Post-doctoral fellow in atmospheric science with a focus on greenhouse gases

Subject description

Over the coming decades changes in ecosystems due to climate change, land-use driven changes, as well as continued direct anthropogenic emissions will all play a role in the extent of global temperature rise. In 2023 the greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring community was set a challenge through the approval by the World Meteorological Organisation’s Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (GGGW) to understand GHG fluxes at unprecedented resolution. This endeavour will require continued improvement of measurements, data processing and interpretation activities – making the most of existing infrastructure and data sources, while also trying to expand to geographical areas with currently limited coverage. We seek to support this area of work through employment of a postdoctoral scientist to bring the diverse measurement sets across different platforms in Sweden to enable the most efficient use of data across our combined monitoring infrastructure.

Work duties

The main duty involved in a post-doctoral position is to conduct research. Teaching may also be included, but up to no more than 20% of working hours. The position shall include the opportunity for three weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning.

The postdoctoral fellow’s primary responsibility will be for:

Developing the scientific synergies of ICOS (www.icos-sweden.se), ACTRIS (www.actris.se) and SITES (www.fieldsites.se/) through the use of the data products from these three Research Infrastructure networks. Working with the scientific teams across atmospheric science and ecology to create, test and evaluate new scientific hypotheses based on the combination and interpretation of these data. Creating data analysis protocols for allowing comparison of ground-based measurements that are made using diverse detection methods across different spatial and temporal scales. Using existing computational models to simulate atmospheric chemistry and transport, to enable the scientific linkage between independent datasets.

Greenhouse gases measured by ICOS and shorter-lived species measured by ACTRIS are connected in the combination of source and sink mechanisms responsible for the detected atmospheric concentration. Methane is of specific interest as it is at a nexus of study of these two networks, while it continues to rise year-on-year in the atmosphere without scientists having a clear understanding of the mechanisms involved. There is also a need to find analysis methods to reconcile distinct measurement methods and calculations in local scale flux studies made by both SITES, ACTRIS and ICOS in order to understand and predict forest carbon budgets under climate change.

There will be some flexibility in the specific work tasks and the hypotheses to test, dependent on the fellow’s knowledge, skills and interests.

Qualification requirements

Appointment to a post-doctoral position requires that the applicant has a PhD, or an international degree deemed equivalent to a PhD, within the subject of the position or a related subject, completed no more than three years before the date of employment decision. Under special circumstances, the doctoral degree can have been completed earlier.

Additional requirements:

• Very good oral and written proficiency in English.

Assessment criteria and other qualifications

This is a career development position primarily focused on research. The position is intended as an initial step in a career, and the assessment of the applicants will primarily be based on their research qualifications and potential as researchers.

Particular emphasis will be placed on research skills within the subject.

For appointments to a post-doctoral position, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• A good ability to develop and conduct high quality research.
• Teaching skills.
• Knowledge in atmospheric chemistry and biosphere-atmosphere interactions
• Communications skills in the form of manuscript authorships and conference presentations
• Experience in the use of computational atmospheric chemistry transport models for interpretation of atmospheric composition datasets.
• Experience in the use of and developing code in Python for manipulation, statistical analysis and presentation of atmospheric data.

Consideration will also be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant’s experience and skills complement and strengthen ongoing research within the department, and how they stand to contribute to its future development.

Terms of employment
This is a full-time, fixed-term employment of a maximum of two years. The period of employment is determined in accordance with the agreement “Avtal om tidsbegränsad anställning som postdoktor” (“Agreement on fixed-term employment as a post-doctoral fellow”) between Lund University, SACO-S and OFR/S, dated 1st February 2022.

Instructions on how to apply

Applications shall be written in English and be compiled into a PDF-file containing:

• résumé/CV, including a list of publications,
• a general description of past research and future research interests (no more than two pages),
• contact information of at least two references,
• copy of the doctoral degree certificate, and other certificates/grades that you wish to be considered.

Welcome to apply.