Job Alert: PhD Position –“Drivers of change", United Nations University 08.09.2014

The United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)announces a new PhD Position –“Drivers of change”(Doctoral Fellowship Award). The position is linked with the DeltAdapt project - a BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funded project aiming to explore the socio-ecological sustainability of coastal agro-ecosystems in the Mekong and Red River Deltas, Vietnam and their adaptation options to increasing salinity intrusion. The main focus is on management shifts between paddy rice, rice-shrimp farming, and saline aquaculture and the consequences of these on-farm adaptation processes to salinity intrusion on soil quality, biodiversity, climate, and livelihoods. UNU-EHS leads work package 2 on “Drivers of change”. The overall aim of the work package is to explore the root causes of salinity intrusion and agricultural system changes observed in both, the Vietnamese Mekong Delta and Red River Delta, particularly in the coastal areas and to explore scenarios of future changes in land use and livelihood. The study will focus on both, the social and the ecological system in place and will be based e.g. on literature and secondary data analysis, stakeholder consultations in a participatory manner and a household surveys carried out in coastal provinces. The work will be conducted in both deltas jointly with University of Würzburg, Can Tho University and Hanoi University of Agriculture and will require interdisciplinary analysis of the drivers and change patterns. Responsibilities: Under the authority of the Director of UNU-EHS and the Head of the Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services (EVES) section, the successful candidate will be entrusted with the following tasks: · Literature and field research to determine the history and spatial/temporal dynamics of land use and land use changes in the coastal areas of both deltas and specifically analyse different social and ecosystem drivers such as environmental change, soil properties, policy change, market forces, etc. · Understand the relative importance of the increasing salinity levels in water and soil resources as driver for land use changes and adjustments in the agricultural production · Analyse the trajectories of these changes, i.e. which drivers can be predicted to gain importance in the future and what will be the relative importance of salinization? · Develop an analytical framework to capture the drivers and changes. Starting Date: as soon as possible, 1 November 2014 latest To learn more about the requirements and application process, please see the official vacancy announcement attached below. See Attached files here: 109.74KB ANNOUNCEMENT: PhD Position –“Drivers of change"

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