Postdoctoral researcher Sociology; Understanding climate change attitudes

Introduction

While a voluminous literature has mapped the social groups most and least concerned about climate change, a crucial lacuna remains: what does climate change actually mean to people? What do they believe is happening?

Scholarship has typically focused on explaining people’s level of concern and how strongly they believe in anthropogenic climate change—without acknowledging that the same answer given to survey questions means different things to different people.

Moreover, extant research has focused on the factors that explain levels of concern among the public as a whole, ignoring that specific factors likely matter more for some groups than for others because the meanings they ascribe to climate change differ.

This project (funded through the Vici programme of the Dutch Research Council, NWO) reorients the field by systematically studying population heterogeneity in such meanings and thus reveal which factors matter for which groups—and why. This will illuminate hitherto scattered findings.

The project’s objectives are to:

1) uncover the different meanings the public attaches to climate change;

2) understand why people view the issue as they do by analyzing the social origins of these different meanings;

3) improve alignment between (non-)governmental efforts and citizens’ perspectives by demonstrating how these meanings shape responses to information campaigns and policies.

Building on innovative research developed at the Erasmus Institute on Culture and Stratification, the project harnesses the advantages of in-depth qualitative and large-scale quantitative research with its sequential, mixed-methods toolkit. This includes focus groups, Correlational Class Analyses, survey-experiments and discrete choice experiments.

The postdoc project advertised here will focus on Italy and run in parallel with a PhD project focused on the Netherlands.

Job description

The postdoc, working under the close supervision of the PI, will be responsible for developing the research design, collecting and analyzing data in all phases of the project, and disseminating findings to both academic and non-academic audiences.

The postdoc will focus on the Italian case. The project budget includes funding to have our tailor-made surveys, survey-experiments and discrete choice experiments fielded by renowned data collection agencies that cater to high-quality social-scientific research initiatives. Hence, travel to Italy is not needed for the quantitative components of the project. However, the focus groups central to the first subproject (with the aim to explore in-depth the different meanings ascribed to climate change and their social origins) will take place in Italy.

In collaboration with the PI, the postdoc will author at least four scholarly articles for leading international journals.

The postdoc will also participate in academic meetings, (inter)national conferences, and team seminars, and will communicate insights to broader publics.

Job requirements

• A PhD degree in Sociology or a closely related discipline, relevant to the project and completed before the start of the contract.
• Relevant methodological expertise; experience with both advanced quantitative research methods and in-depth interviews with respondents from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints is a plus.
• Proven ability to engage people from diverse social backgrounds and motivate them to participate in social-scientific research.
• Excellent command of both Italian and English.
• Familiarity with Italian culture and politics.
• Strong motivation to conduct cultural-sociological research; prior experience is a plus.
• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team setting.

Employment conditions and benefits

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

The start date of this position is 15 September 2025 and you will be based at Campus Woudestein in Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB). This position is for 0.8 fte. The salary is € 4.537 gross per month, Scale 11 on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is offered for a period of 1 year and can be converted into an extension of 3 years.

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

-        Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centre!

-        Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUR, FAME or QuEUR.

-        Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget and free access to our university library.

-        Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.

-        Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare (daycare not paid for by EUR).

-        Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Employer

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 4.100 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Faculty / Institute / Central service

Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB)

The Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences is home to a vast diversity of scientific disciplines: public administration, pedagogical sciences, psychology and sociology. In addition, the Erasmus University College, IHS, and two research institutes RISBO and DRIFT are linked to the faculty. This also reflects in the content of the (international) bachelor's and master's programs and in research.  Our activities are always focused on people and society. At the ESSB fundamental, internationally oriented research is of paramount importance. In addition, social research for professionals, policy makers, and the society is part of our research activities. ESSB offers a stimulating research environment where major national and international research grants are received. Appealing guest researchers and ambitious PhD candidates come along to conduct their research. Our education is small-scale and works with innovative forms of education such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL). Both the Dutch and English programs are highly ranked by students and alumni. ESSB is home to over 4000 students and more than 400 staff-members. The different disciplines are supported by the Faculty Office (for more information, please visit www.eur.nl/essb).

Group

Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (ESSB) has a team-based structure. The Department of Public Administration and Sociology (DPAS) works with four teams, of which Governance & Pluralism (GoPlu) is one. Our team has about 55 members now. We study complex, multi-value, and multilevel issues regarding a wide variety of societal challenges. GoPlu takes the pluriform nature of societal issues as a given and therefore approaches these multi-value issues from various social groups, lifestyles, and identities. We investigate how these complex societal issues can be dealt with by various modes of governance, like public-private partnerships, public sector collaborations, community-based initiatives, triple helix partnerships, and the like. The work of our team is highly valued by (inter)national peers, civil society, policymakers, and governments, expressed by their visibility in design, impact and academic research projects and programs.

Department

Department of Public Administration and Sociology (DPAS)

DPAS encompasses the disciplines Public Administration and Sociology: two related scientific fields each with a unique profile. Public Administration studies governance capacity and policy interventions. It focuses on institutional power to organize and intervene in the relations between different social, political and economic actors. Public Administration in Rotterdam goes far beyond the public realm to also pay attention to public-private cooperation and the networks of organizations. Sociology investigates the social structures of societies and the way these evolve. Sociologists in Rotterdam focus, inter alia, on processes of globalization and individualization, and the effects of these processes on international social relations, the labor market and family relations. Social issues that are studied under this banner include migration, flexibilization and solidarity. The perspectives of Public Administration and Sociology complement each other. Together they guarantee a highly relevant and scientific approach to topical administrative and social issues. The bachelor- and master programs of DPAS are built on this profile and develop students into scientifically schooled professionals.

Additional information

The vacancy is part of a Vici project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), led by Prof. Willem de Koster: “Understanding the different meanings of climate change among the public: a mixed-methods study.”

The Vici team will be part of an enthusiastic group of sociologists who study contemporary social conflicts and divisions using insights from cultural sociology, united within the Erasmus Institute on Culture and Stratification (EICS).

The project will start on 15 September 2025. For more information about the position, please contact Willem de Koster (dekoster@essb.eur.nl).

Applying

Apply no later than June 11 2025.

Please submit the following documents (in English), in PDF format:

• a motivation letter;
• your CV, including contact details of two referees;
• a written work (e.g. paper or journal article) that you are proud of and that is relevant to the project.

We look forward to receiving your application!

Persons of all gender identities or expressions, sexual orientations, religions, ethnicities, ages, neurodiversities, functional impairments, citizenships, or any other aspect are welcome to apply and join the EUR community.