PhD Local and Regional Collaborative Governance for Just

Would you like to help local and regional authorities to confront the challenges of realizing just climate resilience with your research?

Job description

This transdisciplinary PhD position focuses on assessing and identifying the key indicators for shaping just and effective climate resilience while working with local and regional goverance stakeholders in five pilot cities across the EU. The work will be a part of the Horizon Europe project Just Climate Resilience through Enhanced Adaptation and Capacity Harnessing (JustREACH).

The objective of JustREACH is to enable these local and regional authorities to overcome capacity limitations with: 1) easy-to-use, impact assessment tools that account for social justice, economic and environmental well-being (based on a framework designed to account for novel just resilience indicators, 2) a webtool which retrieves and integrates tailored information for their specific region across multiple existing knowledge hubs, 3) showing, not telling, how tools can be used in real-life decision-making settings through a transformative training program, and 4) Helping local and regional authorities to explore new ways (i.e., with social learning videos) to mobilize their constituents – ensuring a just outcome for all.

JustREACH will co-design and test outputs with five pilot regions that are also consortium practice partners, all of whom are Mission Charter Signatories for climate adaptation. JustREACH partners also represent countries with regions receiving the Cohesion Fund (Greece, Croatia, Hungary) and the Just Transition Fund (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Greece, France, Ireland, the Netherlands). The project consists of an experienced interdisciplinary consortium who are topic experts in their field related to adaptation and regional development from the fields of economics, sociology, urban studies, policy analysis and design, computational sciences, geography, simulation modeling, and critical sustainability studies.

The primary focus of this transdisciplinary 4-year PhD position in the context of the project will include, but not limited to, the following tasks:

Year 1, Contribute to a systematic scientific literature review on assessment approaches to climate justice, climate resilience and maladaptation (in collaboration with the Budapest University of Technology and Economics), Contribute to planning workshops for pilot sites and preparing stakeholder analysis of pilot sites, Assess barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation and regional innovation measures for each of the pilot sites.

Year 2 – Observation and assessment of workshops for pilot sites, incorporate feedback regarding barriers and opportunities from workshop participants with project partners developing a LLM tool meant to support complex decision making for local and regional authorities, Analyze potential indicators for just resilience for different stakeholder groups across pilot sites.

Year 3 – Create a systems map of barriers and opportunities.

Year 4 – Assess implementation guides for just resilience.

While working on their own research, the PhD candidate will be joining the general assembly meetings taking place every 6 months and will be working complementarily with another PhD based at TUD working on the same project (focused on agent-based modeling).

Job requirements

A candidate should ideally have:

A master's degree in policy, environmental sciences, sustainable development or another field that provides domain knowledge in the field of coupled social-environmental systems, climate change adaptation or global environmental change.

Previous experience with carrying out transdisciplinary, participatory, action or other related research approaches.

Completed a well-written master's thesis which demonstrates comfort with conceptual abstraction as well as practical application of scientific knowledge.

Experience with qualitative (i.e., ethnography, participatory observation, text analysis, interviewing, etc) and/or quantitative case study analysis (ie, quantitative comparison analysis), and/or other mixed methods approaches.

Experience with using LLMs is a plus.

Excellent written and spoken command of English (C2 or above). For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements:

TU Delft

Delft University of Technology is built on strong foundations. As creators of the world-famous Dutch waterworks and pioneers in biotech, TU Delft is a top international university combining science, engineering and design. It delivers world class results in education, research and innovation to address challenges in the areas of energy, climate, mobility, health and digital society. For generations, our engineers have proven to be entrepreneurial problem-solvers, both in business and in a social context.

At TU Delft we embrace diversity as one of our core values and we actively engage to be a university where you feel at home and can flourish. We value different perspectives and qualities. We believe this makes our work more innovative, the TU Delft community more vibrant and the world more just. Together, we imagine, invent and create solutions using technology to have a positive impact on a global scale. That is why we invite you to apply. Your application will receive fair consideration.

Challenge. Change. Impact!

Faculty Technology, Policy and Management

The Faculty of TPM provides an important contribution to solving complex technical-social issues, such as energy transition, mobility, digitalisation, water management and (cyber) security. TPM does this with its excellent education and research at the intersection of technology, society and policy. We combine insights from both engineering and social sciences as well as the humanities. TPM develops robust models and designs, is internationally oriented and has an extensive network of knowledge institutions, companies, social organisations and governments.

Click here to go to the website of the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management.

Conditions of employment

Doctoral candidates will be offered a 4-year period of employment in principle, but in the form of 2 employment contracts. An initial 1,5 year contract with an official go/no go progress assessment within 15 months. Followed by an additional contract for the remaining 2,5 years assuming everything goes well and performance requirements are met.

Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, increasing from €2901 per month in the first year to €3707 in the fourth year. As a PhD candidate you will be enrolled in the TU Delft Graduate School. The TU Delft Graduate School provides an inspiring research environment with an excellent team of supervisors, academic staff and a mentor. The Doctoral Education Programme is aimed at developing your transferable, discipline-related and research skills.

The TU Delft offers a customisable compensation package, discounts on health insurance, and a monthly work costs contribution. Flexible work schedules can be arranged.

Will you need to relocate to the Netherlands for this job? TU Delft is committed to make your move as smooth as possible! The HR unit, Coming to Delft Service, offers information on their website to help you prepare your relocation. In addition, Coming to Delft Service organises events to help you settle in the Netherlands, and expand your (social) network in Delft. A Dual Career Programme is available, to support your accompanying partner with their job search in the Netherlands.

Additional information

For additional information about this project feel free to contact dr. BinBin Pearce ()/dr. Amineh Ghorbani (). For information about the application procedure, contact the HR Advisor Martine van de Vorst, email: .

Application procedure

Are you interested in this vacancy? Please apply no later than 2 June 2025 via the application button and upload the following documents:

Your CV.

Motivation letter.

Your MSc transcript with grades.

2 names of potential referees via the TU Delft online vacancy application system.

A copy of your master's thesis or another piece of writing which you are most proud of.

If you are shortlisted for the interview stage, you will also be asked to prepare a written piece according to prompt that will be sent to you.

You can address your application to dr. BinBin Pearce or dr. Amineh Ghorbani.

Please do not send your full application package per email; only applications submitted via the TU Delft vacancy website will be considered.

Doing a PhD at TU Delft requires English proficiency at a certain level to ensure that the candidate is able to communicate and interact well, participate in English-taught Doctoral Education courses, and write scientific articles and a final thesis. For more details please check the Graduate Schools Admission Requirements.

Please note:

You can apply online. We will not process applications sent by email and/or post.

A pre-employment screening can be part of the selection procedure.

For the final candidates, a knowledge security check will be part of the application procedure. For more information on this check, please consult Chapter 8 of the National Knowledge Security Guidelines. We carry out this check on the basis of legitimate interest.

Please do not contact us for unsolicited services.