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 (which have already been completed), Correlational Class Analyses, survey-experiments and discrete choice experiments.
The postdoc project advertised here will focus on the quantitative studies in Italy and run in parallel with a PhD project focused on the Netherlands.
The first phase, consisting of qualitative research using focus groups, has already been successfully completed.
For the subsequent phases (which all use quantitative analyses) the postdoc, working under the close supervision of the PI and in collaboration with the other team members, will further develop the research design, collect and analyze data, and disseminate findings to both academic and non-academic audiences.
These research phases are as follows:
-
Informed by the preceding qualitative phase, we will collect novel survey data. We will apply Correlational Class Analysis to uncover different meanings ascribed to climate change among the population at large, and multinomial regression analysis to assess their social bases.
-
Building on the results from the previous phases, we will develop a tailor-made representative survey experiment to assess whether exposure to the same information on climate change differentially affects groups that attach different meanings to the phenomenon.
-
Finally, we will embed a discrete choice experiment (DCE) in a representative survey to assess whether people who attach different meanings to climate change evaluate climate policy proposals differently.
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. While the postdoc project focuses on Italy, travel to Italy is thus not needed.
In collaboration with the PI and other team members, the postdoc will author at least three scholarly articles.
The postdoc will also participate in academic meetings, (inter)national conferences, and team seminars, and will communicate insights to broader publics.
-
A PhD degree in Sociology or a related discipline, relevant to the project and completed before the start of the contract.
-
Experience with advanced quantitative research methods; experience with collecting survey data and the methods applied in the project (Correlational Class Analysis, survey experiments and Discrete Choice Experiments) is a plus.
-
Strong motivation to conduct cultural-sociological research; prior experience is a plus.
-
Excellent command of English (C1); proficiency in one of the other project languages is a plus.
-
Knowledge of the Italian context is appreciated, but not a strict requirement (as this expertise is also brought to the project by another team member).
-
Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a team setting.
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 ideal start date of this position is 1 October 2026 (but the exact start date can be discussed) 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 € 4.728 (1 FTE) gross per month Scale 11.0 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 extended, upon proven suitability, with 2 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 Expat-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.
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.
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB)
Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) combines various disciplines such as public administration, pedagogical sciences, psychology and sociology. In addition, the Erasmus University College is affiliated with the faculty. Within ESSB, we work in teams on education and research, emphasising interdisciplinarity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability. Together, we strive for societal and scientific impact.
ESSB distinguishes itself through inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary research, in which academics and students work together on complex social issues. Thanks to this approach, ESSB successfully attracts national and international research subsidies and funds, with which we continuously strengthen and renew our education and research.
ESSB serves almost 6,000 students annually with a wide range of bachelor's and master's programmes and has more than 600 employees. These programmes are highly rated by students and alumni. Within ESSB, developing new insights and realising positive societal impact are central, always with a focus on people and society.
Visit our website for more information about the faculty, and click here for more information about our academic teams.
The vacancy is part of a Vici project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), led by prof. dr. 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).
Team Governance and Pluralism
The Governance and Pluralism team studies complex, multi-value, and multilevel issues related to various societal challenges. We take the pluralistic nature of these challenges as a given and approach them from various social layers, lifestyles, and identities. We investigate how these complex societal issues can be addressed through different forms of governance, such as public-private partnerships, multilevel collaborations, community initiatives and triple helix partnerships. Our team’s work is highly regarded by (inter)national colleagues, civil society organisations, policymakers, and governments. This is reflected in their visibility within design, impact, and academic research projects and programs.
For more information, please visit our website.
Ideally, the position will start on October 1, 2026, but the exact start date can be discussed. Job interviews with a selection of applicants will likely be scheduled for Thursday, August 20, 2026.
Please send us the following documents 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.
For more information about the position, please contact Willem de Koster ([email protected]).
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.
