PhD candidate for integrated environmental impact assessment of offshore wind farms

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Testo originale dell'annuncio (in inglese)

Are you an enthusiastic early career researcher who is keen to work on integrated environmental assessment, offshore wind energy systems, biodiversity impacts, and life cycle assessment (LCA)? Are you interested in developing novel approaches to assess the ecological impacts of offshore wind farm installation and operation in the North Sea? Then this could be the ideal PhD position for you! What you will do The transition to offshore renewable energy is essential for achieving climate neutrality and reducing dependence on fossil fuels. At the same time, the rapid expansion of offshore wind farms (OWFs) raises important questions regarding their environmental impacts on marine ecosystems, biodiversity, fisheries, and ocean use. Understanding and quantifying these impacts is essential to support sustainable offshore energy development and maritime spatial planning. This PhD position is embedded in the NWO-ORC project NO-REGRETS, coordinated by Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), which investigates the ecological and socio-environmental impacts of offshore wind farms in the North Sea. The project brings together an interdisciplinary consortium of universities, research institutes, public stakeholders, and industry partners to develop integrated knowledge and tools for nature-inclusive offshore wind development. The Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) at Leiden University and TNO jointly offer a PhD position focusing on the development of an integrated stressor-receptor-impact assessment framework for offshore wind farms. The project will focus particularly on impacts arising from offshore wind farm installation, operation, and maintenance (O&M), including physical and chemical stressors affecting benthic and pelagic ecosystems. The PhD project is expected to cover: Reviewing and developing state-of-the-art stressor-receptor-impact assessment methods for offshore wind farms, with a focus on biodiversity and ecosystem impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA). Assessing physical and chemical impact pathways associated with offshore wind installation and operation & maintenance (O&M), including underwater noise and vibrations, seabed and hydrodynamic changes, fisheries and marine transport interactions, chemical emissions, and microplastic releases affecting benthic and pelagic ecosystems. Translating environmental monitoring data, field measurements, and modelling results into long-term biodiversity impact indicators and characterization factors for offshore wind farms over their operational lifetime. Developing integrated cumulative impact and scenario assessment approaches to support sustainable offshore wind deployment, including applications in maritime spatial planning, environmental decision-support tools, and nature-inclusive design, with particular attention to how interventions such as optimised scour protection, engineered reef units, may contribute to ecological enhancement alongside broad social, natural capital and carbon outcomes. The work will involve close collaboration with researchers working on marine ecology, offshore engineering, environmental modelling, and life cycle sustainability assessment within the NO-REGRETS consortium. The candidate will also interact with ongoing projects at TNO related to offshore wind sustainability assessment and decision-support tools. Where you will work The PhD trajectory will be hosted by the Department of Industrial Ecology at Leiden University’s Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), in collaboration with the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). The Faculty of Science at Leiden University is home to numerous world-class research groups and institutes, and maintains strong connections with leading research organizations. CML is part of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University, which offers an inspiring interdisciplinary research environment with strong collaborations across academia, governmental