Professor in Economics for Global-Local Sustainable Development

About us

The University of Luxembourg is an international research university with a distinctly multilingual and interdisciplinary character.

The Luxembourg Centre for Socio-Environmental Systems strives to grow into an internationally recognised research hub for a sustainable and equitable world. Our goal is to help societies to transition to environmentally friendly and just conditions. At the core is the recognition that global environmental disruptions such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion are closely linked with societal systems. To address these complex issues, we take a systemic approach and study the interconnectedness of human activities and the environment. Our mission is to develop sustainable, socially just, and environmentally friendly solutions by bridging disciplines and fostering collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and society.

Your role

The successful candidate will establish and lead internationally visible research at the interface of economics, sustainability science and global environmental change, developing new quantitative approaches to understand and steer transformations across food, land, water and natural-resource systems. A distinctive ambition of the professorship is to develop a multi-scale global-local-global perspective on sustainability by investigating how local decisions by producers, consumers and other actors are shaped by global markets, trade, technology, climate and policy - and how their aggregate effects feedback to landscapes, ecosystems and societies.

Consequently, the candidate's research will combine economic theory, fine-scale spatial data, empirical evidence and computational modelling to explain trade-offs, synergies and spillovers that remain hidden in single-scale analyses. Relevant research may address at least three of the following fields: agricultural production, labor markets, natural-resource scarcity, food security, climate change, technological change, impacts of demographic transition, social cohesion, resilience of supply chains, environmental policy, and the distributional consequences of sustainability transformations.

A key ambition is to move beyond diagnosing unsustainable trajectories towards designing effective and equitable transformation pathways, exploring how policy, innovation and global interconnectedness can reconcile environmental sustainability with food security, livelihoods and economic development.

For further information about the role, please contact: Prof. Dr. Ralf Seppelt, Director the Luxembourg Centre for Socio-Environmental System (LCSES), Email: .

Your profile

The successful candidate holds a strong academic background in economics, agricultural or environmental economics, together with an internationally recognized research record. They have demonstrated expertise in economic theory and quantitative modelling, complemented by experience with spatially explicit data, empirical estimation, computational methods or other approaches capable of linking processes across scales.

Additionally, they can translate theoretical concepts into transparent, empirically grounded models and integrate economic analysis with insights and data from other disciplines. Experience in interdisciplinary research on food, land, water, climate, natural resources or related sustainability challenges can be proven by documented participation within interdisciplinary networks and projects.

The successful candidate is an intellectually independent researcher with the ambition to build and lead a collaborative, interdisciplinary research team, attract competitive research funding, develop innovative methodological approaches and contribute to policy-relevant sustainability science. A commitment to open, reproducible research, excellent communication across disciplinary boundaries, and the ability to engage effectively with policy and practice are essential.

The ideal candidate will have:

• A PhD in a relevant field and a minimum of 5 years postdoc experience demonstrating ability to independently develop a research agenda
• A strong capability to think out of the box and shape their research around the challenges posed by interdisciplinary questions
• A strong record of research excellence, evidenced by impactful publications and success in securing external research funding
• Experience engaging with policymakers, NGOs, and other stakeholders to translate research into real-world impact
• A demonstrated commitment to mentoring and fostering the next generation of researchers
• Willingness to contribute to teaching programmes at the undergraduate and graduate levels in areas related to environmental change and socio-environmental systems

Language requirements:

The University of Luxembourg is set in a multilingual and multicultural context. The person hired on this position must have an excellent command of English. Excellent command of either French or German will be considered as an advantage. The University encourages its staff to learn the other language and provides access to language courses to this end.

We offer

• A modern, dynamic university with a personal and inclusive atmosphere. Multilingual and international character. Staff coming from more than 90 countries. Member of The Guild of European Research Intensive Universities
• An exceptional research environment, supported by skilled staff and high-quality equipment. Strong links to professional sectors and the Luxembourg labour market. A unique urban campus with excellent infrastructure
• A partner for society and industry. Cooperation with European institutions, innovative companies, the Financial Centre and a wide range of non-academic partners including ministries, local governments, associations, and NGOs

How to apply

Applications should contain:

• Cover letter, to be addressed to Prof. Ralf Seppelt, Director of the LCSES
• CV, including any periods of absence from work such as family-related leave and career breaks
• Short description of profile, key achievements and impact, summarizing main publications, projects, teaching expertise and accomplishments in knowledge transfer relevant to this role (1-3 pages)
• Statement of planned research, teaching and other activities at the University of Luxembourg (1-3 pages)
• Lists of publications, research projects, PhD theses supervised and subjects taught
• Names, contact information and current position of 3 referees who can, upon request, provide an assessment of the application. Please indicate their relationship to you

We encourage early application. Applications are only accepted online through the HR system. The position will be unposted on 23 December 2026, after which no further applications can be submitted. Applications will be handled in strict confidence.

General Information:

• Reference: UOL08556 (to be mentioned in all correspondence)
• Publication date: -
• Contract Type: Professorial - Permanent
• Working Hours: Full Time 40.0 Hours per Week
• Location: Belval Campus
• Planned starting date: 01/05/2027

Diversity and gender equality:

The University of Luxembourg embraces inclusion, diversity and gender equality as essential for academic excellence. We are fully committed to removing discriminatory barriers in recruitment and career progression and to advance gender balance among academic staff. Should candidates present equivalent CVs, preference will be given to female candidates in all departments where gender parity is not yet achieved.