The Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science looks for a postdoctoral researcher at the interface between Soil Biogeochemistry (especially of microbial processes in soil) and Global Change Ecology (effects of drought, elevated carbon dioxide and temperature). We are a committed team and offer a creative working atmosphere, flexible working times and a suitable starting salary.

Job Description:

Your area of responsibility includes the design and execution of own research projects, as well as the publication of results in international peer-reviewed journals. Furthermore we expect your collaboration in already ongoing projects in the team and your participation in teaching.

Profile:

• PhD degree (Biology/Ecology/Soil Science)
• excellent command of written and spoken English
• high ability to express yourself both orally and in writing
• documented publication activity in peer-reviewed journals
• good team-working ability

Professional competences (all of the following are expected):

• excellent knowledge in the area of soil biogeochemistry with a focus on soil processes (carbon cycling) and microbial ecology (plant-microbe interactions)
• excellent knowledge in the area of global change biology/ecology, with a focus on drought
• experience in working in agro-ecosystems and natural ecosystems

Methodological competences (one or more of the following are expected):

• practical experience in isotope labelling of plant-soil systems (e.g., tracing carbon flow from plants to soil microbes)
• excellent knowledge of stable isotope techniques, including isotope calculations and planning of isotope experiments; solid understanding of isotope ratio mass spectrometry
• practical experience of compound-specific stable isotope approaches (such as 13C-analysis in microbial PLFAs and plant carbohydrates) with HPLC – and GC- IRMS techniques
• practical experience in soil and plant metabolomics, with GC- and HPLC – MS techniques
• proficiency in programming in “R”
• excellent knowledge and documented proficiency in applying statistical methods to ecological problems (including structural equation models, non-linear models and meta-analysis)

In addition, we expect the successful candidate to have:

• experience of working on research projects
• publications in international scientific journals
• international presentation experience
• experience of supervising students at the Master’s level

Required Documents:

1. Motivation letter (1 page)
2. Scientific CV (including publication list and list of invited lectures if any)
3. Research plan for the period of employment at the University of Vienna (1 page)
4. Contact details of two possible references

The research plan (1 page) is of particular importance. Its purpose is to explain how and in what respect the candidate could integrate in and complement the research of the division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research of the Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science.