About the Institution
The University of Basel (Latin: Universitas Basiliensis, German: Universität Basel) is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universities. The university is traditionally counted among the leading institutions of higher learning in the country.
The associated Basel University Library is the largest and among the most important libraries in Switzerland. The university hosts the faculties of theology, law, medicine, humanities and social sciences, science, psychology, and business and economics, as well as numerous cross-disciplinary subjects and institutes, such as the Biozentrum for biomedical research and the Institute for European Global Studies. In 2020, the university had 13,139 students and 378 professors. International students accounted for 27 percent of the student body.
In its over 500-year history, the university has been home to Erasmus of Rotterdam, Paracelsus, Daniel Bernoulli, Leonhard Euler, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Tadeusz Reichstein, Karl Jaspers, Carl Gustav Jung, Karl Barth, and Jeanne Hersch. The institution is associated with ten Nobel laureates and two Presidents of the Swiss Confederation.
About the Opportunity
Applications are invited for two PhD position working closely together in soil erosion research in the research group Environmental Geosciences, Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Basel with interest in soil erosion modelling as well as phosphorous export from soils due to soil erosion.
About the Position
They are looking for two PhD candidates with interest in soil erosion research to investigate the consequences of soil erosion processes on phosphorous dynamics with modelling and biogeochemical approaches. The SNF funded project targets four different catchments on three continents (Delaware river, North America; River Dee and River Rhein in Europe, Subcatchment of the Yellow River, China). The project will be supported by an additional Post-Doc position (already filled) which will track soil erosion with component specific stable isotope signatures. The PhD projects will be co-supervised by project partners of each region.
Ideal Candidate Profile
Candidates should have a university degree in environmental science or in a related field with some expertise in soil science. They must be interested to work in an interdisciplinary research environment, interested in field, laboratory and modelling work and have good communication skills (English).
What They Offer
Appointments starting in April 2024 will be for one plus three years according to University of Basel's rules of PhD employment.
Application / Contact
Please submit your complete application documents, including a letter stating your motivation and a short statement of research and teaching interests, experience and skills, a CV and contact details of at least two references via our online recruiting platform. For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Christine Alewell; Christine.alewell@unibas.ch (submission of documents to this email will not be considered). Review of applications will begin 18th of December, 2023, however the process will be open until the positions are filled.
