The successful candidate will be part of the EU-funded H2020 project ‘Tipping Points of the Earth System’ (TiPES), and will focus on the drivers and impacts of abrupt climate transitions in the Mediterranean region.
The TiPES project: Several subsystems of the Earth may respond abruptly at critical future levels of anthropogenic forcing, which have been associated with tipping points (TPs). It is paramount to identify safe operating spaces in terms of these critical forcing levels, in order to prevent harmful transitions to alternative, undesirable states of the Earth and its subsystems. The mechanisms leading to abrupt climate transitions are only partly understood, and reliable warning signals for forthcoming transitions are urgently needed. TiPES addresses these questions in a joint effort of 18 European institutions, combining paleoclimatology, time series analysis, Earth system modelling of past and future climates, applied mathematics and dynamical system theory, as well as decision theory.
The successful candidate is expected to study the drivers and impacts of abrupt climate transitions of the highly vulnerable Mediterranean region. Together with a team of scientists, the candidate will work with both high-level data analyses tools (e.g. causal inference and machine learning) and the state-of-the-art climate model EC-Earth.

Your duties

• analyse abrupt climate transitions in the latest set of climate models (CMIP6) aiming at understanding their drivers
• targeted climate simulations using (high-resolution) EC-Earth
• co-supervision of MSc and PhD students
• authoring and co-authoring manuscripts submitted to high-quality journals
• some limited support with teaching is expected 

• PhD in physics, climate science, meteorology, geosciences, computational science or a related field
• experience in Earth System modelling is expected, and experience with EC-Earth is of advantage
• excellent skills in programming and data analyses of simulated and observed data
• strong collaboration and communication skills to work in a larger team of researchers from other disciplines involved in international research projects

A challenging position in a socially involved organisation. On full-time basis the remuneration amounts to a minimum gross monthly salary of €2,709 (scale 10)
and a maximum €4,274 (scale 10), depending on your education and experience. The job profile: is based on the university job ranking system and is vacant for at least 0.8 FTE.

The initial employment contract will affect a period of 3 years, with the possibility of extension.

Additionally, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam offers excellent fringe benefits and various schemes and regulations to promote a good work/life balance, such as:

• a maximum of 41 days of annual leave based on full-time employment
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• solid pension scheme (ABP)
• optional model for designing a personalised benefits package
• a wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

https://workingat.vu.nl/vacancies

The ambition of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is clear: to contribute to a better world through outstanding education and ground-breaking research. And to be a university where personal education and societal involvement play a leading role. Where people from different disciplines and backgrounds work together on innovations and on generating new knowledge. Our teaching and research embrace the whole spectrum of science – from the humanities, the social sciences and the pure sciences through to the life sciences and the medical sciences.
 
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is home to more than 23,000 students. We employ more than 4,500 individuals. The VU campus is easily accessible, located in the heart of Amsterdam’s Zuidas district, a truly inspiring environment for teaching and research.

Diversity is one of our university’s core values. We are an inclusive community, and we believe that diversity and international activities enhance the quality of education and research. We are always looking for people who can enhance diversity on our campus thanks to their background and experience.

The Faculty of Science inspires researchers and students to find sustainable solutions for complex societal issues. From forest fires to big data, from obesity to medicines and from molecules to the moon: our teaching and research programmes cover the full spectrum of the natural sciences. We share knowledge and experience with leading research institutes and industries, both here in the Netherlands and abroad.

Working at the Faculty of Science means working with students, PhD candidates and researchers, all with a clear focus on their field and a broad view of the world. We employ more than 1,250 staff members, and we are home to around 6,000 students.
About IVM and the department of Water and Climate Risk
Established in 1971, IVM is a leading environmental research institute that is internationally recognised for its high quality research output in a range of environmental disciplines, as well as for its interdisciplinary work. The mission of the institute is to contribute to sustainable development and care for the environment through scientific research and teaching. IVM aims to do excellent problem-oriented research that is useful to a wide range of stakeholders in the Netherlands and internationally. A unique strength of our research is to understand sustainability problems in their social and economic context. IVM’s research community works within four departments: Environmental Economics; Environmental Policy Analysis; Environmental Geography; and Water and Climate Risk. Since 2001 IVM is part of the Faculty of Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (http://www.ivm.vu.nl).
 
The department of Water and Climate Risk studies hydrological and climate processes, and how these processes lead to risks and opportunities for society, the economy, and the environment. A defining characteristic of the department is a multi-disciplinary approach that combines expertise from natural sciences with knowledge from the fields of economics, e-Science and geography. This approach has led to a unique research portfolio of water and climate risk projects, and the department is a global leading institute in flood and drought risk assessment, and risk management research.
 
The candidate will work under the direct supervision of Dr Dim Coumou who has an Associate Professorship within the department of Water and Climate Risk. His research group focusses on understanding physical drivers of climate extremes using both machine learning techniques and climate models. His team strongly collaborates with national and international institutes including the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. For more info, please visit: http://www.climateextremes.eu.