Dear all,
I am an interdisciplinary social scientist who studies how non-material values (e.g., spirituality, cultural heritage) can be incorporated into environmental policy (here<https://www.uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/expanding-value-nature> is a university news article that describes more about this work). I am seeking a PhD student to help me in this pursuit, in a project we will co-create. The basic gist of the work will be to explore how to take the burgeoning research on cultural ecosystem services, relational values, and related concepts (summarized, for example, in this recent paper<https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.70065> of mine), and conduct research to include those values in decision-making in more thorough, rigorous, and common ways - e.g., through incorporation into the (controversial!) tool of cost-benefit analysis.
This is a bit of an odd request: I do not have full dedicated funding for a position, but would help an interested candidate apply for two funding opportunities at the University of Vermont: PhD fellowships with the Gund Institute for the Environment<https://www.uvm.edu/gund/gund-phd-research-fellowships> (where I am a Fellow) and PhD fellowships with the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources<https://uvmd10.drup2.uvm.edu/d10-files/documents/2025-11/Rubenstein_Doctoral_Assistantship_final-26.pdf>. I will supplement funding from those fellowships to bring them up to a full four- or five- year program.
If you are interested in pursuing a PhD and this topic (and setup of applying for these university fellowships) is of interest to you, please reach out to me, and we can discuss a potential application. Thank you so much!
Rachelle
Rachelle Gould | Associate Professor | Sustainability and Equity | Lab website<https://gouldgroup.weebly.com/>
Steven Rubenstein Professor for Environment and Natural Resources
Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources | Fellow, Gund Institute for the Environment
Lead Editor, People and Nature<https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/25758314>
Chapter Lead, Culture Chapter, United by Nature<https://weareunitedbynature.org/> (the new permutation of the US National Nature Assessment<https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/opinion/earth-day-nature-report-trump.html>)
