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Opportunity: Two PhD positions at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg
Chalmers University of Technology offer two PhD positions within the land-use science group at Physical Resource Theory at the Department for Earth, Space and Environment. Focali members Martin Persson, Göran Berndes and Christel Cederberg will be supervisors.
PhD student position in sustainable land-use and agricultural systems
There is an urgent need for a sustainability transition in the global land system. Land use and land use changes are already key drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss, and the increased demand for food, feed, fuel and bio-materials adds on to the pressure. Simultaneously, land systems can also help meet global sustainability goals by securing food, livelihoods, climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection. The aim of this PhD is to further our knowledge on transforming the global land system to fulfill these goals.
This is an open PhD position, where the student will be able to formulate a research project within the broad and interdisciplinary field of land system science, which aims to understand the drivers, states and trends in the interactions between human (societal) and natural (ecological) systems, the impacts this have on human welfare and the functioning of ecosystems, as well as how these processes can be governed. The PhD student will be part of the land-use science group at Physical Resource Theory, which use a multitude of approaches such as land-use modeling, LCA, energy- and material-flow analysis, remote sensing/GIS, as well as a combination of other quantitative and qualitative methods.
Application deadline: June 21, 2020
Expected starting date: August/September, 2020
Supervisor: Associate Professor Martin Persson, Physical Resource Theory
PhD student position in biomass and land use
Human societies have put almost half of the world's land surface to their service and have caused extensive land and ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. We now face the double challenge of increasing biomass production to meet increasing demands for food, bioenergy and other bio-based products, while addressing negative impacts of current (and future) land use. This position offers you an opportunity to find solutions that help meet future biomass demand, provide livelihoods, mitigate climate change, and protect ecosystem health and biodiversity.
The PhD student will participate in research projects investigating land management strategies for meeting the growing biomass demand for food, energy and other bio-based products, while at the same time improving conditions for biodiversity and a range of ecosystem services. Through case studies of land use in agricultural landscapes in Västra Götaland, involving a variety of stakeholders, the projects aim to identify and promote locally adapted land use strategies that contribute to climate change mitigation and a range of other societal objectives. The PhD student will be part of the land-use science group at Physical Resource Theory, which use a multitude of quantitative and qualitative methods, such as land-use modeling, LCA, energy- and material-flow analysis, remote sensing/GIS, and interviews, to study environmental, social and economic aspects of land use and biomass production.
Application deadline: August 2, 2020
Supervisor: Associate Professor Göran Berndes, Physical Resource Theory, and Professor Christel Cederberg, Physical Resource Theory.
