Dear colleagues, [apologies for cross-posting], I will be starting a new project next year on the implementation of due diligence legislation in tropical agri-food commodity chains and am hiring 2 PhD students and 1 postdoctoral researcher here at the University of Basel. These are 100%, 3-year (postdoc) and 4-year (PhD students) positions with generous salaries and benefits, and working in a country and city with very high quality of life, and in a dynamic and friendly research group. Please find the overview and job advertisements below; we will start reviewing applications in early January 2025 and are looking to hire for March 1 2025 or at earliest convenience of the successful applicants. Thank you very much for sharing widely within your networks and students/colleagues/interested applicants! Also, please feel free to get in touch if you are working on similar issues and/or would like to connect!
The project EXPECT-AGRI: The political economy of expectations in agri-food sustainability transformations The production of agricultural commodities such as coffee, cocoa, or palm oil is associated with deforestation, forced and child labor, and smallholder poverty. European governments currently aim to address these challenges via the introduction of mandatory supply chain sustainability legislation such as due diligence regulations and import restrictions. This five-year research project (a Starting Grant funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation) aims to examine the impact of such sustainability laws in the supply chains of coffee, cocoa and palm oil. What expectations do these laws create between the regulatory authorities and the companies that trade in these commodities? And how do these expectations in turn influence the shift towards more sustainable agriculture? The project will examine these questions via a combination of qualitative (e.g. expert interviews, Q-methodology, case study analysis) and quantitative (e.g. company surveys) research, including fieldwork in commodity-producing countries. We are hiring: 1 postdoctoral position<https://jobs.unibas.ch/offene-stellen/postdoc-position-in-sustainable-agri-food-system-governance/c0e0b3d3-4dc5-403e-9a10-f9ddc5ab21ae> As part of EXPECT-AGRI, your specific focus will be on ex-post lobbying and the negotiation of compliance between regulated businesses and regulators in the EU and Swiss context, applying the Discursive Agency Approach (or a similar method) to the policy negotiations surrounding the EU Deforestation Regulation, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and other similar laws. You will further collaborate with another postdoctoral researcher in developing and implementing a company-level survey and will mentor Master's and doctoral students as part of the EXPECT-AGRI project. 2 PhD students<https://jobs.unibas.ch/offene-stellen/2-phd-positions-in-sustainability-research-focus-on-sustainable-agri-food-system-governance/b94ac48c-0162-4350-94c4-df991d8936d4> As part of EXPECT-AGRI, the successful candidates will conduct longitudinal, qualitative research on policy implementation in three tropical agri-food commodity sectors (coffee, cocoa, and palm oil). One PhD candidate will focus on fieldwork in Colombia, and the other one will work in Côte d'Ivoire. You will further collaborate with postdoctoral researchers and mentor Master's students in the context of the project. The candidates will pursue a PhD degree in Sustainability Research and be enrolled in the University of Basel's Graduate School of Social Sciences. Please see further information about candidate profiles and the link to the application platform under the above links. I am available to respond to questions by prospective applicants. All the best, Janina Janina Grabs Associate Professor of Sustainability Research Department of Social Sciences, University of Basel janina.gr...@unibas.ch<mailto:janina.gr...@unibas.ch>; https://janinagrabs.com/ https://nachhaltigkeit.philhist.unibas.ch/en/ Recent publications: Macdonald, K., Diprose, R., Grabs, J., Schleifer, P., et al. (2024). Jurisdictional approaches to sustainable agro-commodity governance: The state of knowledge and future research directions<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2024.100227>. Earth System Governance, 22, 100227. Bennett, E., & Grabs, J. (2024). How can sustainable business models address poverty and inequality in global value chains? An introduction to “value chain profit sharing” as an alternative to fair trade, direct trade, or solidarity trade<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/beer.12666>. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, online first. Grabs, J., Carodenuto, S., et al. (2024). The role of midstream actors in advancing the sustainability of agri-food supply chains<https://rdcu.be/dBBx4>. Nature Sustainability, online first. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/5B986673-C816-44C1-999F-F8785640A2FC%40unibas.ch.
