Postdoctoral researcher biogenic terrestrial carbon fluxes modelling

Department: Department of Biology
Regime Full-time

Let’s shape the future – University of Antwerp – University of Liege

The University of Antwerp  is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20 000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow’s world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape. 

The University of Liège  is the only complete public university in French-speaking Belgium. We welcome 20 000 students and employ 6 000 people. Our TERRA Teaching and Research Center  of the Gembloux Agro-Biotech Faculty is one of our research units developing research in biological engineering applied to agronomy, biotechnology and the environment. Within this structure, the successful candidate will be more specifically affiliated to the BioDynE research axis, whose research is focusing on gas and energy exchanges between temperate ecosystems and the atmosphere.

The Department of Biology in the Faculty of Sciences at University of Antwerp and the Faculty of Bioengineering at University of Liege are looking for a full-time (100%) postdoctoral researcher in the field of biogenic terrestrial carbon fluxes modelling.

Position

• You will take part in the ongoing research project VERBE  that aims to establish a greenhouse gas emission Monitoring, Reporting and Verification System for Belgium. Within the project you will be responsible for the simulation of the biogenic terrestrial carbon fluxes using existing empirical models (VPRM) and Machine Learning approaches (FLUXCOM) for the Belgian domain, that will be used as prior for atmospheric inversions.  
• You will interact with the similar international initiatives on emission verification in Germany, Switzerland, UK.
• You will produce and/or contribute to scientific publications
• You will present your work at national and international conferences
• You will assist in the supervision of PhD students and other team members.

Profile

• You hold a PhD in Sciences, Applied Sciences or Agronomical Sciences/Bio-Engineering and have a postdoc experience in the targeted scientific domain (or you will have obtained it by the time you start work).
• Experience in Ecological modelling is considered as a great advantage
• You are experienced with programming languages (Python, R, Matlab,..)
• You hold skills in handling large (geospatial) dataset
• Your research qualities are in line with the faculty and university research policies .
• You act with attention to quality, integrity, creativity and cooperation.
• You can speak and write fluently in English.

What we offer

• We offer a full-time contract as a postdoctoral researcher for a period of 24 months (with possible extension*).
• Your gross monthly salary is calculated according to the pay scale  for a post-doc in the Contract Research Staff category (Dutch: Bijzonder Academisch Personeel, BAP). Net salary will start at 3000 euro/month.
• You will receive ecocheques, a group insurance, an income protection insurance, and a bicycle allowance or a full reimbursement of public transport costs for commuting.
• The planned start date is as soon as possible.
• You will do most of your work at the Drie Eiken Campus in a dynamic and stimulating working environment with regular visits to University of Liege (campus in Gembloux) and BIRA in Brussels.
• Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here .

Want to apply?

• You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including February 18th   2024 (by midnight Brussels time). Click on ‘apply’, complete the online application form and don’t forget to include the following document(s): (1) a motivation letter, (2) your academic CV, (3) half a page with summary of your specific expertise.
• The selection committee will review all of the applications as soon as possible after the application deadline. As soon as a decision has been made, we will inform you about the next steps in the selection procedure.
• If you have any questions about the online application form, please check or send an email to [email protected] . If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact dr Bert Gielen ([email protected] ) and Prof. dr. Bernard Heinesch ([email protected] ).

The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award  for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity  and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.

(*) To be eligible for this extension, the applicant must have obtained its PhD at most 10 years before the starting date of the fellowship, you must have a PhD obtained at a foreign university; or, if you have a PhD from a Belgian university, you must not have stayed or worked in Belgium for more than 24 months in the past 3 years.