TU Delf – PhD Position

Understand, explain, and promote policy innovation in the energy transition through interdisciplinary, mixed methods research

Host institution: Faculty of Technology, Policy & Management, Delft University of Technology

Job type: Doctoral candidate

Scientific field: Behaviour and Society

Job description:

The Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management (TPM), Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is looking for a curious, driven, and perseverant PhD candidate to conduct research on energy policy innovation as part of the DECIPHER project. The deadline for application is 05 June 2022 and the expected start date is 01 October 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter.

Funded by the EU Horizon program, DECIPHER will create a decision-making framework for holistic assessment of environmental policy alternatives. The dual crises of climate change and biodiversity increase the urgency for the adoption and implementation of efficient, inclusive, and legitimate environmental policies. Mainstream economic methods currently used in the design of environmental policies, however, fail to capture the complexity of the economy-energy-environment nexus. Rather, policy analysis is informed by a narrow set of metrics that do not encompass broader considerations of justice, sustainability, and wellbeing and fail to account for policy feasibility and policy resilience. Moving beyond the state-of-the-art, DECIPHER will employ an interdisciplinary, systems approach to develop and apply a decision-making framework for 'real world' assessment of flagship EU policies. By integrating co-creation, policy sciences' theories, empirical analysis, and biophysical, economic, and energy modelling, the project will significantly improve environmental decision-making on biodiversity and climate change and, thereby, enhance environmental policy effectiveness.

As part of the DECIPHER project, you will support the enhancement of efficiency, inclusiveness, and legitimacy of environmental policy-making through interdisciplinary research on the energy transition. The sustainable energy transition will play a key role in addressing the dual bio-diversity and climate change crises, and will require not only technological diffusion and behavioral change, but also policy innovation. However, evidence on the sources, speed, and success of policy innovation in the context of the energy transition is limited. You will create scholarly knowledge on the characteristics and activities that foster energy policy innovation through a comparative, mixed-methods approach combining techniques such as case study research, computational text analysis, econometrics, qualitative comparative analysis, and process tracing. The specific contexts of energy policy innovation that you study could include the use of economic methods and tools in real-world policy-making, integrated decision-making cutting across policy areas, and long-term and inclusive policy success.

Requirements:

• relevant Master’s degree and, preferably, an interdisciplinary background shows strong motivation to pursue a PhD in energy studies and public policy has proven aptitude for academic research and writing demonstrates curiosity, drive, and perseverance
• strong motivation to pursue a PhD in energy studies and public policy
• proven aptitude for academic research and writing
• curiosity, drive, and perseverance

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.

Additional information:

For more information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Nihit Goyal via nihit.goyal@tudelft.nl For information about the application procedure, please contact Martine van de Vorst, HR Advisor via HR-TBM@tudelft.nl

The complete information on this job offer and the application procedures can be found on the official website.

The deadline for application is 5 June 2022