PhD Scholarship in Riparian Forest Restoration and Agroforestry

This PhD position at the University of Évora focuses on developing an integrated decision-making framework for the restoration and conservation of riparian corridors in agricultural landscapes. The project, funded by the Horizon Europe program under the Water4all initiative, aims to combine ecological, economic, social, and spatial dimensions to support evidence-based territorial governance. The successful candidate will conduct fieldwork, stakeholder assessments, GIS-based modeling, and economic valuation studies while contributing to four peer-reviewed publications and a cumulative PhD thesis. The work will be conducted under the supervision of Prof. Ana Isabel da Silva Mendes and her team at the MED department, with a strong emphasis on applied research and policy impact in Mediterranean regions.

• Develop a structured framework integrating ecological, economic, social, and spatial dimensions to support riparian forest restoration in agricultural landscapes.
• Conduct meta-regression analysis of secondary data to estimate economic values of ecosystem services using the avoided cost method.
• Design and implement structured surveys and semi-structured interviews with farmers to assess willingness to accept (WTA) for riparian restoration.
• Develop a GIS-based multi-criteria and network analysis model to prioritize restoration hotspots in mainland Portugal.
• Execute a case study comparing theoretical ecosystem service values with real-world restoration costs to assess cost-effectiveness.
• Prepare and submit four peer-reviewed scientific articles aligned with each research stage.
• Present research findings to local stakeholders, policymakers, and land managers.
• Synthesize research results into a cumulative PhD thesis comprising four scientific articles, an introductory framework, and a concluding synthesis.