[ES_JOBS_NET] advertising two new positions at Uni Zurich

[Alysha inez]

Hi,

Would you mind passing this along on the listserv?  Thank you!
Best
Alysha



POSITION 1

URPP Global Change Biodiversity

The University of Zurich Research Priority Programme (URPP) on Global Change and Biodiversity (GCB) is an established interdisciplinary research program (http://www.gcb.uzh.ch <http://www.gcb.uzh.ch/>). Biodiversity is both a response variable affected by global change drivers (land use change, climate change, invasions, exploitation, and pollution) and a factor modifying ecosystem processes and services that are essential to human well-being. An improved capability to predict the consequences of changes in drivers will aid improved prediction of the state of the environment. The URPP GCB implements innovative avenues in this research domain by using a latitudinal gradient approach based on interactions, feedback and scale, to provide a more reliable and robust knowledge of global change processes.

We are looking for highly motivated, enthusiastic and independent applicants with a passion for science to join our research program. A high standard of written and spoken English is required. We offer outstanding working conditions, a high quality of life in Zurich, and an excellent support environment. The position start is as soon as a suitable candidate is found. Salaries correspond to the university regulations of PhD salaries. We invite applications for the following PhD position:

Ref URPP-GCB-MS-17-01: Earth System Science / Biogeochemistry

We are looking for a motivated candidate, capable of biogeochemical analysis of leaf pigments with liquid chromatography, and measuring spectral traits of leaf and canopy using spectrometers, and relating both parameters mathematically. We therefore invite applications for a PhD position in Earth System Science / Biogeochemistry on biogeochemcial validation of remotely sensed plant traits.

The aim of the project is to develop a novel approach, which will allow us to use remotely sensed spectral information to infer leaf traits on a watershed scale. Relationships between chemical composition of leaf pigments and remotely sensed spectral traits are based on classical data from more than two decades ago. Technologies have progressed, resolution of biogeochemical analytics has increased, remote sensing detectors have improved, but these classical data and relationships have not yet been updated. In the proposed project, we plan to first, measure the spectral data (e.g., hemispherical, conical) of leaf and canopy traits in the field, second describe and identify individual leaf pigments using liquid chromatography coupled to light detectors, and then establish relationships between the two based on their absorption spectra.

The successful applicant will be based in Zurich and embedded in a supervisory team including Michael Schmidt, Guido Wiesenberg, Michael Schaepman, Mathias Kneubühler. You will work in the Department of Geography, which hosts several research groups working on a variety of topics assessing the key drivers of global change and biodiversity (www.geo.uzh.ch <http://www.geo.uzh.ch/>).

Responsibilities include supervision of students, presentations of results at conferences and publication in international refereed journals.
Requirements include a MSc-degree in soil biogeochemistry or a related discipline, such as physical geography, geoecology, environmental sciences, food chemistry, and work experience in analytical methods. Good knowledge of English as working language is essential. A driving license is beneficial. Start upon mutual agreement. More information on our research group can be found at www.geo.uzh.ch/phys <http://www.geo.uzh.ch/phys>. For further details contact Prof. Dr. Michael W. I. Schmidt (michael.schmidt at geo.uzh.ch <mailto:michael.schmidt at geo.uzh.ch>). Send a letter of application, CV, a statement of your motivation and your research interests and addresses of two potential referees (e.g. former advisers) to him as single pdf-file. Evaluation will start in June 2017 and will continue until positions are filled.


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POSITION 2 and 3
URPP Global Change Biodiversity

The University of Zurich Research Priority Programme (URPP) on Global Change and Biodiversity (GCB) is an established interdisciplinary research program (http://www.gcb.uzh.ch <http://www.gcb.uzh.ch/>). Biodiversity is both a response variable affected by global change drivers (land use change, climate change, invasions, exploitation, and pollution) and a factor modifying ecosystem processes and services that are essential to human well-being. An improved capability to predict the consequences of changes in drivers will aid improved prediction of the state of the environment. The URPP GCB implements innovative avenues in this research domain by using a latitudinal gradient approach based on interactions, feedback and scale, to provide a more reliable and robust knowledge of global change processes.

We are looking for highly motivated, enthusiastic and independent applicants with a passion for science to join our research program. A high standard of written and spoken English is required. We offer outstanding working conditions, a high quality of life in Zurich, and an excellent support environment. The position start is as soon as a suitable candidate is found. Salaries correspond to the university regulations of PhD salaries. We invite applications for the following PhD positions:

Ref DEEP C - MS-17-01 PhD students Soil Biogeochemistry

„DEEP C - Deep soil carbon cycling in a warming world – the molecular perspective“ 

We invite applications for two PhD projects in our group working on "Terrestrial carbon cycle and global change". We seek to understand the influence of anthropogenic environmental change, such as increasing temperature on the terrestrial carbon cycle including turnover of soil organic matter. Understanding soil organic matter dynamics is critical to understand agricultural, and forestry environments, and their role in the global carbon cycle. Along with global change, temperatures will increase. The warming of planet Earth will be accelerated if soil organic matter is lost to the atmosphere as greenhouse gas.

Representations of this positive carbon-cycle-climate feedback are part of many climate projections, but there is little experimental evidence for several reasons: i) Research has focused on rapid processes (measuring respiration, and quantifying mass loss on decomposition), and not on the analytically more challenging, insights into the physico-chemical properties of soil organic matter that influences the rates of these processes, especially over longer-term. ii) Analytical efforts have focused on bulk measurement, and only recently on functionally different organic matter pools (density, and size fractions) or sources (plant vs. microbial). iii) Experimental efforts have favored laboratory incubations (often using disturbed soil), with relatively short time scales (weeks to months) over long-term (years and longer) in situ field experiments. iv) The first generation of field experiments mostly used surface warming, which did not warm the subsoil, thus missing a large part of the total SOM (Schmidt, Torn et al. 2011, Nature 478, 49-56; Torn et al. 2015, Soil 1, 575-582). The project takes advantage of already functional multi-year deep soil warming field experiments (e.g. Hick Pries et al. 2017, Science 355, 1420-1423). These sites represent three biomes: Mediterranean grassland, Temperate forest, and Boreal forested peat. We will use the rapidly evolving methodological development of isotopic labeling and molecular markers (Jansen & Wiesenberg, 2017, Soil Discussions, doi:10.5194/soil-2017-9) to “look inside the soil to resolve such dynamics as root-microbial-mineral interactions” (Bradford et. al. 2016, Nat. Clim. Chang. 6, 751-758).

For the first time, we will combine multi-year, deep soil warming, molecular markers and isotopic labeling in functionally different soil organic matter pools, to explore how the soil-plant system responds to a +4°C warmer world. We will find out if allocation between above and belowground plant biomass will change. And if deeper in the soil profile, new mineral sorption sites will be filled, potentially stabilizing soil organic matter for longer. Will warming favor bacteria over fungi and consequently the build-up of bacterial necromass deeper in the profile? Ultimately, we want to integrate our results into the next generation of vertically-resolved SOC models as tools for understanding and predicting soil biogeochemical response to global change. This project on belowground carbon cycling is aimed to answer and provide insights into the fundamental question: What will the role of soils be in terrestrial feedbacks to warming over the next 100–300 years?

The ideal candidate will be experienced in experimental work, interested in operating high- end equipment in the lab, able to analyze comprehensive datasets, and will be a good team player. Responsibilities include supervision of students, presentations of results at conferences and publication in international refereed journals. Requirements include a MSc-degree in soil biogeochemistry or a related discipline, such as physical geography, geoecology, environmental sciences, food chemistry, and work experience in analytical methods. Good knowledge of English as working language is essential. A driving license is beneficial. Start upon mutual agreement. More information on our research group can be found at www.geo.uzh.ch/phys <http://www.geo.uzh.ch/phys>. For further details contact Prof. Dr. Michael W. I. Schmidt (michael.schmidt at geo.uzh.ch <mailto:michael.schmidt at geo.uzh.ch>). Send a letter of application, CV, a statement of your motivation and your research interests and addresses of two potential referees (e.g. former advisers) to him as single pdf-file. Evaluation will start in June 2017 and will continue until positions are filled.
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