PhD CANDIDATE IN SOCIAL CRITERIA DRIVEN ABSOLUTE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT

Fixed term contract | Belvaux | 48 months

Are you passionate about research? So are we! Come and join us

The Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) is a leading Research and Technology Organisation (RTO) that drives innovation for the economy and society in Luxembourg and beyond. With cutting-edge expertise in Natural, Built, Industrial environments, Space, AI, Security and defence technologies. LIST bridges scientific excellence and applied research to design solutions that address real-world challenges and create positive impact.

The Environmental Sustainability Assessment and Circularity (SUSTAIN) Unit conducts cross‑disciplinary research to support the transition toward a more sustainable, resilient, and healthy society. SUSTAIN combines expertise in environmental sciences, circular economy, risk and safety assessment, and sustainable innovation to address complex challenges related to human and environmental health, climate change, and resource efficiency, developing knowledge, methods, and transferable software for the simulation and comprehensive sustainability assessment of socio-economic systems. Its purpose is to foster sustainable eco-innovation, through products and technologies, as well as support sustainability-oriented policy implementation and behavioural change to promote decarbonisation transitions.

Do you want to know more about LIST? Check our website: https://www.list.lu/

How will you contribute?

The world faces a convergence of crises that are transforming the conditions for human development. Climate instability, ecosystem degradation, and the overuse of natural resources have reached critical levels, while social inequality, political fragmentation, and technological disruption are reshaping societies. Traditional notions of economic competitiveness, centred on growth and productivity, are being redefined to include social resilience, inclusiveness, and ecological integrity. Responding to this “polycrisis” requires new pathways that reconcile prosperity with planetary and social limits. Luxembourg offers a particularly illustrative example of these tensions. The country enjoys one of the highest income levels globally and a dynamic financial and business environment that sustains its reputation for economic success. Yet this prosperity depends strongly on cross-border commuting, which creates mobility challenges and environmental stress. Escalating housing prices have made access to affordable living increasingly difficult, displacing a significant share of the workforce beyond national borders. The reliance on imported energy leaves households and firms vulnerable to external shocks. Although Luxembourg’s welfare model and social dialogue remain robust, they are under pressure from rising costs of living, widening inequalities, and growing demands on public services. Environmentally, Luxembourg’s footprint per inhabitant ranks among the largest worldwide, driven by high consumption and land-use pressures that push the country beyond sustainable limits.

Meeting these intertwined challenges calls for coordinated transformations that bridge sectors, disciplines, and scales. Economic and social progress must be reframed within the concept of a Safe Operating Space—an area in which human well-being is achieved without breaching environmental boundaries. The objective is to steer innovation, governance, and everyday practices toward forms of competitiveness that are compatible with sustainability, rather than in conflict with it. The Doctoral Training Unit C-SOS (Competitiveness within a Safe Operating Space) is designed to cultivate researchers capable of analysing and fostering such transformations. It brings together an interdisciplinary consortium to train 12 PhD candidates in the assessment and design of inclusive and sustainable development trajectories. The programme equips them with conceptual and methodological tools to connect environmental sustainability, social well-being, and economic dynamics into integrated frameworks for decision-making. Its ambition is to inform socio-economic policies, encourage responsible industrial and technological innovation, and contribute to more equitable and resilient societies. Luxembourg provides an ideal environment for this initiative, combining strong expertise in sustainability science and policy analysis. The DTU is a collaboration between researchers at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), the University of Luxembourg (UL) and the Urban Development and Mobility Department at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER). The consortium also includes the National Statistics Office (STATEC). In this DTU, 12 scientists will train 12 PhD students over six years (from January 2027), each obtaining a PhD from UL’s doctoral schools.

As part of the C-SOS Doctoral Training Unit, in this PhD you will integrate concepts from Post-Growth, Sufficiency and Doughnut Economics into the downscaling of planetary boundaries, leveraging good examples of application to territories and cities. Possible research questions include: how to couple ecological limits and social foundation as an interdependent system? How to define social foundation? How to allocate the carrying capacity based on social foundation?.

You will be embedded in the SUSTAIN unit at LIST and enrolled as a doctoral candidate at the University of Luxembourg. You will work closely with a diverse cohort of 12 PhD researchers across the social, economic, and environmental sciences, contributing to a shared research agenda on how Luxembourg can thrive within its fair share of planetary limits

You will be mainly in charge of:

• Conducting a systematic review and critical assessment of existing carrying capacity allocation and planetary boundary downscaling approaches, spanning economic and emission based allocation methods, sufficiency based approaches, and Doughnut Economics frameworks
• Developing a methodological framework for coupling ecological limits and social foundation as an interdependent system, integrating Post-Growth, Sufficiency, and Doughnut Economics concepts into the downscaling of planetary boundaries
• Applying the framework to Luxembourg and comparable small territories under a range of allocation scenarios, drawing on Green Deal technology targets, context specific Decent Living Standards, and provisioning systems, producing environmental ceiling estimates grounded in social foundation thresholds
• Building and maintaining a dynamic system model enabling the testing of individual and combined allocation approaches, valuing social outcome generation per unit of environmental impact across relevant planetary boundary dimensions
• Collaborating with other C-SOS doctoral researchers, in particular those working on social foundation, Quality of Life, and economic systems, to ensure that allocation approaches rest on socially realistic and empirically coherent definitions of social foundation
• Publishing results in peer reviewed journals and presenting at international conferences
• Contributing to C-SOS training activities, workshops, and stakeholder engagement events

Is Your profile described below? Are you our future colleague? Apply now!

Education

• Master's degree (or equivalent) in a quantitative discipline relevant to environmental sustainability, such as: industrial ecology, environmental engineering, environmental or ecological economics or computational social science
• Solid academic grounding in Planetary Boundaries, Doughnut Economics, Post Growth or degrowth literature
• Familiarity with Decent Living Standards and Quality of Life frameworks

Experience and skills

• Proficiency in Python for building and maintaining modular research tools
• Experience with dynamic system modeling or willingness to develop this quickly
• Comfort with multiregional input output analysis or similar economy wide modeling approaches
• Statistical and data analysis skills for working with large environmental and social datasets
• Experience with prospective LCA or scenario-based sustainability modelling is an asset
• Intellectual curiosity and genuine interest in the intersection of environmental science, economics, and well-being economy
• Capacity to work both independently and collaboratively within an interdisciplinary team
• Strong analytical and scientific writing skills

Language skills

• Fluency in English, both oral and written. National and Greater Region languages (French, German, Luxembourgish) are an asset, other languages welcome.

Your LIST benefits

• An organization with a passion for impact and strong RDI partnerships in Luxembourg and Europe that works on responsible and independent research projects
• Sustainable by design, empowering our belief that we play an essential role in paving the way to a green society
• Innovative infrastructures and exceptional labs occupying more than 5,000 square metres, including innovations in all that we do
• An environment encouraging curiosity, innovation and entrepreneurship in all areas
• Personalized learning programme to foster our staff’s soft and technical skills
• Multicultural and international work environment with more than 60 nationalities represented in our workforce
• Diverse and inclusive work environment empowering our people to fulfil their personal and professional ambitions
• Gender-friendly environment with multiple actions to attract, develop and retain women in science
• 32 days’ paid annual leave, 11 public holidays, 13-month salary, statutory health insurance
• Flexible working hours, home working policy (not remote) and access to Digital lunch vouchers

Apply online

Your application must include:

• A motivation letter oriented towards the position and detailing your experience
• A scientific CV with contact details
• List of publications, if applicable)
• Contact details of 2 references

Please apply ONLINE formally through the HR system. Applications by email will not be considered.