PhD in Behavioural and Economic Modelling for Pest Risk Management — Wageningen University

Key details

• Host institution: Wageningen University & Research
• Location: Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg, Wageningen, Netherlands
• Application deadline: August 19, 2026

Funding

Not funded by a EU programme

Funding level (from listing): partial or not via EU framework — confirm on the official call.

How to apply

• Apply by email to [email protected] (subject line and attachments per the official instructions).
• Full vacancy text and updates: Euraxess listing.

About the position

We invite applications for a fully funded PhD position titled “Behavioural and Economic Modelling To Support Systems-Based Pest Risk Management”.

Project Overview

Plant production in Europe is increasingly threatened by the emergence and spread of diverse plant pests, driven by factors such as global trade, climate change, and changing agricultural practices. These evolving challenges pose significant risks to agricultural sustainability and food security, highlighting the need for effective and innovative pest risk management strategies that adopt a systems-level perspective.

This PhD research project aims to advance the understanding of the behavioural, economic, and policy dimensions that shape pest risk management within European agricultural systems.

Research Context

Effective pest risk management across the agri-value chain requires not only a biological and ecological understanding of pest spread, but also in-depth insight into how human behaviour, economic incentives, and policy instruments shape decision-making by key chain actors involved. Positioned at the intersection of behavioural science, agricultural economics, and agricultural systems modelling, this PhD project will contribute to the development of modelling tools that integrate behavioural insights into bio-economic models to support the design of cost-effective and sustainable pest risk management strategies.

The PhD research will be conducted within the framework of the newly launched, multidisciplinary EU Horizon Europe project PhytoPRISM: A Platform for supporting a systems approach in Pest RISk Management, bringing together 15 leading research partners from 7 EU countries. This international consortium offers a unique opportunity for international collaboration, interdisciplinary knowledge exchange, and impactful scientific research at the forefront of European plant health policy and practice.

Research Objectives

• Behavioural analysis: Identify and analyse behavioural drivers influencing stakeholder decisions in pest risk management.
• Economic evaluation: Assess economic trade-offs between alternative phytosanitary measures, including prevention, eradication, and containment strategies.
• Incentives and policy analysis: Examine how economic incentives, institutional constraints, and policy instruments influence stakeholder behaviour and system efficiency.
• Model integration: Integrate behavioural responses into pest risk and bio-economic models to enhance decision support and strategy development for pest risk management.

Your Workplace

The PhD project will take place within the Business Economics (BEC) group of Wageningen University, which is led by Prof. Alfons Oude Lansink. BEC holds a strong position in interdisciplinary research with key areas such as food supply chain economics, bio-economic modelling, and economics of food safety, plant and animal health.