The Faculty of Science, Institute of Environmental Sciences is looking for: 4 PhD candidates:
- Two PhD positions in Ecotoxicity impact assessment for biodiversity and ecosystem services (1.0 fte) Vacancy number: 13996:
Key responsibilities: Tens of thousands of chemicals are released into Europe’s environment. Such anthropogenic chemicals can have various harmful effects on wildlife and can result in reductions in ecosystem functioning and ecosystem service flows.
To address these challenges, we are looking for 2 PhD candidates to support the recently granted Horizon Europe project TerraChem (From soils to apex species: chemical pathways, effects and impacts on terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem services and applications for better chemicals management).
This new project will be carried out in collaboration with several European partner institutions. The project will integrate environmental monitoring, modelling, data management, and analytical tools. These two positions will focus on developing impact assessment models for ecotoxicity impacts on terrestrial functional diversity and ecosystem services.
Selection Criteria
- A Master degree in a relevant field, e.g., ecotoxicology, environmental sciences, biology, industrial ecology, or similar
- A strong interest in academic research and environmental sustainability
- Well-developed analytical skills
- Programming skills (e.g. R or other languages) are an advantage
- For one of the two positions, experimental and laboratory skills would be an asset
- Proficiency in spoken and written English as well as good communication skills
- A team player and the ability to take initiative
Research at our faculty
The Faculty of Science is a world-class faculty where staff and students work together in a dynamic international environment. It is a faculty where personal and academic development are top priorities.
Our people are driven by curiosity to expand fundamental knowledge and to look beyond the borders of their own discipline; their aim is to benefit science, and to make a contribution to addressing the major societal challenges of the future.
The research carried out at the Faculty of Science is very diverse, ranging from mathematics, information science, astronomy, physics, chemistry and bio-pharmaceutical sciences to biology and environmental sciences. The research activities are organised in eight institutes. These institutes offer eight bachelor’s and twelve master’s programmes. The faculty has grown strongly in recent years and now has more than 2,800 staff and almost 6,000 students. We are located at the heart of Leiden’s Bio Science Park, one of Europe’s biggest science parks, where university and business life come together.
The Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) is positioned in the Faculty of Sciences. The core focus of CML is to perform research and education in the interdisciplinary field of Environmental Sciences.
CML has two Departments: Industrial Ecology (CML-IE) and Environmental Biology (CML-EB). Presently, about 150 fte (including postdocs and PhDs) are employed at CML. CML collaborates with the TU Delft and Erasmus University in the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability (LDE-CfS), Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, and other partners.
Terms and conditions We offer a 1-year position with the possibility of extension to 4 years based on performance. Salary ranges from € 2.770.- gross per month in the first year to € 3.589 gross per month in the fourth year based on a full-time position (pay scale P in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).
Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development and sabbatical leave. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break.
Diversity Leiden University is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from members of underrepresented groups.
Information Enquiries can be made to Dr. Laura Scherer (l.a.scherer@cml.leidenuniv.nl) and Henrik Barmentlo (s.h.barmentlo@cml.leidenuniv.nl).
Applications
To apply for this vacancy, please use the button. Please ensure that you upload the following additional documents quoting the vacancy number:
- CV
- Motivation letter
- The names and phone numbers of two referees
We will consider applications submitted before or on 10 September 2023.
Interviews will take place on 20 September between 10 AM and 5 PM Central European Time. You are kindly requested to be available on this date.
2) Two positions in Environmental Sciences: Rapid Food Transitions:
The Faculty of Science and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) are looking for: 2 PhD candidates related to an international scientific prize for research on sustainable food systems. Work will focus on rapid food transitions and require expertise in food systems and industrial ecology (e.g. Life Cycle Assessment,Material Flow, Accounting input-output etc). Vacancy number: 13986
Overview Food systems across the world are facing a period of radical change, both due to the recognition of food-related environmental damage, but also due to climate impacts. Rapid change is unavoidable, but rapid transitions could help resiliency to impacts while reducing environmental harms.
The Great Food Transformation suggests three main pillars for change: 1) Dietary change, 2) Food waste reductions, and 3) production changes. However, dietary change comprises by far the largest opportunity, especially in high-income nations. This Great Food Transformation would reduce the environmental damage from the food system and would also free large areas of land with climatic impacts. Reductions of biogenic methane would further have a cooling effect even in the short term.
A new project will start from September 2023, funded by an international scientific prize for work on sustainable food systems, judged by 100 scientists globally. Two PhD candidates will be appointed at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), continuing the team’s work on rapid food transitions.
The two candidates will work closely with Dr Paul Behrens, Dr Oliver Taherzadeh, and other academic staff in the rapid food transition team on areas including the social impacts of food transitions, impacts on food resiliency, and climate impacts.
One PhD candidate will work on developing our modelling framework further
Key tasks: Your will work in an interdisciplinary setting to integrate models and data from different fields (food sciences, economics, climate science, epidemiology, etc.). Specifically, you will:
1. Perform several detailed analyses on the environmental impacts of global food systems.
2. Help to further extend an integrated food system model with international trade flow data to better attribute environmental impacts of food production to remote consumers.
3. Perform several detailed analyses on the social impacts of food system transformations.
4. Analyze climate impacts on food systems and explore the resiliency of food system transformations.
Selection criteria:
- You should have an M.Sc. in a relevant field (chemistry, biology, sustainability science, and/or industrial ecology), but we also consider candidates from other scientific fields.
- Strong data management, visualization and coding skills (e.g. in Matlab, Python and/or R) are highly valued. During your MSc your thesis ideally involved handling, combining, and analysing large datasets and/or focused on quantitative sustainability analysis.
- Knowledge of industrial ecology methods, such as LCA, IOA are highly valued.
- An interdisciplinary knowledge of the societal and policy levers related to environmental and/or food system challenges is highly desirable
- You must be proficient in spoken and written English.
- You are a team player and can communicate your work to the public. • An interest in teaching
Research at our Institute/Faculty
The Faculty of Science is a world-class faculty where staff and students work together in a dynamic international environment. It is a faculty where personal and academic development are top priorities. Our people are driven by curiosity to expand fundamental knowledge and to look beyond the borders of their own discipline; their aim is to benefit science, and to make a contribution to addressing the major societal challenges of the future.
The research carried out at the Faculty is very diverse, ranging from mathematics, information science, astronomy, physics, chemistry and bio-pharmaceutical sciences to biology and environmental sciences. The research activities are organised in eight institutes.
These institutes offer eight bachelor’s and twelve master’s programmes. The faculty has grown strongly in recent years and now has more than 2,800 staff and almost 6,000 students. We are located at the heart of Leiden’s Bio Science Park, one of Europe’s biggest science parks, where university and business life come together.
The environmental science research in CML is organized around two major research areas: ‘Industrial Ecology’ and ‘Environmental Biology’. This makes CML one of the few institutes covering both the circular, sustainable economic use of natural resources and natural capital, as well as assessing the environmental impacts of economic activities on natural resources, biodiversity and natural capital.
Presently, over 150 FTE (including postdocs and PhDs) are employed at CML. CML collaborates with the TU Delft and Erasmus University (Rotterdam) in the Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Sustainability (LDE-CfS).
Terms and conditions We offer a 1-year position with the possibility of extension to 4 years based on performance. Salary ranges from € 2.770.- gross per month in the first year to € 3.539 gross per month in the fourth year based on a full-time position (pay scale P in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).
Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3 %), training and career development and sabbatical leave. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. For international spouses we have set up a dual career programme. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break.
Diversity At the Faculty of Science we value inclusiveness and strive for a diverse community with equal opportunities for all. We give full support to our staff in achieving their potential to become independent academic researchers and teachers.
For more information about our policy on diversity and equality please go to the diversity page on our website. Female researchers are also welcomed to join the Researchers In Science for Equality network of the Faculty if Science.
Information Enquiries can be made to Dr. Paul Behrens (p.a.behrens@cml.leidenuniv.nl) and Dr. Oliver (o.a.taherzadeh@cml.leidenuniv.nl).
Applications:
To apply for this vacancy, please follow the button below. Please ensure that you upload the following additional documents quoting the vacancy number:
- CV
- A motivation letter
- A writing sample of around 2000 words, for example a thesis or report.
Only applications received before Friday 22 September will be considered. Interviews will take place on September 26th afternoon and September 28th morning (Virtual or in person in Leiden).