Maria J. Santos

The University of Zurich is advertising a fully funded Doctoral Candidate (PhD) position in Social-ecological Modelling and Biodiversity Policy within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network ReDiLEEP (Using science-driven Response Diversity knowledge to Leverage Efficient Ecosystem Preservation and restoration). The project, DC12: Opportunities and barriers for implementing response diversity enabled policy , focuses on how biodiversity and response diversity can be translated into actionable policy. Response diversity refers to the variation in how individuals, species, or functional groups respond to environmental change, and it is increasingly recognized as important for ecosystem resilience. This PhD will investigate the socio-economic, cultural, and ecological trade-offs that arise when environmental policy prioritises response diversity as a mechanism for resilient ecosystems. The research will use Agent-Based Policy Modelling (ABPM) to simulate how land managers, farmers, local authorities, and conservation agencies respond to incentives intended to maintain or enhance response diversity. The candidate will develop and validate models of decision-makers and institutions in policy contexts such as the Common Agricultural Policy , the Nature Restoration Law , and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive . The project will examine feedbacks between ecological dynamics and human decision-making, including economic trade-offs, compliance, cooperation, trust, and resource constraints. Planned scenarios may include subsidies for multi-species cropping, mixed-provenance restoration, and age-structured fishery management. Outcomes will be compared across dimensions such as ecosystem stability, social equity, cost-effectiveness, feasibility, and governance robustness. The aim is to identify barriers, leverage points, and governance configurations that can support sustainable ecosystem management while limiting undesirable socio-economic trade-offs. The position is hosted by the University of Zurich in Switzerland and includes 48 months of full-time employment: 36 months funded by MSCA Doctoral Networks under Horizon Europe and 12 months funded by the University of Zurich . The post includes salary according to Marie Curie Fellowship regulations, access to UZH research infrastructure and ScienceIT support, and participation in a highly interdisciplinary doctoral network. Training and development are central to the ReDiLEEP network. The successful candidate will join an international cohort and benefit from training in response diversity methods, data management, reproducible code, R/Tidyverse, machine learning and AI for ecologists, visualization, evidence-based policymaking, science-policy communication, and policy brief writing. There are also 5 months of secondments with partners including BioAgora , ThinkNature , Advanced Invasives , and Swansea University , strengthening the science-policy-practice interface. Supervision is provided by Prof. Maria J. Santos , with co-supervision from Prof. Owen Petchey , Dr Cornelia Krug , and Dr Ute Jacob . Scientific questions can be directed to Prof. Maria J. Santos, and administrative questions to Maja Weilenmann. Eligibility highlights include 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 related discipline; strong quantitative and programming skills are preferred; excellent English and scientific writing are required. MSCA mobility rules apply: applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity in Switzerland for more than 12 months in the 36 months before recruitment, and must not already hold a doctoral degree. Application deadline: 2 October 2026 at 17:00 (Europe/Zurich). Applications must be submitted as a single PDF in English by email to the contact address provided. The expected start window is between 1 February 2027 and 30 June 2027.