PhD candidate

Work group:

Gerics – Climate Service Center

Area of research:

PHD Thesis

Part-Time Suitability:

The position is suitable for part-time employment.

Starting date:

25.11.2022

Job description:PhD candidate
Reference code: 50089735_2
Commencement date: as soon as possible
Work location: Hamburg
Application deadline: 01.01.2023

The Climate Service Center Germany (GERICS), a scientific organisational entity of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, invites applications for a PhD candidate – Modeling exposure to heat stress in urban areas using agent-based modelling, starting as soon as possible, in the BMBF-funded young research group ?CoSynHealth – Conflicts and synergies between carbon-neutral and healthy city scenarios?. The position is limited to 3 years and is intended to complete with a PhD.

GERICS develops science-based prototype products and services in support of government, administration and business in their efforts to adapt to climate change. It builds up a national and international network structure in order to integrate existing competences and knowledge, and to link various actors within the complex area of climate change.

The successful candidate will be part of the CoSynHealth young research group in collaboration with the Universität Hamburg. The goal of the group is to develop sustainable transformation scenarios for city quarters to reduce conflicting goals and maximize synergies between carbon-neutral and healthy city action pathways. This will be achieved by employing climate services based on the urban system approach and new innovative participatory methods. In the project, we will co-develop tools to assess trade-offs and synergies between climate change adaptation and mitigation with respect to the future health of urban dwellers.

The successful PhD candidate will support the development of climate service tools based on agent-based modelling of the behavior of individual groups of urban dwellers as function of lifestyles in order to compute the exposure to future heat stress and corresponding health outcomes in cities.

Equality of opportunity is an important part of our personnel policy.

Your tasks
#develop an agent-based model (ABM) based on an existing ABM framework to estimate the exposure of urban dwellers to environmental stressors
#implement current and proposed future lifestyles into the ABM
#conduct household surveys to improve and evaluate the ABM
#estimate exposure of individual groups of urban dwellers to heat stress
#investigate future potential health outcomes as a function of lifestyles and urban dweller group
#support and attend project workshops
#work in close collaboration with international partners in UK and Japan, which includes short-term research stays
#deliver data and model code in accordance with the FAIR criteria
#present research findings at national and international conferences
#write scientific publications

Your profile
#M.Sc. degree in earth sciences, geography, mathematics, environmental science or related discipline
#experience in programming (e.g., Fortran, Python, Matlab, R), and handling of geographic and/or health data
#experience with agent-based modelling (e.g., NetLogo) is beneficial
#experience with GIS tools would be desirable
#experience with conducting and analyzing surveys would be desirable
#interest to work with health-, climate- and other environmental data
#fluency in English (spoken and written)
#fluency in German (spoken and written) is desirable
#interest in teamwork in an interdisciplinary and international environment

We offer
#multinational work environment with ca. 1,100 colleagues from more than 50 nations
#extensive options of vocational training (i. a. expert seminars, language courses or leadership seminars)
#flexible working hours and various models to ensure the compatibility of family and career
#excellent infrastructure, including a scientific in-house library as well as modern work spaces
#remuneration according to the standards of the collective wage agreement TV-AVH including further social benefits
#free employee advice – Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
#PhD Buddy Program
#Welcome Office, guest accommodation

Severely disabled persons and those equaling severely disabled persons who are equally
suitable for the position will be considered preferentially within the framework of legal
requirements.

Interested?
Then we are looking forward to receiving your comprehensive application documents (cover letter, CV, transcripts, certificates etc.) indicating the reference number code no. 2022/KG 14 until 01.01.2023.

Apply now!
JOBS.HEREON.DE/sap/bc/erecruiting/applwzd

This research center is part of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. With more than 42,000 employees and an annual budget of over € 5 billion, the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organisation.