Are you interested in global water and sustainability challenges? Are you an excellent modeller and want to work with large-scale numerical models? Then this could be the ideal postdoc position for you!

We offer a postdoc position (3-years fulltime) for a postdoctoral researcher who is interested in global water and sustainability challenges. Your main task at the beginning of the project is the development of a global-scale surface water, groundwater, and crop growth model. This model does not exist yet and will be derived from models that we currently use in our group (namely VIC, MODFLOW, and WOFOST). You should have excellent scripting and programming skills and preferably experience in the field of hydrology. This postdoc position is part of the ERC Starting Grant project GROW (Groundwater sustainability and crop production). Together with two PhDs and a second Postdoc, you will work as a team on assessing the environmentally safe operating space for groundwater use and the trade-offs between sustainable groundwater use and crop production at the global scale under climate and socio-economic change.

At the start of the project your main task will be to make an online coupling at high resolution (~10x10km) between the different global scale models and explore further technical improvements that can be made (e.g. to decrease calculation time, make scripting more user friendly). Especially the coupling between groundwater and crop production has not been done before, however is needed to better understand the role of groundwater in maintaining and enhancing crop production driven by food demands. Next, you will add an advanced water demand and water use module and develop, together with the PhDs and Postdoc, a novel framework for model evaluation and validation and sensitivity testing and will improve model parameterizations using newly available global and regional datasets (e.g. for the subsurface, crop growth parameterization). With this project, you will contribute to an ambitious modelling goal and be at the forefront of new developments in the field of large-scale hydrology. The model will be used to quantify the volumes of groundwater used and sustainably available under current and future climate and socio-economic conditions and the assess the impact of current and future water use on the hydrological system. Also, you and the team will explore potential pathways towards sustainable groundwater use while sufficient crop production is protected. You will work closely together with the PhDs and other postdoc within the project to answer the relevant research questions related to this topic.

You will be part of the Water Systems and Global Change group of Wageningen University. Within the group we study how future climate change affects the global water cycle and how this impacts water for food, energy, and environment.

• A PhD degree (or about to obtain) in the field of Hydrology, Geocomputation, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, or a related field;
• An excellent academic record and publication record;
• Demonstrated enthusiasm for working with large datasets and large-scale numerical modelling in context of global change;
• Excellent scripting and programming skills (e.g. Python, R, C++);
• Preferably advanced experience in working with numerical modelling on High Performance Computing Platforms;
• Willingness to work in multidisciplinary teams and the ability to work with PhD and MSc students in an advisory role;
• For this position your command of the English language is expected to be at C1 level;

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• sabbatical leave, study leave, and partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will of course receive a good salary. Depending on your experience, we offer a competitive gross salary of between €2.846 and €4.490,- for a full-time working week of 38 hours, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale 10).

Wageningen University & Research encourages internal advancement opportunities and mobility with an internal recruitment policy. There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.

You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the "Best University" in the Netherlands for the 17th consecutive time.

Coming from abroad
Wageningen University & Research is the university and research centre for life sciences. The themes we deal with are relevant to everyone around the world and Wageningen, therefore, has a large international community and a lot to offer to international employees. Applicants from abroad moving to the Netherlands may qualify for a special tax relief, known as the 30% ruling. Our team of advisors on Dutch immigration procedures will help you with the visa application procedures for yourself and, if applicable, for your family.
Feeling welcome also has everything to do with being well informed. Wageningen University & Research's International Community page contains practical information about what we can do to support international employees and students coming to Wageningen. Furthermore, we can assist you with any additional advice and information about helping your partner to find a job, housing, schooling, and other issues.

Wageningen University & Research

Wageningen University & Research
The mission of Wageningen University and Research is "To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life". Under the banner Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University and the specialised research institutes of the Wageningen Research Foundation have joined forces in contributing to finding solutions to important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.

With its roughly 30 branches, 6.800 employees and 12.900 students, Wageningen University & Research is one of the leading organisations in its domain. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of Wageningen's unique approach. WUR has been named Best Employer in the Education category for 2019-2020.

Read the 5 reasons why your future colleagues enjoy working at WUR and watch this video to get an idea of our green campus!

We will recruit for the vacancy ourselves, so no employment agencies please. However, sharing in your network is appreciated.