PhD Position – Land Surface and Pesticide Transport Modelling

Your Job:

The work will be conducted in the EU project “Modelling pollutant transport across the soil-water-atmosphere continuum, and impacts on ecosystem services (SOILPROM). The central aim of this project is to deliver upgraded and integrated models for pollutant transport and fate that assess the impact of soil pollution on soil functions and related ecosystem services and to support local stakeholders towards sustainable land management strategies and policies for healthy soils all over Europe.

Your tasks in detail:

• Simulate the fluctuations of the groundwater table at EU level using the Terrestrial System Modelling platform ( https://www.terrsysmp.org/ )
  
• Develop downscaling approaches to represent transfer from ground to surface water considering ditches, small creeks, and small-scale topography
  
• Couple transfer from soil to groundwater with transfer from groundwater to surface water
  
• Simulate pesticide leaching for the case study site Jülicher Zwischenscholle using small scale models such as HYDRUS and MODFLOW

Your Profile:

• MSc degree in hydrology, environmental sciences, environmental engineering, or similar subjects
  
• Knowledge of modelling techniques and ideally of land surface models or hydrological models
  
• Programming skills in Phyton, Matlab, or R
  
• Very good communication and organizational skills
  
• Very good command of the English language

Our Offer:

We work on the very latest issues that impact our society and are offering you the chance to actively help in shaping the change! We offer ideal conditions for you to complete your doctoral degree:

• Competent and interdisciplinary working environment, as well as an excellent framework in the areas of experiments and modelling
  
• Vibrant international work environment on an attractive research campus, ideally situated between the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Aachen
  
• Attendance at national and international conferences and workshops
  
• Possibility for further scientific and technical training through international experts
  
• Exceptional research infrastructure
  
• Further development of your personal strengths, e.g. through an extensive range of training courses; a structured program of continuing education and networking opportunities specifically for doctoral researchers via JuDocS, the Jülich Center for Doctoral Researchers and Supervisors: https://www.fz-juelich.de/en/judocs
  
• 30 days of annual leave and an attractive regulation for bridging days
  
• Targeted services for international employees, e.g. through our International Advisory Service
  

The position is for a fixed term of 4 years. Pay is line with 75% of pay group 13 of the Collective Agreement for the Public Service (TVöD-Bund) and additionally 60 % of a monthly salary as special payment („Christmas bonus“). Further information on doctoral degrees at Forschungszentrum Jülich including our other locations is available at: https://www.fz-juelich.de/gp/Careers_Docs

In addition to exciting tasks and a collaborative working atmosphere at Jülich, we have a lot more to offer: https://go.fzj.de/benefits

We welcome applications from people with diverse backgrounds, e.g. in terms of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation / identity, and social, ethnic and religious origin. A diverse and inclusive working environment with equal opportunities in which everyone can realize their potential is important to us.