PhD Studentship – The socioeconomic and environmental aspects of agriculture: a spatial perspective on changing production practices

Despite European agricultural and rural policy aiming to support rural development and the delivery of ecosystem services, the connections between agriculture, environment and the rural socio-economy remain relatively underexplored, as the environmental and rural development aspects of agricultural production are typically approached as separate fields of inquiry.
Existing life cycle analyses (LCA) and economic-LCA methodologies permit a quantification of the effect of different agricultural production systems and their management on the wider environment and the rural economy. In contrast, methods to quantify such effects on the social environment are poorly developed, especially at the regional or sub-regional scale. This leaves planners and policy makers with an incomplete view of rural and regional development, which could otherwise benefit from a more integrated perspective. This PhD project will address the need to analyse agri-environmental change in the context of the rural socio-economy, thus providing an integrated perspective on sustainable agricultural development.
The main elements of the PhD will be:
• Review existing methods and theories connecting agricultural production systems and the rural social environment.
• Develop a methodology to quantify the effect of pro-environmental changes in agricultural production systems on rural socio-economy.
• Apply the methodology developed using Scottish and Danish case studies.

Applicants must have a Masters degree or equivalent with a strong quantitative component (including dataset management and analytical skills) in an appropriate discipline (agriculture, economics, environmental sciences or geography). Prior knowledge of agri-food systems and their environmental impacts is desirable but not essential. Experience in environmental accounting (e.g. LCA), quantitative modelling, or spatial analysis (e.g. GIS) or relational databases skills are desirable.

This PhD is a joint project between the Land Economy, Environment & Society Research Group at SRUC and the Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark. The student will be registered at the Graduate School of Science and Technology at Aarhus University and will be based at SRUC in Edinburgh for 1.5 years and at Aarhus University in Denmark for 2 years. In Denmark, the student will collaborate with 4 other PhD students and 3 post docs, as part of the ProvenanceDK project, which focuses on mapping the potential for developing Danish provenance foods. The expected start date is 1st September 2017.

SRUC, Scotland’s Rural College, delivers comprehensive skills, education and business support for Scotland’s land-based industry founded on world class, sector leading research, education and consultancy. SRUC’s joint submission with the University of Edinburgh to the Agriculture, Veterinary and Food Science subpanel of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) ranks top in the UK on research power.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be a globally oriented university with a commitment to excellence in research and education and a strong engagement in the development of society. Aarhus University has a strong reputation and influence across the entire spectrum of scientific disciplines, locally, nationally and globally.