Postdoctoral position in Arctic Paleoceanography and Carbon Sequestration

The Paleoceanography and Paleoclimate Group at the Department of Geoscience, Aarhus University, Denmark, invites applications for a position in paleoceanography at the postdoctoral level. The successful candidate will be part of a research group studying Holocene and late Quaternary paleoclimate and paleoceanography of the North Atlantic and Arctic regions. The postdoctoral project is part of the large international EU Horizon Europe project,

Sea-Quester 

on the effect of climate change on carbon cycling and burial in the Arctic region. The role of Aarhus University in the project is to provide the long-term perspective on these changes and quantify carbon sequestration in different environmental and sedimentary settings. The position has a fixed term of 2 years, starting from 1 November 2024 or as soon as possible thereefter. 

Job description

The postdoctoral project will focus on investigating the link between temporal changes in climate, biodiversity and ecosystems in the Greenland and North Atlantic regions, with special focus on the carbon cycle and the burial and fate of carbon in the sediments. Specific tasks will include the quantification of carbon sequestration in sea-floor sediments across space and time and to investigate links between climatic and environmental conditions and carbon burial. Other questions to address include the role of the benthic fauna in carbon sequestration and identifying and distinguishing the various sources of carbon input to the sediments. The successful candidate will be investigating marine sediment cores using tools from organic and inorganic geochemistry, micropaleontology, and sedimentology. Within the Sea-Quester project's framework, there is considerable freedom for the postdoctoral researcher to develop the project with the Aarhus University hosts.

Facilities

All laboratory facilities at the Department of Geoscience will be available for the research project. This includes an Agilent GC-MS/FID, Agilent Py-GC-MS, WildCat Hawk pyrolysis, TESCAN SEM, (LA-)ICP-MS, ITRAX Core scanner, Sympatec laser diffraction grain size analyzer, and various light microscopes for microfossil analyses. Carbon isotope analyses via EA-IRMS is available through close collaboration with a neighboring department. The Paleoceanography & Paleoclimate Research Group hosts an extensive sediment

core repository 

with marine sediment cores from all around the North Atlantic Ocean, primarily around Greenland. Most cores are well-dated and have already been analyzed for various other research studies. All cores and samples are available for the project.

Qualifications

The successful applicant will have a PhD in geoscience or related fields. Candidates should preferably have knowledge of Arctic paleoceanography and organic geochemistry, although specialists in other techniques/proxies, including inorganic geochemistry, are also invited to apply. Experience with multi-proxy studies, biomarker analyses, carbon chemistry and/or numerical/statistical data treatment will be considered favorably. Excellent oral and written English skills are a requirement.

Deadline

The deadline for applications is September 1st, 2024. We expect to conduct interviews in mid-September, and the successful candidate will be able to start between November 1st, 2024 and February 1st, 2025.

Application
The application must include the following:

• Cover Letter, including motivation for applying and information on how the candidate’s expertise and experience will aid the project
• Curriculum Vitae, including a list of publications
• PhD certificate or a statement regarding the expected date of completing of PhD studies
• One page statement of research goals
• Contact information (name, position, institution, email) for three references

We refer to the faculty’s guidelines for applicants.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Place and conditions of employment

The position is a fixed-term full-time position for 2 years.

Your place of work would be the Department of Geoscience, Høegh-Guldbergs Gade 2, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.

The Department of Geoscience prioritizes diversity and a good work environment, as this is a prerequisite for groundbreaking research. In a diverse and international research environment, dedicated employees have access to state-of-the-art laboratories, including the Organic Geochemistry Laboratory, sediment processing laboratories, micropaleontology laboratories, XRF core scanning, and a range of other analytical equipment.

Questions about the position

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz ([email protected]) or Associate Professor Christof Pearce ([email protected]).

International applicant?

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including assistance with relocation and career counselling to expat partners. Please find more information about the International Staff Office and the range of services

here.

Aarhus University also has a Junior Researcher Association and offers career development support. You can read more about these resources

here.

Application procedure

Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.

Letter of reference

If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline. Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.

Formalities and salary range

Natural Sciences refers to the

Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here . Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here .

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here .

At the Faculty of Natural Science at Aarhus University, we strive to support our scientific staff in their career development. We focus on competency development and career clarification and want to make your opportunities transparent. On our website , you can find information on all types of scientific positions, as well as the entry criteria we use when assessing candidates. You can also read more about how we can assist you in your career planning and development.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.