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PhD studentship in forest economics

Ph.D. studentship in forest economics

We are searching for a Doctoral student to join the Department of Forest Economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Umeå. The Ph.D. student will work on the project “Role of conservation interventions in preventing the degradation of Argentina’s Atlantic forests” funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS). REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) initiatives aim to prevent emissions and conserve the area and integrity of forests. Past research has evaluated their effectiveness to prevent deforestation but has largely neglected degradation. This is of critical societal importance as degradation is a major source of carbon emissions from forests and it can lead to the loss of ecosystem services vital to local communities. In this project we will assess the extent to which REDD+ initiatives have prevented forest degradation in the context of Argentina’s Atlantic forest. The Atlantic forest is one of the terrestrial ecosystems with the greatest endemic biodiversity in the world.

The profile of the student is of a person fully committed to forest conservation research with foundational training in research methods. The candidate will be responsible for: integrating economics and forest resource management knowledge into relevant research design; developing relevant research questions; applying appropriate econometric and other analytical tools; writing scientific manuscripts and compile a Ph.D. thesis suitable for examination. Coursework is included in the Ph.D. program. The Ph.D. program consists of 4-year full-time studies with the position contracted based on annual evaluations.

Qualifications: To be eligible, the candidate should hold at least a Master’s degree in economics or related field (e.g. agricultural economics, natural resource economics, forest economics), or a strong quantitative interdisciplinary program. Knowledge in natural resource economics, demonstrated capacity to integrate forest and economics concepts are considered extra merit. Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are required. Working knowledge of Spanish is preferable but not mandatory. Also considered as extra merit are (a) experience writing scientific manuscripts, (b) advanced documented knowledge using GIS software, (c) advanced document knowledge using, R, SAS, Stata or other analytical software.

Place of work: Umeå, Sweden

Application: We welcome applications until February 16 2024.

Applicants must submit:

· a CV

· a two-page research statement

· copies of degrees and transcripts of all academic records

· one copy of the MS thesis

· contact information for at least two referees familiar with the applicant's qualificat

· certified knowledge of the English language

· if relevant, copies of relevant publications

Candidates are encouraged to review research by Francisco X. Aguilar, Professor, Department of Forest Economics. Questions relevant to the application can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Full details on this position are available online at: https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/work-at-slu/jobs-vacancies/?rmpage=job&rmjob=9279&rmlang=UK

PhD studentship on the social and environmental outcomes of reforestation processes

Deadline: 12 February 2024 Midnight (GMT)

Interviews: 22 February 2024

Studentship Funding:

The Sustainable Forest Transitions (SFT) Project is recruiting one full-time PhD student at the Global Development Institute (University of Manchester) from September 2024 to work on one of two themes:

• Theme 1: Evaluating social and environmental outcomes of reforestation drivers using large-scale publicly available social and environmental datasets.

• Theme 2: Development of rapid evidence synthesis methods and products using emerging artificial intelligence tools and other existing systematic review instruments.

This position is fully funded for 3.5 years, covering academic fees, an annual maintenance stipend of £18,622 (TBC for 2024-25) and research travel. You will be part of a multidisciplinary research team led by Dr Johan Oldekop, including post-doctoral researchers, PhD students, case-country partners, and other affiliated researchers.

Lead Supervisor:

Dr Johan Oldekop

About the Project:

SFT seeks to advance a better understanding of the social and environmental outcomes of reforestation drivers globally. SFT is a five-year, £1.7 million project selected by the European Research Council and funded through a UKRI Research Frontier grant hosted by the Global Development Institute. The project is studying the changing nature of forest cover and human development at unprecedented scale and detail at global scales and in specific case-study countries, including Mexico, Brazil, India, Nepal, and Indonesia.

The studentship is open to international students. For more information, including how to apply please follow this link: https://tinyurl.com/yxsafn79 [tinyurl.com] or please refer to the attached file by clicking on "READ MORE".

CALL FOR A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

The research team of the Anillo project “Semi-arid coastal basins as indicators of climate crisis adaptation (SACBAD)” (ATE220055) seeks exceptional and highly motivated candidates for a full-time one-year renewable postdoctoral position. This postdoctoral researcher will work toward the specific objective of understanding and modeling water consumption by agriculture in semi-arid regions impacted by climate change.

The SACBAD project brings together Chilean researchers from the School of Engineering, the School of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Department of Ecology-Faculty of Biological Sciences-, from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC), Universidad de Chile and Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Maria, in collaboration with an international core of leader researchers in the field.

Candidates must have:

i) A PhD in economics/agricultural economics or related disciplines at the moment of hiring

ii) Experience developing and applying theoretical and numerical models of farmer water use decisions

iii) Excellent communication skills in English. Communication in Spanish (if not the native language) is highly desirable.

iv) Availability to start working at the latest in April 2024.

v) The ability to legally work in Chile or obtain a work visa before the start of the position.

vi) Candidates must not have any standing issue with ANID (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo de Chile) or with former agency Conicyt.

Applications will be received until December 20th with an ideal starting date in April 2024. We reserve the right to extend the application deadline.

Postdoctoral responsibilities:

i. Full-time dedication to the project

ii. Coordination of undergraduate and graduate students

iii. Design, development, and management of field/lab experiments and fieldwork within rural Chile

iv. Data analysis and manuscript preparation. v. Publish scientific publications with the project PIs, acknowledging “Proyecto Anillo ATE220055”

vi. Strict confidentiality of unpublished results from the project

vii. Participation in national and international scientific meetings

viii. Participation in outreach activities

ix. Presentation of an annual report of activities

Important dates:

1. Application deadline is December 20th, 2023, 18:00 h (Chilean continental time)

2. Notification of interview for suitable candidates: after January 10th, 2024

3. Online interviews are expected to be January 15-16t

4. Results will be notified after the approval and ratification of the funding agency (Departamento de Iniciativas de Focalización Estratégica ANID) (approximately January 30th, 2024)

To apply please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. including:

1) A letter of interest

2) Two recommendation letters

3) Curriculum Vitae

4) Copy of the PhD diploma or certificate

5) Copy of the passport or DNI.

Please use the subject "anillo-SACBAD-application" in your email. Applications must be in English. For more information and for any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more information, please refer to the attached file by clicking on "READ MORE".

Seminar announcement: New EfD seminar series

EFD is delighted to invite you to the inaugural EfD Webinar due on November 15, 2023, at 2 PM CEST.

This is a FREE webinar to be held over Zoom. We are honored to have Marc Jeuland a renowned environmental economist starting us off on this series.

Jeuland is an applied environmental economist whose research interests include nonmarket valuation, water and sanitation, environmental health, energy and development, the planning and management of transboundary water resources, and the impacts and economics of climate change.

About the webinar:

Title: Time-money tradeoffs and the value of the time that women spend obtaining firewood

Abstract: Rural households across much of the world rely heavily on biomass, especially firewood, as their primary fuel for cooking, lighting, and heating, and women provide much of the household labor for gathering such fuel from the environment. Interventions aimed at reducing the amount of biomass needed, or transitioning households away from biomass entirely, have the potential to deliver substantial time savings in addition to their more frequently studied health and environmental benefits. Accurately estimating the value of the time (VOT) that households, and women in particular, might save from such an intervention is central to understanding its full social benefits, as well as the full social cost of traditional energy use. Unfortunately, there has been limited prior work to estimate this opportunity cost of time in fuel collection. We therefore analyze the time-money tradeoffs that rural households make in four African countries (Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya), when deciding how to obtain firewood. In using two nonmarket methods – stated and revealed preference – to estimate the VOT, we are able to explore how our results vary both across methods as well as across contexts. We find that households generally make logical tradeoffs between money and time, and the analysis also shows that several other factors, particularly socioeconomic status and the identity of the person collecting firewood, play an important role in the revealed preference choice patterns. Our estimates add important nuance to standard ‘rule of thumb’ guidance that suggests using 50% of the unskilled wage rate as a starting point for the VOT in cost-benefit analysis in low and middle-income settings.

Zoom link: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/65835642029