Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are warming the climate. The response of the earth system is strongly dependent on the amount of future emissions. With earth system models, we can make projections, providing clues about the change that we can expect in the polar regions, and the induced impact on the rest of the world. One example of a changing polar process with potentially severe impacts is the saturation of firn on the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica. On Antarctica, it could lead to ice-shelf disintegration and an acceleration of sea-level rise. For Greenland, an important meltwater refreezing buffer could be lost when the firn saturates. Using earth system models, we would like to find out the impact of global warming on these processes.

You are expected to work with the fully coupled global climate model CESM2, with a focus on the Arctic and the Antarctic regions, for various emission scenarios as well as for various responses of the ocean. These projections focus on atmospheric processes, and run until 2100, or, in some cases, even until 2300. Within the project, these simulations are subsequently analysed and published in order to improve our understanding of the (very) long-term changes of the climate of the polar regions. This position includes intensive (inter)national collaboration, in terms of joint experiment design, joint experiment analysis and, potentially, joint publishing.

The starting date is as soon as possible.

You, as our ideal candidate, are enthusiastic, positive, collaborative, and have:

• a PhD with research in earth-system or regional climate modelling with a focus on polar atmospheric processes;
• strong programming skills (Fortran, Python or similar);
• a thorough experience in running and analysing global or regional climate models;
• affinity with numerical model development;
• good reporting and presentation skills;
• an excellent level of written and spoken English;
• the ability to work both independently and within a wider research team;
• the ability to critically assess your own results.

• a full-time position for three years (less than 1.0 FTE is negotiable);
• an inspiring, open minded and open research group;
• a job with national and international collaboration;
• a full-time gross salary ranging from €2,836 to €4,774 in scale 10;
• benefits including 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 (cao).

In addition to the employment conditions laid down in the cao for Dutch Universities, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. For example, there are agreements on professional development, leave arrangements and sports. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment via the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we like to encourage you to continue to grow.

More information about working at the Faculty of Science can be found here.

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 2017, IMAU research quality and impact were qualified as 'world leading' by an international visitation committee. Currently, IMAU employs 15 faculty members and 10 support staff and about 20 Postdocs and 30 PhD candidates.

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, 10 Postdocs and 8 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.

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.

Utrecht University is a friendly and ambitious university at the heart of an ancient city. We love to welcome new scientists to our city – a thriving cultural hub that is consistently rated as one of the world’s happiest cities. We are renowned for our innovative interdisciplinary research and our emphasis on inspirational research and excellent education. We are equally well-known for our familiar atmosphere and the can-do attitude of our people. This fundamental connection attracts researchers, professors and PhD candidates from all over the globe, making both the university and the Faculty of Science a vibrant international and wonderfully diverse community.