The climate of the north- and south polar regions is changing rapidly and will continue to do so in the future. These changes directly affect local communities, but also indirectly the rest of the world by changing weather patterns, ocean currents and rising sea levels. Our research group improves our understanding of the polar climate and reduces the uncertainties in climate projections by using the high-resolution regional climate models RACMO and HCLIM.

In this project, you will study the complex polar atmosphere-ocean-ice system from an atmospheric perspective. To do this, you will run the state-of-the-art regional climate model RACMO for the present and future and analyse and publish the results in scientific journals. For the future projections, output of global climate models with different patterns of climate change, so called storylines, will be used. The model results obtained will shed new light on various aspects of the polar climate system, such as ice and water clouds, the hydrological cycle and the surface mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. A strong background in climate science and the ability to work with climate models and critically assess their output are vital for a successful execution of this project.

As this position is embedded in several EU funded H2020 projects, international collaboration during model analysis and dissemination of the results during online and in-person meetings is an integral part of the job. You will considerably expand your scientific network in this position is.

Do you bring a positive attitude, work independent but also thrive in a team of 5-10 researchers? Join us! Other qualities we are looking for are:

• A PhD in climate physics or a related field.
• Experience with earth-system (preferably regional climate) modelling on HPC systems.
• Strong programming skills (Fortran, Python or similar).
• Affinity with polar meteorology and climate.
• The ability to critically assess and interpret model results.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.
• Good reporting, presentation and writing skills.

• a full-time position for 2 years with the option to extend by 1 more year;
• an inspiring, open minded and open research group;
• a job with national and international collaboration;
• a full-time gross salary ranging from €2,960 to €4,670 in scale 10;
• 8% holiday bonus and 8.3% end-of-year bonus;
• A pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions based on the Collective Labour Agreement Dutch Universities.

In addition, Utrecht University offers excellent secondary conditions, including an attractive retirement scheme, professional development, (partly paid) parental leave, sports and flexible employment conditions (multiple choice model).  This is how we encourage you to grow.

For more information, please visit working at Utrecht University. 

Sharing science, shaping tomorrow. A better future for everyone. This ambition motivates our scientists in executing their leading research and inspiring teaching. At Utrecht University, the various disciplines collaborate intensively towards major strategic themes. Our focus is on Dynamics of Youth, Institutions for Open Societies, Life Sciences and Sustainability. You can watch the Utrecht University Campus Tour to get an impression of our university.

At the Faculty of Science, there are 6 departments to make a fundamental connection with: Biology, Chemistry, Information and Computing Sciences, Mathematics, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Physics. Each of these is made up of distinct institutes that work together to focus on answering some of humanity’s most pressing problems. More fundamental still are the individual research groups – the building blocks of our ambitious scientific projects. Find out more about us by watching the video Working at the Faculty of Science.

The Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht (IMAU) offers a unique research and teaching environment, in which the fundamentals of the climate system are studied. Research is organized in five themes: Atmospheric Dynamics, Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry, Coastal and Shelf Sea Dynamics, Ice and Climate and Oceans and Climate. In 2022, IMAU research quality and impact were qualified as 'world leading' by an international visitation committee.

The Ice and Climate group at IMAU is an inspiring, high-quality and versatile research group focusing on ice sheets, sea level, and climate. The group is world-leading in modelling of the ice sheet surface including firn, and maintains a dedicated network of automatic weather stations. Currently, our research group has 5 staff members, 12 Postdocs and 7 PhD candidates. For this project, we encourage and provide financial support for visits to conferences, workshops and summer schools, and we promote national and international exchange visits.