Job VU University Amsterdam (VU) - PostDoc position f/m

The sub-department of Climate Change & Landscape Dynamics, Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, has a vacancy for a PostDoc position. This project is funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) in the framework of the VIDI project ACME  (Accelerated Climate change by means of forward 18O Modeling and model-data integration).

Research Project

Comparing terrestrial palaeoclimatic proxy data to climate models remains a challenging task because of differences in spatial resolution between the two. Terrestrial climate proxy data are indeed representative of a very small area where they are recovered, depending strongly on local complexities such as mountains, catchments (in the case of cave or lake records) etc. On the other hand, to perform the long-lasting experiments needed to compute the climate in remote past times, requires relatively low-resolution climate models, due to computation time constraints. To fill the gap between data and models as well as to physically assess the role of local influences, we propose to use physical / statistical downscaling to compute local d¹⁸O values from model simulations. This will fill the spatial-resolution gap existing between the terrestrial data and model results, meaning an essential step forward in palaeoclimatology. 

Tasks
The successful PostDoc candidate is expected to:

• ·analyze a range of climate model experiments
• ·develop methods to downscale d¹⁸O using statistical methods, in interaction with known specialists
• ·perform data – model comparisons for specific periods of the last glacial period
• ·interact with other members of the VIDI – ACME project
• ·contribute to tasks of the Climate Change & Landscape Dynamics Section, including for example assistance in teaching
• ·have an excellent motivation, and social skills
• ·write scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals

We are looking for a candidate (f/m) with a relevant university PhD degree in the fields of Geosciences or Geophysics. Modeling experience and/or development is an advantage. The PostDoc research candidate needs to be proficient in spoken and written English.

The PostDoc position will be available at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Climate Change & Landscape Dynamics Section. The appointment will be available for 24 months.  The appointment should result in publications in international peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The salary will be in accordance with university regulations for academic personnel, and depending on experience, range from a minimum of € 2.977,- gross per month up to a maximum of € 3.755,-  (salary scale 10), based on a full-time employment. You can find information about our excellent fringe benefits of employment at http://www.workingatvu.nl

More information on our institute can be found at http://www.vu.nl/iva. Information on this particular position can be obtained from Dr. Didier Roche (e-mail: didier.roche@falw.vu.nl, phone +31 20 59 87144)