2 fully-funded PhD positions in Biogeoscience 1517 views

The Department of Earth Sciences (D-ERDW) at ETH Zurich within the Biogeoscience group research programme is inviting application for two PhD positions. The focus is to investigate the role of organic matter production, remineralisation, transport and burial as a component of the global carbon cycle.

About the research:

• The two highly motivated individuals will join team in order to undertake doctoral research projects as part of a Swiss National Science Foundation-funded grant entitled “Climate and Anthropogenic PerturbationS of Land-Ocean Carbon TracKs (CAPS-LOCK)”.
• The main goal of the CAPS-LOCK project is to understand the influence of climate and anthropogenic forcing on carbon storage and export in river basins.
• The PhD students will each focus on one of the following 2 sub-projects: The first sub-project involves use of a combination of quantitative geomorphological (including cosmogenic nuclides) and geochemical (from bulk to molecular 13C and 14C characterization) methods to develop a mechanistic understanding of the coupling between geomorphic soil processes (soil production and erosion rates) and its influence on characteristics of soil and exported OM; [2] The second sub-project seeks to integrate the above processes at the scale of a large river drainage basin and assess whether riverine OM characteristics reflect landscape-wide soil processes. Abundances and isotopic signatures of soil specific biomarkers will be compared with inorganic erosion tracers (cosmogenic nuclides and fallout radionuclides) in the same river sediments in order to assess spatial and temporal relationships between organic and inorganic signals and to link these signatures to geomorphic and topographic landscape characteristics.

Requirements:

• Candidates must have completed a Master’s degree in Earth, Environmental or Geographic sciences or in Analytical Chemistry.
• Candidates with a strong background in one or more of the following topics: organic geochemistry, geomorphology, cosmogenic nuclides, soil and/or fluvial systems.
• Strong quantitative and modelling skills will be considered as a plus.
• Demonstrable previous experience with both experimental and field work would also be ideal
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English

Remuneration: fully funded four-year projects

Starting date:  fall of 2019 (latest: 01/12/2019).

Applications:

Apply online with the following documents:

• CV
• Motivation letter mentioning the main reasons for applying, how candidate’s past experience would benefit the project and if he/she has preference for one of the two positions; Contact details of at least two references;
• Copy of master degree