Socio-Economic & Behavioural Assessment Lead - DTU Biosustain

We are looking for a project lead responsible for designing, executing, and integrating Social Life Cycle Assessment (Social-LCA) and Behavioural Economics–based assessments to support decision-making in sustainability and innovation projects. This role in BRIGHT requires the candidate to conduct research in quantitative and qualitative socio-economic analysis and behavioural science, with an emphasis on generating actionable insights for project teams, partners, and stakeholders.

The job
You will be responsible for a range of tasks targeted at supporting the organisation’s mission to drive the bioeconomy forward, including developing workflows and credible calculations to assess the societal performance of bio-based products. Your key responsibilities include:

Quantitative Social-LCA Design & Execution

• Develop and implement Social-LCA frameworks tailored to project needs.
• Identify social impact categories, stakeholders, and site-specific data requirements.
• Conduct inventory analysis, stakeholder mapping, risk/hotspot identification, and social impact interpretation.
• Ensure alignment with UNEP/SETAC guidelines and emerging Social-LCA best practices.

Behavioural Economics Assessment

• Design behavioural studies, experiments, and surveys to evaluate user, consumer, or stakeholder decision patterns.
• Apply behavioural economic models to identify drivers and barriers for technology adoption, sustainability transitions, or organizational behaviour.
• Integrate results into strategic recommendations and intervention design.

Integrated Socio-Behavioural Insights

• Combine Social-LCA outputs with behavioural economics findings for holistic socio-economic evaluations.
• Translate complex results into clear insights, risk assessments, and decision support for R&D, policy, and commercialization teams.
• Develop scenarios, trade-off analyses, and evidence-based recommendations.

Data Management & Method Development

• Manage mixed-method data collection (qualitative + quantitative) and ensure methodological rigour.
• Contribute to developing internal assessment tools, indicators, and evaluation protocols.
• Stay updated with emerging methodologies in Social-LCA, impact modelling, and behavioural science.

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

• Lead interviews, workshops, and participatory assessment sessions.
• Work with the organization’s Sustainability to communicate findings through reports, dashboards, and presentations tailored to diverse audiences.
• Support grant proposals, publications, and cross-institutional collaborative work.

Our expectations of you
You will play a central role in BRIGHT as a Socio-Economic & Behavioural Assessment Lead, contributing to the green transition by fact-checking our societal and market adoption claims. Hence, we are looking for a candidate who brings a good blend of backgrounds in analyzing problems and communicating societal impacts. Hence, we are seeking candidates with the following skills:

Quantitative Assessment

• Strong understanding of UNEP/SETAC Social-LCA guidelines and frameworks
• Ability to perform stakeholder mapping, hotspot analysis, and impact pathway development
• Experience with social inventory data collection (interviews, surveys, desk research)
• Competence in qualitative and semi-quantitative impact assessment methods
• Familiarity with LCA software/tools (e.g., OpenLCA) for structuring data
• Knowledge of behavioural science principles, decision biases, and choice architecture
• Experience designing behavioural experiments, surveys, discrete choice tasks, or field studies
• Ability to apply behavioural models to explain adoption, incentives, and stakeholder responses
• Skills in interpreting behavioural data for strategic recommendations
• Proficiency in data analysis tools (e.g., R, Python, Stata, or similar)
• Ability to build scenarios, perform trade-off analysis, and synthesize multi-dimensional results
• Experience developing indicators, metrics, or evaluation frameworks

Research & Communication

• Strong interviewing, facilitation, and stakeholder engagement abilities
• Excellent report writing, visualization, and communication for technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to manage multi-stakeholder research projects with good organizational skills and attention to detail
• Comfort working in interdisciplinary teams across sustainability, engineering, and social sciences

An ideal candidate must have a PhD degree in Economics or similar.

What we offer in return
DTU is a leading technical university globally recognized for the excellence of its research, education, innovation and scientific advice. We offer a rewarding and challenging job in an international environment. We strive for academic excellence in an environment characterized by collegial respect and academic freedom tempered by responsibility.

Salary and appointment terms
The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC).

The position is a full-time position. Starting date is as soon as possible according to mutual agreement.

Application and contact
Please submit your online application no later than 16 December 2025. Open the “Apply now” link, fill out the form and attach your motivated application and CV.

If you would like additional information about the position, please contact supervisor and Hiring Responsible, Sumesh Sukumara via email, [email protected]

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, disability, race, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply. As DTU works with research in critical technology, which is subject to special rules for security and export control, open-source background checks may be conducted on qualified candidates for the position.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Bioresearch Institute for the Green Transition (BRIGHT)
Recent progress in our ability to read and write genomic code, combined with advances in automation, analytics and data science, has fundamentally changed the scope and ambition of harnessing the potential of biological systems. Data Science approaches and analysis of biological systems are key research instruments at the Center. BRIGHT utilizes these advances for microbial cell factory design to foster sustainable lifestyles in relation to three application areas: Sustainable Materials, Microbial Foods and Net Zero Agriculture. Learn more at biosustain.dtu.dk

Technology for people
DTU develops technology for people. With our international elite research and study programmes, we are helping to create a better world and to solve the global challenges formulated in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU in 1829 with a clear mission to develop and create value using science and engineering to benefit society. That mission lives on today. DTU has 13,500 students and 6,000 employees. We work in an international atmosphere and have an inclusive, evolving, and informal working environment. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland, and we collaborate with the best universities around the world.

Location
Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Apply Before
2025-12-16T22:59:00+00:00