Postdoctoral research position on plural values and equity in biodiversity and ecosystem services governance

The Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) offers a full-time Postdoctoral Researcher Position within the project BridgingVALUES, project reference 2021-674 approved by BiodivERsa (the European Biodiversity Partnership) and funded by  MINECO (Proyectos de Colaboración internacional 2022-2 (PCI2022-134982-2)), a 3 year research project co-coordinated by BC3 with consortium partners in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil and South Africa. The position will be associated with BC3’s research Terrestrial Ecosystems research line, under the supervision of Prof Unai Pascual.

BridgingVALUES aims to inform European nature conservation policies and practices towards more equitable and effective biodiversity governance by generating a better understanding of 1) the interdependencies and feedbacks between EU/global (immaterial and material) flows, and local governance of protected areas (PAs), and 2) how these flows can in turn impact biodiversity and ecosystem services (BES), their values, social equity and local governance both in the EU (Germany, Spain, Sweden) and the Global South (Brazil, Laos, South Africa) via targeted case studies. The project’s main objectives include: (1) study how local contexts mediate the effects of global environmental policy flows, and assess their local social-ecological impacts; (2) advance the state-of-the-art in transdisciplinary co-production methodologies incorporating the knowledge of stakeholders through case studies; and (3) co-construct a conceptual framework that links conservation policies to social-ecological outcomes by exploring the relationships between bundles of material flows (e.g. finance and technical expertise) and immaterial (discourses and knowledge) flows, BES values, power relations, social equity and leverage points for transformative change. Expected impacts of BridgingVALUES include (1) increased awareness by managers and policy makers on the importance of bridging across different BES values and their equity implications; (2) increased legitimacy of management and policy decisions through meaningful stakeholder involvement; and (3) adaptation of PA management strategies to fit desirable pathways for more just and sustainable futures.

BC3 is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to support the project.

Job description:

The researcher will conduct critical literature reviews on the main topics of the project and engage in transdisciplinary empirical research in the case study of the Basque Country. In addition, the postdoc will collaborate with the project partners towards making the case studies comparable to reach the joint deliverables of the project. More generally, the researcher will support the PI (Prof. Unai Pascual) to achieve the scientific objectives of the project, to develop effective and efficient task management and to collaboratively work, publish and disseminate project findings.

Key responsibilities:

• Conceptualization and development of a research design to analyze impacts of EU conservation policies and related material and immaterial flows on local level stakeholders values and social equity
• Carry out a critical literature review on teleconnections regarding material and immaterial flows affecting local nature conservation in protected areas.
• Identify and adapt empirical methods to connect telecoupled flows (drivers) with local social-ecological outcomes, including BES values and social equity.
• Implementation of the research design / empirical investigation at the Basque protected area case study. This will involve providing knowledge coproduction through a transdisciplinary approach that in turn would require activities such as 1) identifying key local stakeholders and their competences/responsibilities and values, and institutional context, 2) conduct interviews for knowledge integration with local stakeholders and 3) apply visioning exercises through stakeholder workshops to identify opportunities and challenges for transformative change towards desired future systems and how to reach them.
• Day-to-day assistance for the management of the project and collaboration with other researchers of the international BridgingVALUES project consortium
• Contribute to support management tasks in the projects and dissemination (including project meetings, conferences, deliverables).
• Publish high-impact, peer-reviewed research in international scientific journals.

Main requirements/skills:

• PhD in social-, environmental-, or economics and demonstration of a track record of peer-reviewed publications as well as the ability to initiate and complete original research. Other degrees might also be evaluated.
• Knowledge of the literature on social-ecological frameworks for nature conservation, protected areas, and methodologies related to knowledge integration.
• Ability to coordinate teamwork and interact with a broad range of scientific and policy stakeholders, and conduct transdisciplinary work with local stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Excellent written and oral command of Spanish and English.

Desirable requirements/skills:

• Experience in empirical research and managing and conducting fieldwork involving stakeholder engagement.
• Knowledge of global and EU conservation policies, the ecosystem services and nature’s contributions to people concepts, discourses on values of biodiversity and ecosystem services, environmental justice and telecoupling.
• Knowledge of transdisciplinary and / or multi actor research
• Knowledge of Basque language.

Benefits and work environment

• Interdisciplinary and inspiring work environment.
• 35-hour week work calendar.
• 30 days of vacation per year.

Term of contract

Immediate incorporation according to the availability of the suitable candidate. The position is fixed term contract until the 31st March of 2026, linked to the project extension, with a six-month probationary period and periodic internal evaluation.

Salary

The position will carry a competitive salary, matching the academic and professional profile of the applicant, and excellent work conditions.

Location

Basque Centre for Climate Change, Leioa, Spain.

As an HR Excellence awarded institution, BC3 is committed to conciliating research-academic requirements and family duties. BC3 is particularly concerned with creating equal opportunities for people independently of gender, culture, and race. Anyone with relevant qualifications is therefore strongly encouraged to apply for the position.

Application procedure:

Fill the form below and upload one PDF document with the following information:

1. CV (max 3 pages).
2. MOTIVATION LETTER (max 3 pages).
3. Contact information of two referees.

Deadline

31 March 2023.

Informal enquiries can be made to Unai Pascual (unai.pascual@bc3reserach.org) noting in the subject of the message “BridgingVALUES post-doctoral position”

Please consider that only applications sent through the form included at the bottom of the BC3 web page will be considered (https://info.bc3research.org/job-offers/).,