EcoTrilemma seeks to obtain support to consolidate a research line at VUB, addressing an underexplored but increasingly relevant research problem: How to address the trilemma of preserving ecosystems, promoting fair energy transitions, and fighting poverty in sourcing regions that rely on extractive and/or agricultural sectors? The project will therefore adopt an interdisciplinary approach, whose methodology will depend on the profile of the candidate(s), but it will involve legal methods in combination with empirical quantitative and qualitative data collection and processing. The scope will depend on whether one or two researchers can be hired to prepare a single project each, or a fundamental research project with two researchers covering various perspectives of the research problem.
In the framework of my research activities at the VUB, I have obtained four research projects, all around corporate accountability in the framework of the global environmental crisis. In this context, one or two researchers (depending on the funding) would be hired during the time frame of the approved start credit to support research activities on the ongoing projects and prepare new research proposals in the framework of EcoTrilemma, which covers topics that complement and take stock of the current projects. At the VUB, currently there are some initiatives working on transitions but not at a global scale, although this is increasingly relevant in the EU as well as worldwide.
