Postdoc Nature- Livelihoods, Social Entrepreneurship & Value Chains

Postdoc Nature-Positive Livelihoods, Social Entrepreneurship & Value Chains (80-100%)

Wyss Academy for Nature, University of Bern

Type: Postdoc

Attendance: Hybrid

Start date: Immediately or by agreement

Contract terms: 2-3 years, UNIBE contract, possible extension

Interview schedule: First round week of August 31; second round week of September 7

This role focuses on generating decision‑relevant research to support the co‑design, testing, adaptation, and scaling of interventions on regenerative livelihoods, development of small and medium‑size enterprises, and inclusive value chains across the Wyss Academy’s Solutionscapes. The position contributes to strategic projects on livelihood diversification, value‑network development, enterprise viability and vitality, productive restoration, and transformative innovation, and is closely linked to the Academy’s monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning processes.

In close collaboration with Hub teams and implementing partners, the role ensures that research findings inform implementation and adaptive management and contributes to evidence‑based pathways for systems transformation across landscapes and regions by publishing internationally visible research and producing practical knowledge products that support partners and strategic decision‑making within the Academy.

• Conduct research on nature‑positive livelihoods, enterprise development, and inclusive value networks in rural and landscape‑based contexts.
• Produce actionable evidence to inform the selection, design, and improvement of interventions in the Academy’s Regional Stewardship Hubs, including baseline studies, feasibility and viability assessments, value chain and market‑systems analysis, and comparative learning across pilots, exploration of innovative financing approaches (e.g., blended finance) and long‑term investment strategies for regenerative transitions.
• Assess whether proposed livelihood and enterprise models are economically viable, socially inclusive, and supportive of biodiversity conservation, restoration, and stewardship outcomes through the application of extended accounting or valuation approaches (e.g., True Cost Accounting).
• Study the institutional, organizational, and market conditions (national and global) under which nature‑positive livelihood models can succeed, be adopted, and be scaled.
• Analyze market access, traceability, certification, financing, producer organization, and benefit‑sharing, with particular attention to implications for local communities, youth, women, and primary producers.

• PhD in management, business, innovation studies, agricultural, development, environmental or resource economics, or a related field.
• Excellent research record in one or more of the following areas:
  • Nature‑positive livelihoods, rural enterprise development, and social or mission‑driven entrepreneurship
  • Inclusive value chains, market systems, and commercialization in rural contexts
  • Sustainable business and livelihood models linked to conservation, restoration, or agroecological transition, including distributive and regenerative business design approaches
  • Innovation, adoption, and scaling of interventions
  • Distributional, institutional, and governance dimensions of economic transformation in social‑ecological systems.
• Familiarity with systems thinking, complexity science, or related approaches to understanding and analyzing social‑ecological systems.
• Field research in low‑ and middle‑income countries.

Experience in one or more of the following would be an advantage:

• Livelihood and enterprise viability and vitality assessment.
• Value‑chain diagnostics and market access analysis.
• Sustainable or regenerative finance models, including blended finance and impact‑oriented investment approaches.
• Research on traceability, certification, or sustainable sourcing.
• Collaboration with NGOs, public agencies, producer organizations, or private‑sector actors.
• Inter‑ and transdisciplinary collaboration in applied sustainability research.

• Integration into an institution that develops, tests, and applies innovative solutions for the pressing…