PostDoc on Equitable Rural Futures

The Rural Sociology Group (RSO) is hiring a Dutch-speaking PostDoctoral Researcher to support the FARMHEROES project to understand and advance more equitable rural futures.

In this role you will generate cutting-edge evidence on the attractiveness of farming with a focus on diversity and inclusion. Research findings will be operationalised into user-friendly resources grounded in established organisations to ensure long-term use. Creative and Cultural Industry actors are embedded in FARMHEROES to enrich methodologies and co-develop innovative tools for communication and business development.

As a PostDoc in the FARMHEROES project, you contribute to a culture of care and deeply engaged academic research. You will work closely with partners across the Netherlands and Europe to advance:

• A network of young farmer Ambassadors
• A National AgriFutures Action Group
• Macro-Regional Labs
• The European AgriFutures Forum

You will also help mobilise diverse stakeholders to deliver policy mixes and initiatives to increase the attractiveness of farming to young people across Europe.

The position will start in October 2026 and run until December 2029, at 0.8 FTE (4 days a week). Working in the office at least two days a week is required. This job also requires travel in Europe.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• Leading research and developing strategies, an evidence-based framework and tools for increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in research and for the future of farming;
• Helping to lead an Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) Working Group responsible for guiding inclusivity across all research activities;
• Coordinating and researching the diverse stakeholder processes associated with the project, with a focus on the Dutch young Farmer Ambassadors and the National AgriFuture Action Group;
• Undertaking teaching and supervision of MSc and BSc students on relevant topics; and,
• Serving as the key contact point for RSO in the project, leading on concrete project deliverables, attending consortium meetings, and communicating between local activities and the wider

Your team
You will work directly with Dr Jessica Duncan. More broadly, you will be embedded in the FARMHEROES project, funded under Horizon Europe.

You will work here
This job is housed in the Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University. The Rural Sociology Group is a vibrant community of researchers who bring together different sociological theories and interdisciplinary approaches to study the many forms of power, inequality and unevenness. We start from the everyday life of people to understand transformation processes in agriculture, food provisioning, and rural development from a comparative perspective.

Requirements

You are/have:

• A PhD in Rural Sociology or similar discipline.
• Demonstrable understanding the Dutch agricultural context and experience working on diversity, equity and inclusion in research.
• A career-stage appropriate track-record in engaged sociological research leading to high-quality scientific outputs.
• Strong networks and relations with farming organizations and farmers in the Netherlands, in particular younger farmers and aspiring farmers.
• Track record in co-creation and participatory research, especially with key stakeholders in agriculture.
• The ability to coordinate and maintain networks of diverse stakeholders.
• The ability to work independently.
• Fluency in Dutch and English, additional languages are a benefit.

In our international working environment, there is an increasing amount of communication in English. For this position, English is expected at about language level C1. Given the importance of community engagement, we also require C2 for Dutch.

Contract terms

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment . A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed year-end bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between € 3.546,- and € 6.433,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10 - 11). For this position, we offer a contract for 0.6-0.8 FTE. As for your contract, we initially offer a one-year contract that can be extended - if possible within (company) organizational circumstances - on good performance, for the duration of the project.

We encourage development and internal mobility within our organisation. Our recruitment and selection policy sets out the conditions that apply specifically to you as a (former) employee. If you have any questions, we are happy to help.

You will work on the greenest and most innovative campus in the Netherlands, in an international and open working environment.