Institution: Tilburg University

Location: Tilburg, the Netherlands

Employment type: PhD

Duration of employment agreement: 4 years fulltime or 5 years of 0.8 fte

Applications sought: from around the world

Start date: January 01, 2022

Application deadline: September 30, 2021

The Zero Hunger Lab is looking for a PhD in a large new European initiative to reduce food loss and waste and work towards a more sustainable food system. These positions are fully funded for a period of 4 years, with no tuition fees to be paid.

Tilburg University is one of Europe’s leading universities in the fields of business and economics. It ranks #28 worldwide in Business and Economics (Times Higher Education Ranking 2019) and #52 globally in research productivity in UT Dallas 2020. The School of Economics and Management has 7000 students (26% international) and 400 academic staff (50% international). The campus provides a green, academically centered environment with modern facilities and convenient local transportation. Tilburg’s central position in the Benelux offers excellent regional and international access. Major airports nearby include Amsterdam (Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium) and Düsseldorf (Germany). English is the working language of the university.

The Zero Hunger Lab is a multidisciplinary environment where we aim to use Data Science in the broad sense to reduce hunger in the world; and by our research have impact. We work closely with the department of Econometrics and Operations Research at the School of Economics & Management.

Subject

The idea of this research is to use operations and supply chain analytics to identify food choices with low food loss and waste characteristics, high nutritional scores, and an overall lower environmental impact. This project is part of Tilburg University’s Zero Hunger Lab and a large new European initiative to reduce food loss and waste and work towards a more sustainable food system. 

This PhD project is part of a large European research project focused on the reduction of food loss and waste. Together with partners from across Europe, the goal is to identify, study, and demonstrate a variety of food system innovations that support ambitious goals in loss and waste reduction. This PhD project is based on the fact that reducing food waste and the environmental burden of our food system begin and end with the choices that consumers make. The objective of this project is therefore to develop recipes and menus with low expected food waste, high nutritional score, and low environmental impact of underlying supply chains. Also, the project aims to develop labels and scores to inform and trigger consumer behavioural change. The goal is also to demonstrate the use of macro-scale optimisation models that balance food waste reduction with high nutritional value and food affordability. 

Terms of employment

PhD candidates will be employed by Tilburg University, which is one of the best non-profit employers in the Netherlands and has an excellent policy concerning terms of employment. The appointment is intended to lead to the completion of a PhD dissertation. 

During the first year, you will receive extensive training in theory and methods by taking several PhD-level courses, with no teaching responsibilities. For the remaining three years, 80% of the position’s time will be dedicated to the completion of your PhD research, and 20% to the acquisition of academic skills through teaching courses and supervising master/bachelor theses within the department.

Appointed PhD candidates are employees of Tilburg University. The salary for the PhD position amounts € 2,395 per month gross in the first year, rising to € 3,061 per month in the fourth year. You are entitled to a holiday allowance amounting to 8% and a year-end bonus of 8.3% of your gross yearly income. Employees recruited from abroad may be eligible for the 30% tax facility, which means that 30% of your salary will be paid as a tax-free reimbursement. The university will apply for such tax facility on their behalf. All university employees are covered by the so-called civil servants pension fund (ABP). The university offers very good fringe benefits, such as an options model for terms and conditions of employment and reimbursement of moving expenses.

Requirements

1. A master’s degree (preferably a Research Master) in a field like operations research, data science or industrial engineering;
2. Motivated to make impact with your research;
3. Ability to work independently and in a team

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