Utrecht University, Netherland invites online Application for number of Fully Funded PhD Degree at various Departments. We are providing a list of Fully Funded PhD Programs available at Utrecht University, Netherland.
Eligible candidate may Apply as soon as possible.
(01) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: Mainstreaming nature-based solutions through co-creation
We seek a Ph.D. researcher to theoretically and empirically develop, apply and evaluate, novel approaches to co-creation by including emotions and values and employing digital technologies (such as XR) with rural communities for fostering climate resilience with nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions are climate adaptation solutions for dealing with climate pressures, biodiversity loss, and regenerating people-nature connections. Recently, there has been much research about the benefits and outcomes of co-creation and co-design processes for nature-based solutions and the importance of engaging with a multitude of actors to ensure just processes and outcomes. Many of the good practices of co-creation take a rationality approach with limited conceptual and empirical examination and engagement about the role that emotions and values of people (as also conceptualized by the IPBES Values Assessment) play in empowering or disempowering citizens. Therefore, more research is needed in how to account for emotions and values of people about nature and place in co-creation processes by designing methods of co-creation differently. This is the main research aim of this PhD research.
Deadline : 14 February 2026
(02) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: responsible biomedical innovation and transition to animal-free research
The Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development is looking for a PhD candidate who would like to join our team working – in co-creation with partners in the field – on responsible research and innovation in the biomedical domain. The vacancy is part of the National Growth Fund programme “Ombion-CPBT”, which is a national centre for valorizing and disseminating animal-free innovations and expertise in the biomedical domain.
The PhD project brings together expertise on transition management and Science and Technology Studies (STS). The main goal is to further co-develop with the field hands-on methods to support the responsible, societally and ethically aligned advancement of animal-free technologies for biomedical translation and risk assessment.
As a successful applicant, you will work within and in interaction with the Ombion-CPBT project. You will collect, develop and pilot aforementioned methods, in collaboration with a diverse group of stakeholders, including biomedical researchers, patient representatives, model developers, industry partners and others. The aim is to strengthen their capacity to put responsible research and innovation into practice in biomedical translation and transitioning towards animal-free research and innovation. This requires, among others, research on and better understanding of ethical and value considerations, systemic contexts, new modes of collaboration and a focus on long-term impacts and value for society. The animal-free biomedical translation centre provides an excellent context for further developing and testing these responsible research and innovation methods iteratively and contributing to innovation and transition in action.
Deadline : 15 February 2026
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(03) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Explainable AI for High-Stake Decision Making
AI is increasingly used in domains where decisions carry profound consequences for human lives. By focusing on transparency and explainability, this PhD project gives you the opportunity to shape how humans and AI interact in high-stakes contexts. You will help define how AI can support—not replace—human judgment, ensuring that technology empowers rather than undermines trust and autonomy.
You will be part of the DECIDE project: a large-scale, NWO-funded research initiative under the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA). It brings together 10 Dutch universities, over 50 academic researchers, and 30 societal partners to co-develop a new generation of transparent, citizen-empowering AI systems. The project spans domains such as healthcare, mobility, education, law, ethics, and public governance.
Deadline : 9 March 2026
(04) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: Physics-informed AI-modelling of land surface processes
In many areas of the world, water resources are overexploited, leading to the depletion of water volumes and deterioration of water quality in aquifers, reservoirs and rivers. This, in turn, leads to a greater pressure on the remaining water resources and more water scarcity in different sectors. At the department of Physical Geography at Utrecht University, we have developed the global hydrology and water resources model PCR-GLOBWB to analyse these global water challenges.
As a PhD you will improve the land surface representation of PCR-GLOBWB by including new to be developed soil and vegetation modules and an energy balance. Secondly you will use AI-based surrogates to speed up calculations and allow for better calibration of the land-surface modules to observations. Finally, you will work on improving the drought response of the vegetation in PCR-GLOBWB. Throughout the process model improvements will be compared to local and remotely sensed observations during extensive validation and sensitivity analysis.
Deadline : 22 February 2026
(05) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in Nanoscale Rock Magnetism and Magnetic Imaging
This study is part of the ERC Consolidator project SPARK, which aims to unlock magnetic information stored in nanoscale vortex-state particles in rocks and other geological materials. These tiny particles may preserve key information on the strength and behaviour of the geomagnetic field during critical periods in Earth’s history, such as the early Earth, the great oxygenation event, and step-changes in the evolution in the Devonian and Ediacaran. Despite their potential, the recording behaviour and long-term magnetic stability of these vortex-state particles are still poorly understood. In this project, you will experimentally investigate which vortex-state particles are reliable recorders of the Earth’s magnetic field and how to obtain the crucial information hidden within them.
Your research will focus on the empirical characterization of individual magnetic particles, combining state-of-the-art magnetic imaging with advanced electron microscopy techniques. You will generate high-quality experimental datasets that form the basis for data-driven micromagnetic modelling developed within the project.
Deadline : 15 February 2026
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(06) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Candidate on impacts of nitrogen deposition on tree-soil relations
Nitrogen deposition in the Netherlands leads to an accumulation of nitrogen compounds in the soil and, in forest areas with weakly buffering soils, to soil acidification. This acidification causes shifts in the uptake capacity of soil minerals, which limits the growth and survival of vegetation. In such weakly buffered systems eutrophication and acidification may additionally interact with the drought sensitivity of tree species, which are becoming more severe due to climate change and resulting in increased forest mortality. Increased tree mortality might be the result of deteriorating microbial (soil) communities that are also affected by these stress factors and this may lead to shifts in microbial species composition and ultimately reducing soil’s water-holding capacity. The spatial distributions of such soil communities, the changes in (functional) diversity of these soil communities in relation to nitrogen deposition and acidification, and their relationships with forest vitality are still largely unknown. In this project you will:
- Study the extent to which nitrogen deposition and soil acidification alter microbial communities in the soil and the effects changes in soil microbial communities have on forest stands (growth and survival);
- You will carry out field work in nitrogen deposition gradients in forests from sandy soils in the Netherlands and abroad;
- During field work carry out soil sampling and tree growth measurements using dendrometers;
- Carry out laboratory experiments on collected forest soils by studying genetic (PCR) analyses, phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA) analyses, microbial biomass, soil carbon, respiration and enzymatic activities.
Deadline : 7 February 2026
(07) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position: Quantifying Indoor and Occupational Microplastic Exposure
This PhD Position – Quantifying Indoor and Occupational Microplastic Exposure and Co-creating Interventions focuses on quantifying indoor and occupational microplastic exposure and on co-creating practical interventions that make a measurable difference in everyday environments. Embedded in the interdisciplinary MOMENTUM 3.0 programme funded by ZonMw, the project combines environmental exposure assessment, advanced analytical chemistry, behavioural science, and stakeholder engagement to generate knowledge that directly feeds into health risk assessment and toxicological research.
You will:
- Design and conduct indoor air measurements in homes and workplaces using a citizen-science approach;
- Build and deploy active air-sampling setups to collect airborne microplastic samples;
- Analyse samples using advanced analytical techniques, including TED-GC/MS (Thermal Extraction Desorption–Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry) to quantify microplastic mass, SEM-EDX (Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) to visualise particle morphology at the micro- and nanoscale, and µ-FTIR (Micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) for high-throughput particle identification;
- Process and interpret complex datasets to identify exposure patterns and determinants;
- Design and evaluate intervention strategies, including HEPA filtration and behavioural guidance;
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary academic and societal partners;
- Publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present findings at international conferences.
Deadline :28 February 2026
(08) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD Position in Root Interactions with Suberin-Inducing Microbes
Root suberization is a promising example of a multi-stress protection trait. Suberin can protect a plant from losing water during drought, oxygen deprivation during flooding, salt uptake from saline soils and pathogens from entering roots. We recently discovered that root suberization can be induced by certain soil-borne microbes. This project aims to understand molecular mechanism underlaying plant interactions with this novel class of microbes. This knowledge will help us understand how to fine-tune suberization patterns for optimal crops stress protection.
This ambitious project bridges two fields: root development and plant-microbe interactions. You will study how recently discovered suberin-inducing microbes interact with the roots of an important crop species, sorghum. You will map spatiotemporal patterns of microbial colonization and resulting changes in suberin levels. You will identify the molecular language through which suberin-inducing microbes and plants communicate by deciphering: (1) which signalling molecules do plants use to recruit these microbes to their roots, (2) what signals do suberin-inducing microbes send to the plant and (3) how do plants integrate these signals with their transcriptional programs.
Deadline : 15 February 2026
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(09) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in Interdisciplinary Social Science
The project investigates social movements at different scales (local, identity-based, and climate-related) and uses innovative qualitative and participatory methods to study how care, strategy, and collective action interact in times of societal crisis. You will join a vibrant academic community and benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration across social psychology, sociology, and public health.
As part of a collaborative team of researchers, you will carry out a qualitative (observation, interviews, participatory methods) study with two comparable activist communities (preferably, in the Netherlands or Germany), and contribute to the project’s broader comparative aims. You will conduct qualitative fieldwork with two activist communities (to be determined collaboratively based on your background and interests).
Deadline : 27 February 2026
(10) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position on debris flow magnitude and frequencies
In this PhD, you will carry out field measurements and run numerical simulations to better understand and predict debris-flow sizes and frequencies by:
- Measuring rock fractures from UAV data using manual and automated mapping approaches (e.g., machine learning, convolutional neural networks).
- Monitoring physical weathering processes using temperature loggers together with existing frost-cracking and thermal-stress models.
- Measuring sediment supply from rockfalls and debris-flow sediment movement using UAV surveys carried out several times per year.
- Modelling debris-flow sediment dynamics with a probabilistic sediment-cascade model.
- Studying how climate change affects debris-flow activity by incorporating downscaled climate scenarios into debris-flow models.
Deadline : 16 February 2026
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(11) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: Impact of terrigenous mineral input on marine silicate alteration
On geological time scales rock weathering controls Earth’s climate by providing a natural CO2 sink. In addition to dissolved components, minerals are transported by rivers to the ocean, where they continue to dissolve and act as an additional CO2 sink. In marine sediments, silicate alteration can be dominated by either mineral dissolution (forward weathering) or by secondary mineral precipitation (reverse weathering). The net marine CO2 drawdown and element turnover related to marine silicate alteration is not well quantified.
In this 4-year study, you will investigate mineral dissolution and precipitation rates using various experimental set-ups, that represent the diversity of coastal systems (i.e. beach, shelf) in which silicate alteration occurs. In these experiments, you will test the dissolution behavior of the globally most common reactive rock types, that are volcanics, siliciclastic rocks and highly weathered minerals, such as metal-(hydr)oxides and clays. Identification of reaction pathways will be done via fluid and solid element as well as non-traditional stable isotope (Si, K) analyses. This PhD project is part of the ‘SILICYCLE’ grant, awarded to Dr Sonja Geilert under the Vidi scheme of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Deadline : 1 February 2026
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(12) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD position in modelling and representation of geographic questions
Geographic questions like ‘What is the potential for reducing urban heat in Amsterdam by installing green roofs on existing buildings?’ are important in fields such as urban planning, sustainability, and public health. Answering such a question requires the transformation of maps combining different suitable geodata sources, including heat sources and building layouts to generate an answer map. This problem is called indirect question answering, and it is not straightforward with current GeoQA tools. In such scenarios, maps must be created or transformed from other maps.
The ERC funded project GeoTrAnsQData project addresses this by developing a GeoQA method that converts questions into executable geo-analytical workflows, turning geodata into new answer maps accordingly. We use knowledge graphs to model these transformations and apply AI methods to scale them up across large map repositories, enabling users to explore many ways maps can be reused to answer different kinds of questions. This PhD position focuses on understanding, interpreting, parsing and formalising geo-analytical questions. You will explore hybrid (symbolic and sub-symbolic) AI approaches to help users formulate and translate natural language questions into structured representations that can be linked to geospatial data sources and workflows.
Deadline : 31 January 2026
(13) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: Semantic Modelling of Geodata Sources and Geo-analytical Workflows
Geographic questions like ‘What is the potential to reduce urban heat in Amsterdam by installing green roofs on existing buildings?’ are important in fields such as urban planning, sustainability, and public health. It requires the transformation of maps combining different suitable geodata sources, including heat sources and building layouts to generate an answer map. This problem is called indirect question answering, and it is not straightforward with current GeoQA tools.
In such scenarios, maps must be created or transformed from other maps. The ERC funded project GeoTrAnsQData project addresses this by developing a GeoQA method that converts questions into executable geo-analytical workflows, turning geodata into new answer maps. Knowledge graphs can be used to model these transformations and to link geodata sources to questions. In this project we will apply symbolic and sub-symbolic AI methods to scale this up across large geodata repositories, enabling users to explore various ways maps can be reused to answer different kinds of questions. We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to conduct interdisciplinary research that links question answering, knowledge modelling, geo-spatial analysis, and workflow construction. This PhD position focuses on developing a semantic model of the diverse geodata sources in a map repository, enabling reasoning about their analytical purposes and their provenance using concepts of geographic information. You will focus on modelling data resources and workflow generation for geographic question answering.
Deadline : 31 January 2026
(14) PhD Degree – Fully Funded
PhD position summary/title: PhD: Building the infrastructure for (mass) mobilisation
In this PhD position, you will study how citizen collectives can mobilise broad groups of citizens to contribute to sustainability transitions. You explore how these collectives and their networks reach beyond their immediate communities, and how they can build the infrastructures needed for large-scale engagement. Your insights will support ECCO’s societal partners in strengthening mobilisation strategies.
You will work with networks such as LSA, Energie Samen and Cooplink. Using qualitative research and action research, you will analyse existing mobilisation efforts, identify challenges and co-develop practical approaches through workshops and working sessions. You will embed yourself in ongoing change processes and help collectives envision and develop the organisational and digital tools required for broader participation.
You will be part of a cohort of 11 PhD candidates from multiple Dutch universities and disciplines, from social psychology and urban planning to governance studies and design thinking. You will collaborate closely during joint research days, workshops and events, while being based at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University.
Deadline : 15 February 2026
About Utrecht University, Netherlands – Official Website
Utrecht University is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established 26 March 1636 (385 years ago), it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrolment of 31,801 students, and employed 7,191 faculty and staff. In 2018, 525 PhD degrees were awarded and 6,948 scientific articles were published. The 2018 budget of the university was €857 million.
Utrecht University counts a number of distinguished scholars among its alumni and faculty, including 12 Nobel Prize laureates and 13 Spinoza Prize laureates. Utrecht University has been placed consistently in the top 100 universities in the world by prominent international ranking tables. The university is ranked the best university in the Netherlands by the Shanghai Ranking of World Universities 2019, ranking 13th in Europe and 49th in the world.
The university’s motto is “Sol Iustitiae Illustra Nos,” which means “May the Sun of Righteousness Enlighten Us”. This motto was gleaned from a literal Latin Bible translation of Malachi 4:2. Rutgers University, having historical connections with Utrecht University, uses a modified version of this motto.
Utrecht University is led by the University Board, consisting of prof. dr. Henk Kummeling (Rector Magnificus), prof. dr. Anton Pijpers (Chair) and prof. mr. Annetje Ottow (Vice Chair).
Close ties are harboured with other institutions internationally through its membership in the League of European Research Universities (LERU), the Utrecht Network and the European University Association (EUA).
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