Integrative biodiversity research is interdisciplinary at heart, bridging different disciplines like biology, ecology, forestry, agriculture, economics, and social sciences. In contrast to classical ecology, it recognizes ecosystems as complex socio-ecological systems where humans impact on as well as manage and obtain benefits from biodiversity.
This requires a transdisciplinary program linking scientists to practitioners and decision-makers. The importance of engaging different disciplines in biodiversity assessments is increasingly recognized, and thus, it is also reflected in the work of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). In particular, economics has been providing important contributions in fields such as ecological-economic modeling, valuation of biodiversity, financial mechanisms to conserve biodiversity, policy instruments and governance of biodiversity management, among others. At the same time, evolutionary economists have started to adopt and develop theory on fundamental ecological and evolutionary concepts that are common to both economic and biological systems, such as diversity, stability, and facilitation. Further integration of economics and biology to understand the common underpinning of social and ecology systems is emerging as major research frontier, to address not only questions at the interface of both fields, but also to promote cross-fertilization of economics and ecological theory. The German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) provides a unique environment to address this research frontier. Therefore, we are opening a professorship in Biodiversity Economics hosted by iDiv and affiliated with the Faculty of Economics and Management Science at Leipzig University.
iDiv is a world-leading institute for integrative biodiversity research. Its central mission is to promote theory-driven synthesis and data-driven theory in integrative biodiversity research. The concept of iDiv encompasses the detection of biodiversity, understanding its emergence, exploring its consequences for ecosystem functions and services, and developing strategies to safeguard biodiversity under global change (www.idiv.de).
Application deadline: 15 October 2017
For more information, please visit:
www.idiv.de/fileadmin/content/Vacancies_PDF/Vacancies_2017/170810_iDiv_Ausschreibung_W3_Biodiversitaetsoekonomik.pdf