The UFZ
The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) with its 1,100
employees has gained an excellent reputation as an international competence
centre for environmental sciences. We are part of the largest scientific
organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz association. Our mission: Our research
seeks to find a balance between social development and the long-term
protection of our natural resources.
The job
The UFZ offers four PhD positions in the framework of the PhD college
“Fostering pollutant-sink functions of blue-green infrastructures: towards
local urban water cycles in climate-resilient cities - CLEANER”. The aim of
CLEANER is to identify the control options for biodegradation of urban
pollutants in blue-green infrastructures - tree trenches and roof wetlands -
and develop technical solutions based on the joint research within the PhD
college (seewww. ufz.de/cleaner for more information).
Project start: 1 st May 2023.
Your tasks
You first develop a lab-scale marsh-plant roof. This could be a three-
stage system as a down-scaled model to investigate adsorption and
transformation of common greywater pollutants,
You evaluate microbial transformation of pollutants on a full-scale marsh
plant roof and characterize microbial populations using amplicon
sequencing,
You identify active microbial populations and responsible enzymes for
transformation of greywater pollutants through stable isotope probing,
metagenomics, and proteome mass spectrometric approaches,
You collaborate with the other three PhD researcher of CLEANER and
associated researchers
You present results at international conferences and prepare publications
in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
We offer
Excellent technical facilities which are without parallel
The freedom you need to bridge the difficult gap between basic research
and close to being ready for application
Work in inter-disciplinary, multinational teams
Excellent links with national and international research networks
Excellent support and optimal subject-specific and general training with
our HIGRADE graduate school
Remuneration in accordance with the TVöD public-sector pay grade 13
Your profile
A master degree in Environmental Science, Biology, Environmental
Engineering, Environmental Microbiology, Bioprocess Engineering or related
areas
Knowledge of the fundamentals of molecular biology, preferable with
knowledge of stable isotope probing and proteomics,
Skills in IT and data evaluation,
High degree of self-organisation and ability to work independently,
Good communication skills
Proficient English
Motivation to work in an interdisciplinary team