PhD student in Modelling carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes in lakes

PhD student in Modelling carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes in lakes

Are you interested in working on modelling carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes in lakes, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a PhD position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University is Sweden´s largest and most versatile department of its kind. We are about 280 employees. Our activities are interdisciplinary and combine natural science and technology with social science. We have research programs in air, water and landscape science; geophysics; natural resources and sustainable development; petrology, mineralogy and tectonics; paleobiology, and wind energy. By investigating the history of Earth, we understand how our planet has developed over time and how sustainable development benefits from this knowledge.

We are now looking for a PhD student in Environmental Analysis within the Program for Air, Water and Landscape Sciences (Luval) to join our team and work within the RELITORATE project. The littoral zone is an extensive habitat at the land-water interface of lakes, four times longer than the global ocean shoreline, and characterised by abundant growth of aquatic plants. The very high growth rates of these plants drive high carbon turnover. Therefore, littoral zones of lakes can exhibit high carbon sequestration, but also high emission of greenhouse gases. Current understanding is however very limited, as littoral zones are spatially complex and difficult to study. Within the RELITORATE project, funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, a team of experts in flux measurement, remote sensing, and numerical modelling will use new and emerging methodologies in order to gain a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of littoral carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes.

Duties
In collaboration with other researchers, you will work on coupled hydrodynamic-biogeochemical modelling to quantify littoral carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes in lakes. You will set up a 3D hydrodynamic model for two lakes, integrate carbon and greenhouse gas fluxes into this model, and validate it against observational data. Through numerical simulations, you will assess the impact of various parameters on fluxes and use machine learning to create simplified meta-models. Using these meta-models, the findings will be upscaled to all Swedish lakes. While your primary focus will be on the modelling work, you will also contribute to field measurements within the RELITORATE project.

You will disseminate your research findings through publications in scientific journals, which will contribute to your PhD thesis, and by presenting your results at national and international conferences, as well as during project meetings. Your PhD studies will also include coursework tailored to meet both your individual needs and the requirements of the research project.

The PhD education spans four years, comprising three years dedicated to research and one year devoted to relevant coursework. Additionally, we encourage PhD students to contribute to teaching of undergraduate courses, which can extend the duration of their contracts.

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in Environmental/Water Sciences or Engineering or related field, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

We are seeking candidates with experience and/or education in modelling approaches for environmental applications. A strong command of both spoken and written English is essential. Candidates should demonstrate motivation, flexibility, teamwork skills, and the ability to work independently. We also value a high capacity for learning and a willingness to develop new skills.

Additional qualifications
Experience and/or education in any of the following fields are advantageous: fluid mechanics, hydrodynamic modelling, programming, machine learning, statistics, geographic information systems, limnology, ecology, biogeochemistry, and fieldwork. Additionally, possessing a driving license for personal cars (EU class B) is beneficial.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

Application
The application should be written in English and include the following:

• A letter of intent detailing your background, motivation for pursuing a PhD, and why you are suitable for this position (maximum 2 pages).
• Your CV.
• A copy or transcript of your Master’s degree and course grades.
• A copy (or draft) of your Master’s thesis, along with any other relevant work such as publications.
• The names and contact information for at least two individuals who have agreed to serve as references, including their email addresses and phone numbers. Please specify your relationship with each reference.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2025-08-15 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Ekaterina Sokolova +46184717177 ekaterina.sokolova@geo.uu.se

Please submit your application by 4 April 2025, UFV-PA 2025/666.

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