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 Economicsbased 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 organisations 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 organizations 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 than16 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

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

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 UNs 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 13500 students and 6000 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.