The department of Coastal Systems (COS - location Texel) is looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher with a background in oceanography, biogeochemistry and/or hydrodynamics and numerical modelling. You will work on modelling the effects of floating offshore solar farms on the North Sea ecosystem, considering changes in light penetration, oceanographic physical transport mechanisms and pelagic and benthic biogeochemical processes including primary production, sinking and resuspension, burial and remineralisation. Focal points will include estimates of effects as a function of farm size, configurations for which significant effects start to occur, and differences in ecosystem response in different hydrographical settings.

You will review and improve an existing numerical 1D water column model representing hydrodynamics, lower trophic level ecosystem dynamics and effects of floating solar panels (Karpouzoglou et al., 2020,), and extend it to 3D. You will set up idealised model geometries at farm scale to explore ecosystem effects in parameter spaces defined by e.g. ranges in farm size, water depth, tidal current speed and nutrient concentrations. You will work closely together with project partners at Oceans of Energy responsible for field observations, and project partners at Deltares responsible for small-scale CFD hydrodynamics modelling and North Sea scale ecosystem modelling. You will publish the results of your work in peer-reviewed journals.

The ideal candidate has a PhD in oceanography or a related science, experience with developing and applying numerical flow models, and affinity with marine biogeochemistry. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the work, it is important that the candidate is open and communicative to facilitate interactions with other members of the project team and the project teams of related projects. Excellent English oral and writing skills are essential, including demonstrable experience with presenting at scientific conferences and writing peer-reviewed publications.

We highly encourage applicants from all members of our community and of diverse background, including LGBT+ and BAME communities, to join us.

We are offering a 3 year full-time Postdoc position. Employment of this position at Royal NIOZ is by NWOI (The Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research). The salary is compliant to the CAO-OI (Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Research Institutes) scale 10 or 11 depending on relevant experience. Furthermore NIOZ offers a pension scheme, a holiday allowance of 8% of the gross annual salary, a year-end bonus of 8,3% of the gross annual salary, flexible work arrangements and 42 days of holiday leave (fulltime position).

You may expect attractive secondary employment conditions. We offer generous relocation expenses for employees coming from abroad and support with finding accommodation.