions. Therefore, we provide various training and development schemes. We are The Department of Ecology at Radboud University is a dynamic, collaborative and interdisciplinary team. We are a young and ambitious group of ecologists committed to preserving and promoting biodiversity and ecosystem health. Our department brings together aquatic and terrestrial ecologists who focus on plants, animals and microorganisms and their interactions in a changing world. We are dedicated to conducting timely and innovative research that addresses both scientific and societal challenges. Your research will be integrated into ongoing studies in biodiversity research and applied ecology, with opportunities to collaborate with colleagues across departments. Dr Eelke Jongejans will be one of the two main supervisors for the project. The Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES) is committed to equality of opportunity, fairness and inclusivity, striving to be a place where everyone feels respected and valued, and creativity and innovation are fostered and encouraged. We welcome applications from individuals of all genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities and backgrounds, and particularly encourage those from underrepresented groups to apply. SoortenNL is an umbrella for organisations that collect and interpret biodiversity data from surveys and large monitoring schemes carried out by citizen scientists. It is both a social network and an information landscape. Dr Sander Turnhout of SoortenNL will be the co-supervisor of this project. In this interdisciplinary research project (DECISION: Dairy and Ecology: Co-Innovating buSIness Operations for Nature) you will closely collaborate with three other PhD candidates and a postdoctoral researcher working in animal sciences and social sciences at Wageningen University and Erasmus University. The research consortium also includes agribusinesses, financial businesses, farmer associations and governmental organisations. Practical information and applying You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Eelke Jongejans. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application. We look forward to receiving your application. The first interviews will take place on Wednesday 2 December. Any second interview will take place on Monday 7 December. You will preferably start your employment on 15 January 2026. We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates.

Core Responsibilities

Develop integrated biodiversity monitoring and data-analysis methods to assess how nature-inclusive dairy farming practices affect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Coordinate monitoring systems and indicators, analyze existing and new datasets while accounting for sources of bias and environmental factors, and help develop monitoring approaches that support business decisions and reward schemes.

Requirements

Applicants must have an MSc in Biology, Ecology, Environmental Sciences, or a related discipline, with an interest in social sciences, and strong English and Dutch communication and writing skills. They should have experience or demonstrated ability in study design, programming, statistical modelling, large datasets, qualitative analysis, and practical fieldwork, as well as a passion for biodiversity and interdisciplinary teamwork.

Benefits

• Holiday Allowance
• End-Of-Year Bonus
• Additional Annual Leave
• Flexible Working Hours
• Leave Arrangements
• Work-From-Home Options
• Sports Subscription Reimbursement
• Pension Plan
• Training And Development Opportunities