Full-time post-doctoral candidate | UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change

General

ESCI-UPF, hosting the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change, a research group accredited as consolidated by the Government of Catalonia, is seeking a full-time Postdoctoral candidate to develop research co-financed during three years by the ARECO Postdoctoral Fellowship on circular economy and the research project KAIROS.

The main tasks will involve:

  • Develop methodology and application for a compared circular economy study between different alternatives for fruits and vegetables packaging.
  • Help positioning ARECO as an innovation leader in circular economy
  • Carrying out research on different sustainability indicators for food production and consumption within KAIROS.
  • Coordinating different aspects of the project KAIROS and the ARECO fellowship
  • Helping in management tasks of the research group

The researcher will report to the UNESCO Chair Director and to the KAIROS principal investigator. In addition, he/she will have to prepare and conduct periodic meetings with ARECO and with the KAIROS partners.

ARECO Fellowship

The fellowship lasts for three years and seeks to increase the knowledge on sustainability metrics for fruits and vegetable packaging, such as: circularity, carbon footprint and life cycle assessment. In addition to this scientific input, there is an important interest in different communication alternatives of the methodology and the obtained results. Once finished, the candidate will have acquired experience for her/him to be accredited, to be able to lead a research project, and to know how to successfully present a project proposal.

KAIROS project

Production and consumption systems must set course for a resource-efficient and sustainable economy. The goal is a more innovative and low-emissions economy, reconciling demands for sustainable agri-food sector, food and nutrition security, and the sustainable use of renewable biological resources for industrial purposes, while ensuring biodiversity and environmental protection. According to this, a bio-circular economy approach is necessary, which means preserving the value of resources that go into producing more nutrient-dense foods products for as long as possible, while also paying attention to prevention, resources efficiency, environmental performance, sustainable sourcing and consumer awareness. KAIROS is an opportunity to improve the agri-food sector in Spain under a bio-circular economy perspective.

Mandatory criteria

  • Having a PhD in the topic or, alternatively, being able to have it during the first year of contract and having at least 3 years of research experience in the topic.
  • Fluent Spanish and English languages.
  • Bachelor or Master degree in environment or agrifood or, alternatiely, comparable degrees with enough experience in those topics.
  • Experience in writing research papers in scientific journals

Additional criteria

  • Having knowledge in life cycle assessment and software practice
  • Having knowledge on social networks management

Evaluation

  • The offer will be published during 10 days
  • Initial evaluation will be performed by the UNESCO Chair
  • Two finalists will be interviewed and given more detailed information by the UNESCO Chair
  • The decision will be taken by both the UNESCO Chair and ARECO
  • The result will be communicated only to the two finalists within 5 more days.
  • The rest of candidates will implicitly know they were not chosen.

Apply 

*Deadline: Monday 2 November 2020