This will be followed by design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and, ... 1) Application letter, stipulating t
PhD Scholarship on Integrated Rice and Natural Resources Management in African Wetlands One fully‐funded PhD fellowship is available for highly talented candidate to investigate integrated best-bet and best-fit natural resource management (NRM) and crop production systems in inland valley systems in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. PROJECT The Africa Rice Center coordinates a project entitled “Capitalizing the inland valley potential for food and nutrition security for smallholder farmers in West Africa (CIPA)”. The project aims to test and promote an integrated best-bet and best-fit land-use planning, natural resource management (NRM) and crop production system approach in wetlands (so-called inland valleys — IVs) to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security in West Africa. The PhD candidate focusing on integrated rice and natural resource management (IRM and NRM), will investigate best-bet and best-fit management and production strategies in inland valley systems in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. It is envisaged that the student will identify and test agronomic strategies —for resource-poor farmers working in inland valley systems— that reconcile the sustainable and efficient production of crops (mainly rice) with the use and management of other (natural) resources. Best-bet and best-fit IRM and NRM strategies will be identified through stakeholder participatory approaches. This will be followed by design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and, if necessary, finetuning. This will result in adapted strategies, methodologies and recommendations contributing to sustainable crop and natural resources management of tropical wetland systems in Africa. The PhD student will work in close collaboration with another PhD student —focusing on environmental economics and valuation of ecosystem functions— and with a Post-doctoral fellow —working on the mapping, site selection and land-use planning. POSITION A 4‐year PhD scholarship is comprehensive and will cover stipend (for 48 months), research costs, tuition, international and regional travel, and insurance. The student will enroll in a PhD program of the Graduate School for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation (PE&RC) at Wageningen University (WU) in the Netherlands. The student will be hosted by the Plant Production Systems group (PPS) of WU during training in The Netherlands and by AfricaRice in Côte d’Ivoire during field work in Africa. The
candidate will be supervised by Prof. Ken Giller and Dr Gerrie van de Ven of PPS and Dr Jonne Rodenburg of AfricaRice. The successful candidate is expected to start 1 September, 2017. QUALIFICATIONS MSc degree with above average grades in Agronomy, Natural Resource Management or closely related fields, obtained less than 5 years ago; Proven qualifications in agronomic field experimentation, farmer participatory approaches, the use of statistical methods and/or modeling; Excellent analytical skills preferably demonstrated through previous experience; Proficient in English (proven by a TOEFL score of 90 or more or an MSc degree with English as the language of instruction) and working knowledge of French for field work and day to day communication. APPLICATION PROCEDURE Candidates should submit the following documents complied in one single PDF document: 1) Application letter, stipulating the motivation for pursuing a PhD degree and elaborating on the candidate’s experience in relation to the requirements; 2) Curriculum vitae, concise and focusing on academic training, relevant work experience, publications and scientific engagement; 3) The names, affiliations and e‐mail of two senior scientists (candidate’s thesis supervisor, main professor or current employer) 5) University certificates and academic transcripts, detailing BSc and MSc degrees. Applications should be sent directly to:
[email protected] Closing date: 30 June 2017 More information: - Dr Jonne Rodenburg (Africa Rice Center):
[email protected] - Dr Gerrie van de Ven (Wageningen University):
[email protected] 