Doctoral Candidate (PhD) in Social-ecological Modelling and Biodiversity Policy

Develop and validate agent-based policy models representing relevant decision-makers and institutions in EU policy contexts, including the Common Agricultural Policy, Nature Restoration Law, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Quantify ecological and socio-economic trade-offs among policy options that influence RD, such as land-use intensification versus diversification, restoration investments, and risk-reduction schemes. Parameterise behavioural rules using empirical evidence, literature, and stakeholder input to represent how information, trust, incentives, and resource constraints shape policy responses. Run governance and policy scenarios targeting RD maintenance, for example subsidies for multi-species cropping, mixed-provenance restoration, or age-structured fishery management. Compare outcomes such as ecosystem stability, social equity, cost-effectiveness, and policy feasibility across scales. Produce peer-reviewed publications, policy-relevant outputs, and recommendations for integrating socio-economic realities into RD-based biodiversity policy. Participate actively in ReDiLEEP network training, secondments, dissemination, reporting, and cohort activities. The position includes 5 months of planned secondments, with 4 months in non-academic settings, to strengthen the science-policy-practice interface: embedding in a BioAgora demonstration case, analysing corporate sustainability reporting policy, taking RD research from field to policy, and taking RD research from field to policy at Swansea University. The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary cohort of doctoral researchers and benefit from ReDiLEEP training in response diversity methods, data management, reproducible code, R/Tidyverse, machine learning and AI for ecologists, visualisation, evidence-based policymaking, science-policy communication, and policy brief writing.

The University of Zurich, Switzerland's largest university, offers a range of attractive positions in various subject areas and professional fields. With around 10,000 employees and currently 12 professional apprenticeship streams the University offers an inspiring working environment on cutting-edge research and top-class education.

• A Master's degree, or equivalent, in ecology, environmental science, geography, sustainability science, environmental policy, socio-ecological systems, economics, computational social science, data science, or a closely related field.

• Strong interest in biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, sustainability policy, and the translation of ecological science into decision-making.

• Experience with quantitative analysis, modelling, simulation, or programming, preferably in R, Python, NetLogo, Julia, or comparable tools.

• Interest in agent-based modelling, behavioural modelling, governance scenarios, stakeholder-informed research, or policy analysis.

• Ability to work independently while contributing constructively to an international, interdisciplinary doctoral network.

• Excellent written and spoken English and strong scientific writing skills.