PhD position Food Waste: Transition from Excess to Enough

 

The food system aims at providing large amounts of food anywhere, anytime, at the expense of extensive food waste. This project investigates changes in the food system to obtain a transition from having excess to having enough, specifically focusing on the demand side. The large amount of food wasted indicates that consumers have trouble predicting their consumption levels because of preference changes and unexpected events throughout the week. A mindset shift on the side of the consumer is needed from "fear of too little" to "concern about too much". We investigate how this can be accomplished and what it entails for the way households manage their food. Do you want to contribute to a transformation in food management practices and food retailing to reduce food waste?

Qualifications

The PhD candidate should have a background (MSc, research master) in marketing or a discipline related to the topic described above, such as psychology or social sciences.

Organisation

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has enjoyed an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative center of higher education offering high-quality teaching and research. Belonging to the best research universities of Europe and joining forces with prestigious partner universities and networks, the University of Groningen is truly an international place of knowledge.

Faculty of Economics and Business
The Faculty of Economics and Business offers an inspiring study and working environment for students and employees. International accreditation enables the Faculty to assess performance against the highest international standards. It also creates an exciting environment of continuous improvement. FEB's programmes, academic staff and research do well on various excellence ranking lists.

This PhD position is funded by NWO. The project is interdisciplinary, at the interface between consumer behavior, marketing, and design. Partners in the project are the Wageningen University & Research (Marketing and Consumer Behavior Group) and Delft University of Technology (industrial design), and we collaborate with various public and private partners such as Voedingscentrum, the Foundation United Against Food Waste, Hello Fresh, and others. More information about the project can be found here https://www.marketingandconsumerbehaviour.nl/(...)om-excess-to-enough/. This offers major advantages for the PhD candidate in terms of opportunities to collect high-quality data, additional funds for travelling, and close interactions and discussions enhancing the quality and relevancy of the research projects. The project will supervised by Prof. Jenny van Doorn and prof. Koert van Ittersum and will be embedded in SOM’s research programme in Marketing.

Conditions of employment

We offer you in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities:

• a salary of € 2,443 gross per month in the first year, up to a maximum of € 3,122 gross per month in the fourth and final year, under the condition of a positive assessment at the end of the first year
• a full-time position (1.0 FTE)
• a holiday allowance of 8% gross annual income
• an 8.3% end-of-the-year allowance
• minimum of 29 holidays and additional 12 holidays in case of full-time employment.

An assessment may be part of the procedure, consisting of psychological tests and an interview.

Starting date: as soon as possible

Application

If you are interested, you can submit your application until 9 March 11:59pm / before 10 March 2022 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).

The application package consists of the following separate documents:

1. your cv
2. a motivation letter (1A4 max) and a short study proposal for the PhD project (2 A4 max)
3. a scan of your diploma including transcripts
4. proof of English proficiency
5. other relevant documents.

The documents 1-4 are compulsory and please note that incomplete application packages will not be taken into account.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our University. We are committed to building a diverse faculty so you are encouraged to apply. Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP), https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/sollicitatiecode/ and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers, https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

Information

For information you can contact:

• SOM Research Institute (for general information), somvacancies@rug.nl
• Prof. Jenny van Doorn, j.van.doorn@rug.nl

Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.

Apply