[PHILOS-L] Job: 3-year PhD position (100%) on decision making in the context of climate change adaptation, CNRS, IGE Grenoble, France

[Julie Jebeile]

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The PEPR TRACCS “Transformer la modélisation du climat pour les services climatiques” invites applications for a three-year fully funded interdisciplinary PhD position (philosophy, social geography, climate science) on decision-making related to climate change adaptation under the supervision of Julie Jebeile (philosopher, Universität Bern) and Isabelle Ruin (geographer, Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement, Grenoble). The expected starting date is 1 October 2024 although a later date is possible. The PhD position will be hosted by the Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE). It is part of the “PC1-DIALOG” which aims to offer proper conditions for the co-production of climate services with the scientific community and practitioners.

Requirements

 

The PhD candidate should have a master’s degree in philosophy (with a specialty in philosophy of science, social epistemology or political philosophy) or social science. A double education in human science and natural science would be a plus. The PhD candidate should demonstrate an appetite and aptitude for interdisciplinary collaborations. They are expected to make use of theoretical debates regarding decision making, and to set up experiments/case study involving real situations decision making. The candidate has experience in or is ready to conduct semi-directive interviews (with recordings) and qualitative analysis of text corpus. Oral and written comprehension of French is required. Excellent skills in English are expected.

 

Description

 

State-of-the-art climate science has produced a plethora of heterogeneous pieces of information, all coming with uncertainties, due to the high complexity of climate change. They derive from ensembles of climate models (being multi-run, multi-model, multi-scenario), climate proxies, reanalysis data, storylines, all of them are associated with uncertainties (in terms of model spreads, probabilities, likelihood). In such a context, how can practitioners ground their decisions and actions in particular when some pieces of information conflict with each other (for instance, when projections from one generation of models to another significantly disagree, even for the sign of changes)?

 

The doctoral research will rely upon both theoretical and practical work. The PhD student will initially review the literature on decision-making under (severe) uncertainty. They will elucidate the most adapted theoretical account of decision making (among utility, reasoned action, trust), highlighting normative expectations regarding the final decision (robust, meeting precautionary principle) but also the role of the context (vulnerability, resilience and capacity of the territory for which the decision is made, with respect to economy, welfare, biodiversity and environment). The research will be based on decision making case studies from small spatial and temporal scales (weather forecasts) to longer range projections ( climate projections).  In order to test the applicability of decision-making theories, the PhD student is expected to study decision-making i) in an experimental context, such as the use of climate service demonstrators like those developed by "PC3-DEMOCLIMA" and/or ii) in a real-life situation, by monitoring and analyzing the decision-making processes of territorial actors involved in integrating the TRACC (Reference warming trajectory for adaptation to climate change) into territorial planning documents.

 

How to apply

 

Applications should be submitted to julie....@unibe.ch and isabel...@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr and contain (1) a motivation letter explaining the interest in the topic, (2) a CV, (3) a one-page research statement (excluding references) describing the direction of research the candidate would like to undertake in the context of the project, (4) a writing sample (e.g. a chapter of MA-thesis, approx. 15-20 pages). Two reference letters are expected and should be directly sent by the referees. Review of the applications will start on 31 July 2024 and will continue until the position is filled. Interviews will take place online.

 

For further details regarding the project and the position, please contact Julie Jebeile (julie....@unibe.ch) and Isabelle Ruin (isabel...@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr).

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