Applications are open for a full time Ph.D. student position for the research project Good Life within Planetary Boundaries. The project is funded by the Icelandic Research Council (RANNIS) for three years and is within the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering or the interdisciplinary programme in Environment and Natural Resources (with the option to be in the School of Engineering and Natural Sciences or the School of Social Sciences).

The doctoral candidate will be a part of an interdisciplinary research team working at the intersection of sustainability science, ecological economics, policy research, and socio-technical systems analysis. The position provides an opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research addressing one of the most pressing challenges of our time: ensuring human well-being within planetary limits.

Provisioning systems represent the socio-technical processes through which societies transform natural resources into services that meet human needs. While research has traditionally examined environmental or social outcomes separately, this project integrates both perspectives through a strong sustainability lens, combining planetary boundary frameworks with social thresholds to identify pathways toward equitable and sustainable futures.

This research project explores how provisioning systems, such as mobility, housing, food, health, ICT, and education, can deliver high levels of human well-being while remaining within environmental boundaries. The research builds upon prior work developing safe and just sustainability frameworks and advances this work by integrating qualitative socio-technical analysis with quantitative system modelling.

Main tasks

• Participation in a international and interdisciplinary research project that aims to realize how to meet basic needs but stay within planetary boundaries.
• Use qualitative research methods to analyze socio-economic and socio-technical dynamics shaping sustainability transitions as well as to Identify leverage points and systemic barriers influencing social and environmental outcomes.
• Conduct policy analysis, review and assess existing national and sectoral policies affecting selected provisioning systems.
• Organize and participate in stakeholder workshops, interviews, and policy dialogues.
• Develop policy scenarios and recommendations for integration into system dynamics models.
• Contribute to academic publications and conference presentations.
• Support dissemination activities including policy briefs and stakeholder communication to support more robust decision-making in the context of sustainability, wellbeing, just transition and planetary boundaries.