1- PhD position (m/f/x) Topic: Multifunctional assessment of forest ecosystems through model coupling:
Place of work: Leipzig
Working time: 65% (25,35h/week)
Contract limitations: limited contract three years
Salary: Renumeration according to the TVöD public-sector up to pay grade 13 including attractive public-sector social security benefits.
Contact: Your contact for any questions you may have about the job: Dr. Rico Fischer (rico.fischer@ufz.de) Dr. Stephan Thober (stephan.thober@ufz.de)
The UFZ: The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) with its 1,100 employees has gained an excellent reputation as an international competence centre for environmental sciences. We are part of the largest scientific organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz association. Our mission: Our research seeks to find a balance between social development and the long-term protection of our natural resources.
The job: The PhD Colleg LISA with 4 Phd positions will be launched in 2023. LISA is about exploring the multifunctionality of cultural landscapes in Germany and to examine the effects of climate change and land use in a model-based framework. This position (doctoral student #4) will study forest ecosystems under climate change. The aim is to couple a forest model
with a hydrological model for regions in Germany. One challenge is to address the different spatial and temporal scales the models are using to represent the landscape.
The PhD position will investigate different strategies to handle these scale differences to find an efficient way of exchange water fluxes and vegetation dynamics between the forest and hydrological model. The doctoral thesis should address the following questions: how have droughts altered forest dynamics and what is the impact of different forest structures and species composition on soil moisture drought?
Your tasks
- working and further developing the individual-based forest model (FORMIND) and couple it with the mesoscale Hydrological model (mHM, mhm-ufz.org)
- resolve differences in space and time between the models: developing a regionalization concept of the coupled model system and implement an interface between them
- large-scale simulation of forest dynamics considering soil water fluctuations
- developing and implementing scenario simulations of climate change
- evaluation of drought impact on multifunctional assessment of both ecosystem and water fluxes
- collaboration among the four doctoral students within the PhD college (e.g., discussion groups, synthesis paper, joint conference attendance)
We offer
- Excellent technical facilities which are without parallel
- The freedom you need to bridge the difficult gap between basic research and close to being ready for application
- Work in inter-disciplinary, multinational teams
- Excellent links with national and international research networks
- Excellent support and optimal subject-specific and general training with our HIGRADE graduate school
- Remuneration in accordance with the TVöD public-sector pay grade 13 (65%)
Your profile
- An excellent master’s degree in a relevant fields of research, including system sciences, mathematics, physics, geography
- Expertise in modelling and analyzing complex systems (experience in agent-based modelling is beneficial)
- Proficiency in computer programming (e.g. C++, Python)
- Deep interest in investigating the impact of climate change on forests
- Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English and ambition to publish in international journals
- High motivation to work in an international and interdisciplinary team
Application deadline: 31.01.2023
2- PhD position (f/m/x) Topic: Modelling ecological and socio-economic impacts of grasslands
Place of work: Leipzig
Working time: 65% (25,35h/week)
Contract limitations: limited contract three years
Salary: Renumeration according to the TVöD public-sector up to pay grade 13 including attractive public-sector social security benefits.
Contact: Your contact for any questions you may have about the job: Dr. Franziska Taubert (franziska.taubert@ufz.de)
The UFZ: The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) with its 1,100 employees has gained an excellent reputation as an international competence centre for environmental sciences. We are part of the largest scientific organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz association. Our mission: Our research seeks to find a balance between social development and the long-term protection of our natural resources.
The job: The PhD Colleg LISA with 4 Phd positions will be launched in 2023. LISA is about exploring the multifunctionality of cultural landscapes in Germany and to examine the effects of climate change and land use in a model-based framework. This position (doctoral student #2) will study managed grassland ecosystems by coupling a grassland model with a soil model for regions in Germany. The aim is to understand the role of management and soil type for ecosystem functioning and the impact of policy instruments for grassland extension within regions.
Your tasks
- coupling an individual-based grassland model (GRASSMIND) with a dynamic soil model (BODIUM) and its parameterization for regions in Germany
- analyzing and understanding the role of management and soil type at the local field scale for grassland ecosystem functioning at larger scales
- combining yield simulations of GRASSMIND-BODIUM with an agent-based model DroughtMAS parameterized and analyzed for scenarios of grassland policy impacts
- collaboration among the four doctoral students within the PhD college (e.g., discussion groups, synthesis paper, joint conference attendance)
We offer
- Excellent technical facilities which are without parallel
- The freedom you need to bridge the difficult gap between basic research and close to being ready for application
- Work in inter-disciplinary, multinational teams
- Excellent links with national and international research networks
- Excellent support and optimal subject-specific and general training with our HIGRADE graduate school
- Remuneration in accordance with the TVöD public-sector pay grade 13 (65%)
Your profile
- an excellent master’s degree in a relevant field of research, including system sciences, mathematics, physics, geography
- expertise in process-based modelling and analyzing complex systems
- proficiency in computer programming (e.g. C++, R, Python)
- deep interest in investigating integrative ecological, soil-physical and socio-ecological/-economic dynamics of grassland ecosystems
- excellent knowledge of spoken and written English and ambition to publish in international journals
- high motivation to work in an international and interdisciplinary team
Application deadline: 31.01.2023
3- PhD position (m/f/x) Topic: Groundwater recharge and soil moisture, two interacting key parameters at the interface between soil and groundwater hydrology
Place of work: Leipzig
Working time: 65% (25,35h/week)
Contract limitations: limited contract 3 years
Salary: Renumeration according to the TVöD public-sector up to pay grade 13 including attractive public-sector social security benefits.
Contact: Your contact for any questions you may have about the job: Dr. Thomas Kalbacher (thomas.kalbacher@ufz.de)
The UFZ: The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) with its 1,100 employees has gained an excellent reputation as an international competence centre for environmental sciences. We are part of the largest scientific organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz association. Our mission: Our research seeks to find a balance between social development and the long-term protection of our natural resources.
The job:The PhD Colleg LISA with 4 Phd positions will be launched in 2023. LISA is about exploring the multifunctionality of cultural landscapes in Germany and to examine the effects of climate change and land use in a model-based framework.
The main task of this position (PhD#3) is the development of a smart interface between OpenGeoSys (OGS) and the mesoscale Hydrologic Model mHM that allows for targeted two-way coupling between the both tools, and which will be then used to investigate the interaction between changing groundwater levels, soil moisture and groundwater recharge, and their effects on the root zone (FORMIND). This work will help to identify cross-model sensitivities and will provide improved soil moisture and groundwater recharge products for the mHM-based UFZ Drought Monitor.
Your tasks
- Creation of a model catalog to investigate how the groundwater table changes affects soil moisture and under which conditions a transfer takes place and how this can be described quantitatively.
- Using machine learning, the catalog data will be classified into more easily understood and groupable parts (clustering) and spatial area references will be established.
- Transfer functions will then be developed based on the most significant groupable and dominant parts of the catalog.
- These transfer functions will then be implemented in mHM, OGS or FINAM. The upscaling itself is to be performed using MPR.
- The influence of the interface on the model results (mHM, OGS FORMIND) will be investigated using the LandTrans demonstration catchments.
- Collaboration among the four doctoral students within the PhD college (e.g., discussion groups, synthesis paper, joint conference attendance)
We offer
- Excellent technical facilities which are without parallel
- The freedom you need to bridge the difficult gap between basic research and close to being ready for application
- Work in inter-disciplinary, multinational teams
- Excellent links with national and international research networks
- Excellent support and optimal subject-specific and general training with our HIGRADE graduate school
- Remuneration in accordance with the TVöD public-sector pay grade 13 (65%)
Your profile
- An excellent Master’s degree in the research field of Earth and Environment, including systems science, mathematics, and physics.
- Experience or training in areas such as soil science, soil physics, soil hydrology, hydrogeology, hydrology is a plus.
- Experience in modeling and analysis of complex systems.
- Good understanding of geospatial data (raster, vectors), and basic knowledge of machine learning techniques
- Proficiency in computer programming (e.g., C++, Python).
- Strong interest in studying regional impacts of groundwater level changes on the vadose zone.
- Excellent knowledge of English, both written and spoken, and a dedication to publishing in international journals
- High motivation to work in an international and interdisciplinary team.
Application deadline: 31.01.2023