PhDs

The University of Copenhagen is offering a three-year PhD fellowship in Soil Fertility within the PRIME-P research project, funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The project investigates how biobased fertilizers, soil organic matter, and microbial processes influence phosphorus mobilization and plant phosphorus availability. The position starts January 1, 2027, or as soon as possible thereafter, and applications are due by October 15, 2026.

IRTA in Catalonia, Spain, is offering a four-year PhD position investigating how microplastics affect soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, microbial communities and greenhouse gas emissions in Mediterranean agriculture. The project combines laboratory microcosms, field experiments, LDIR and FTIR spectroscopy, molecular microbiology, greenhouse gas monitoring and life cycle assessment. The position offers a salary of €23,322 gross per year for the first three years and €26,325 in year four, plus up to €7,000 in additional doctoral funding.

Oklahoma State University is offering a funded PhD position in wetland ecology and restoration starting in January 2027. The project will evaluate restored, degraded, and reference backwater sloughs in Nebraska’s Central Platte River Valley using biological and environmental data. The position includes a $30,000 annual stipend, tuition waiver, insurance, field housing, research vehicle, and technician support.

Rutgers University is seeking a PhD student for a field-based research project examining avian community responses to extreme weather events. The project combines climate change ecology, bioacoustics, artificial intelligence, point-count surveys, quantitative analysis, and bird identification. The position starts in September 2027 with a starting salary of $40,000 per year.

Four fully funded PhD opportunities in freshwater ecology are available at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The scholarships offer a NZ$32,650 tax-free annual stipend, full university fees, and research expenses. Projects focus on invasive aquatic plants, threatened freshwater fish, spring ecosystems, and braided river birds.

SLU is offering two PhD positions in Biogas Process Development and Microbiology in Uppsala, Sweden. The projects focus on anaerobic digestion, agricultural feedstocks, process optimisation, microbial communities, bioinformatics, and renewable energy. The positions are four-year, full-time doctoral studentships with an application deadline of 31 August 2026.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is offering a four-year PhD position in Biology focused on characterizing boreal soil proteins and understanding their role in soil nitrogen turnover. Based in Umeå, the project combines soil science, plant physiology, proteomics, laboratory analysis, and statistical methods. The application deadline is 20 August 2026.

SLU is offering a four-year PhD position in Environmental Science in Uppsala, Sweden. The project focuses on coastal marine restoration, spatial planning, ecological sustainability and cost-effective restoration measures.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences is recruiting a Research Assistant in Uppsala to study nitrogen fixation in ectomycorrhizal tubercles and forest soils. A master’s degree in biology, molecular methods, fluorescence microscopy and a Class B driving licence are required.

The University of Antwerp is offering a doctoral scholarship in Plant Ecophysiology starting between October 2026 and January 2027. The four-year PhD project investigates how hydrodynamic forces influence root development in submerged aquatic plants using plant physiology, biochemistry and an artificial river system.

Eawag is recruiting a fully funded PhD Student in Biodiversity-Inspired Lake Modeling in Dübendorf, Zurich. The four-year project combines phytoplankton experiments, fieldwork, biodiversity research, and mechanistic lake modeling to understand how warming and changing nutrient availability affect aquatic ecosystems.

The University of Copenhagen is inviting applications for a PhD fellowship in greenhouse gases, forest soils and biogeochemistry in Denmark. The three-year doctoral research project will investigate soil N₂O fluxes and biogeochemical processes in temperate forest ecosystems, with additional research on methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). The PhD project is hosted by the Department…

The Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at TU Delft is recruiting a PhD candidate to investigate how microbial communities drive nitrogen transformations and greenhouse gas emissions using multi-omics and high-throughput bioreactors.

TU Delft’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering is recruiting a PhD candidate to develop hybrid data-driven and model-based predictive control strategies, leveraging Koopman operators and PDE learning to optimize microclimates and reduce greenhouse energy costs by 35%.

The University of Twente is hiring two fully funded PhD candidates in Meteorology and Remote Sensing under the ITEM initiative. Discover eligibility, benefits, and how to apply before August 31, 2026.

The Athena Institute at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is recruiting three PhD candidates to research policy governance, transdisciplinary learning, and business valorisation for microbiome innovations within the Dutch Holomicrobiome project.

Wageningen University & Research is offering a fully funded PhD position in the Netherlands focused on understanding and reducing nitrous oxide emissions from deammonification wastewater treatment systems. The research combines bioreactor experiments, full-scale reactor data analysis and process engineering to develop practical strategies for more sustainable wastewater treatment.

Wageningen University & Research is offering a fully funded PhD position in the Netherlands focused on tracing molecules that drive fungal interactions in soil. The project combines Raman microspectroscopy, SERS, gold nanoparticles and fungal biochemistry to investigate secondary metabolites at the microscale.

Wageningen University & Research is offering a fully funded PhD in Water-Energy-Food Nexus Modelling for Circular Controlled Environment Agriculture. The four-year position focuses on systems modelling, resource recovery, sustainable food production, greenhouse and vertical farming, with a salary of €3,204 to €4,051 per month.

Wageningen University & Research is offering a fully funded PhD position in Modelling Crop Growth and Resource Use in the Netherlands. The opportunity covers crop modelling, plant physiology, greenhouse technology and sustainable agriculture, with a gross salary from €3,204 to €4,051 per month. Applications close on 7 September 2026.