Environmental Humanities Center Amsterdam

The Environmental Humanities Center Amsterdam / Zoöp Amstelpark is looking for two student assistants (95 hrs. each in total) and one intern (12EC, ca. 330 hrs. in total), for a period from June 2026 to February 2027, to help with research in the NWO funded project “Emotional dynamics and decision-making in Zoöps”.

In October 2025, Zone2Source and the Municipality of Amsterdam, together with the Zoönomic Institute, signed a contract to manage the Amstelpark in the future as a ZOÖP and a learning place for multispecies politics for the city. This made ZOÖP Amstelpark the first public ZOÖP. Any organization that has adopted the Zoöp model and signed the Zoöp-contract is a Zoöp. In a Zoöp, the interests of other-than-humans (animals, plants) are actively represented in decision-making processes, to work towards a planet livable for all.

The VU Environmental Humanities Center, the Zoöp Amstelpark Speakers for the Living, Zone2Source, and the Zoönomic Institute set up and were awarded a research project (within the NWO/KIN Transformative practices to climate transitions scheme) evaluating the role of emotions within Zoöps, focusing on Zoöp Amstelpark. Western European cultures often structurally position emotions and other affective experiences as ontologically secondary to rational thought, framing the two as mutually exclusive. In a society that over-identifies with the mind, embodied knowledge, particularly emotion, is institutionally marginalized.

This research examines how emotions, or the structural exclusion thereof, influences the transition to Zoönomic thinking. It also explores how integrating the affective dimension into climate transitions could facilitate holistic transitions. During interviews, consultations, and performances, we will reflect upon the role of (the structural denial of) emotion together with park visitors and participants of Zoöp Amstelpark. The results will help improve the Zoöp model and create awareness for the role of emotions in climate transitions.

The tasks of the students will consist of helping the Speakers for the Living with organizing Consultation hours for the Living, of conducting Stakeholder interviews, data analysis and co-writing a scientific article. The hours will be spent in agreement with the project team, with some leeway to take into account student availability. You need to be enrolled at VU Amsterdam during that entire period. Payment for the student assistants is according to the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities, in the scale for (R)MA student assistants. The intern will receive an internship allowance in line with the VU policy (400 Euro per month of full-time work).

Qualifications: We are looking for students with

• interest and ideally already some experience in the Environmental Humanities and/or cognitive or social neuroscience.
• Interest in and affinity with questions of personal development, emotional responsibility and decolonial theory is strongly preferred
• Interest in artistic experimentation is a plus
• Dutch language skills and academic writing skills in English
• Flexible working hours, availability on site (Amstelpark, VU campus)
• pro-active, comfortable with your own emotions and those of others, comfortable interviewing people and enthusiastic (about this research).

Please apply by sending a motivation letter and CV to Katja Kwastek (k.kwastek@vu.nl) by Tuesday May 19, 2026.