Postdoc in Environmental and Soil Sciences: Modelling Impacts of Agricultural Soil Management on Pools and Fluxes of Water, Carbon, Nitrogen and Solutes
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Postdoc in Environmental and Soil Sciences: Modelling Impacts of Agricultural Soil Management on Pools and Fluxes of Water, Carbon, Nitrogen and Solutes
The Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, invites applicants for a 3-year postdoc within Environmental and Soil Sciences.
The overall aim of the postdoc position is to improve our knowledge of how different agricultural soil management and fertilisation (mineral as well as organic) strategies impact soil water, carbon and nitrogen, as well as emissions of GHG to the atmosphere and N leaching, pesticides and other xenobiotics to the aquatic environment.
The postdoc activities in two research projects: a) NyMarkModel (Modelling N leaching and soil C changes in Danish Agriculture) and b) PHISHES (PHysically-based Integrated Soil HEalth Simulation Platform), see further details below.
Both projects build on the agroecosystem model Daisy (https://daisy.ku.dk/) and entails developing and expanding current Daisy submodels to include more advanced approaches to simulation of organic residue retention, crop performance and soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) turnover and emissions.
Starting date for the postdoc is expected to be 1st October 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. The duration of the postdoc position is three years.
The postdoc
The postdoc will work approximately one third of the time on the NyMarkModel (primarily in the first year) and two thirds of the time on the PHISHES projects.
The project NyMarkModel aims to to develop an improved N modeling approch that can calculate reliable estimates of N leaching and soil C balance at the field level from farm activity data, especially related to mineral and organic N fertilisation, crop choice and rotation, soil type and climate. The project is funded by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and lead by University of Copenhagen with partners from Aarhus University and SEGES Innovation.
The project PHISHES aims to quantitatively assess, through state-of-the-art modelling, how different agricultural management strategies impacts soil pollution, soil processes and functions, ecosystem services and surface water quality at catchment scale. Agricultural management systems studied includes conventional tillage (CT) and conservation agriculture (CA) practices. The project is funded by the EU Horizon Europe Soil Mission program and lead by Danish Hydraulic Institute, with University of Copenhagen and a range of European organisations as partners.
The specific objectives of the postdoc project will be along these directions:
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for candidates with professional as well as personal skills and qualifications as stated below:
The Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Soil Management research group (NyMarkModel part) aims at developing better ways to manage soils, crops and fertiliser inputs in agriculture that result in reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, while maintaining productivity and avoiding any detrimental environmental effects such as nutrient leaching. (https://plen.ku.dk/english/research/plant_soil/climate-change-mitigation-and-sustainable-soil-management/)
The Environmental Chemistry research group (PHISHES part) works on the molecular insight in the fate of a wide range chemicals and natural compounds, to provide data to safeguard the use and management of these. Research focus is also on developing methods to clean up polluted soils and waters, i.e. filters or reactive nanomaterials introduced to polluted soils, extracting or binding toxic compounds. Finally, modelling the turnover and fate of these compounds in the agroecosystem is a research topic. (https://plen.ku.dk/english/research/env_chem_phys/ec/)
Both groups are part of Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN), Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen (https://plen.ku.dk/english/). We are located in Copenhagen, with main campus in Frederiksberg and field trial facilities at our experimental farm in Taastrup, 20 km from the main campus. Our research facilities include modern laboratories, growth chambers, greenhouses and experimental fields. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and international research environment.
The postdoc candidate will also collaborate with national and international researchers from other partners in the two projects.
The postdoc’s duties will include research within the above scientific topics, but may also involve limited teaching activities on modelling-related courses. The post may also include performance of other duties.
Further information on the Department is linked at https://plen.ku.dk/english/
For more information on the position, contact Associate Professor, Bjarne W. Strobel, Environmental Chemistry research group, bjwe@plen.ku.dk, +45 3533 3481 or Professor Lars Stoumann Jensen, Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Soil Management research group, lsj@plen.ku.dk, +45 2122 2039.
The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.
Terms of employment
The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.
Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.
Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.
The application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.
Please include
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee.
You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.
Interviews will be held week 34 or 35 (last half of August).
The overall aim of the postdoc position is to improve our knowledge of how different agricultural soil management and fertilisation (mineral as well as organic) strategies impact soil water, carbon and nitrogen, as well as emissions of GHG to the atmosphere and N leaching, pesticides and other xenobiotics to the aquatic environment.
The postdoc activities in two research projects: a) NyMarkModel (Modelling N leaching and soil C changes in Danish Agriculture) and b) PHISHES (PHysically-based Integrated Soil HEalth Simulation Platform), see further details below.
Both projects build on the agroecosystem model Daisy (https://daisy.ku.dk/) and entails developing and expanding current Daisy submodels to include more advanced approaches to simulation of organic residue retention, crop performance and soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) turnover and emissions.
Starting date for the postdoc is expected to be 1st October 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter. The duration of the postdoc position is three years.
The postdoc
The postdoc will work approximately one third of the time on the NyMarkModel (primarily in the first year) and two thirds of the time on the PHISHES projects.
The project NyMarkModel aims to to develop an improved N modeling approch that can calculate reliable estimates of N leaching and soil C balance at the field level from farm activity data, especially related to mineral and organic N fertilisation, crop choice and rotation, soil type and climate. The project is funded by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and lead by University of Copenhagen with partners from Aarhus University and SEGES Innovation.
The project PHISHES aims to quantitatively assess, through state-of-the-art modelling, how different agricultural management strategies impacts soil pollution, soil processes and functions, ecosystem services and surface water quality at catchment scale. Agricultural management systems studied includes conventional tillage (CT) and conservation agriculture (CA) practices. The project is funded by the EU Horizon Europe Soil Mission program and lead by Danish Hydraulic Institute, with University of Copenhagen and a range of European organisations as partners.
The specific objectives of the postdoc project will be along these directions:
- Creating scenarios for Daisy simulations of soil-plant-atmosphere processes (water, carbon, nitrogen, xenobiotics) and fluxes to the environment, for relevant crop management and soil type combinations, including different:
- Farm typologies & associated relevant crop rotations, incl. dairy, pig and plant-production based farms, and cover crop use (mainly NyMarkModel).
- Fertilisation strategies, such as N level, fertiliser form (mineral or organic, mainly NyMarkModel).
- Farming systems (incl. conventional tillage and conservation agriculture) as well as pesticide and nitrification inhibitor use (mainly PHISHES).
- Analysing simulation results from these scenarios, with particular focus on
- Nitrate leaching, soil C and N stock changes and crop production (NyMarkModel)
- Soil health (organic matter, microbial biomass pool changes) and eco-system services, including crop production, soil filter function (N , pesticides, nitrification inhibiters, and PFAS) and climate change mitigation (carbon sequestration) (PHISHES).
- Comparing scenario (c) results with measurements from the PHISHES field site in Czechia, and identifying and using relevant databases to generalize the scenarios to a wider European scale. Particular focus will be on the sensitivity to climate change and variability.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for candidates with professional as well as personal skills and qualifications as stated below:
- Education relevant to the postdoc position, including a PhD degree (or soon finalised PhD) in environmental science, agronomy, soil science, physical geography or a related discipline.
- Solid knowledge about soil processes (physical, chemical, biological), in the context of agricultural systems.
- Solid experience with modelling of soil processes and environmental emissions in agricultural systems using the Daisy model (or similar).
- Strong computer skills, experience with data management and analysis, including advanced data processing, statistical tools and methods.
- Relevant work experience or other professional activities will be an advantage
- Excellent English language skills (written as well as oral)
- Good communicative and interpersonal skills.
The Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Soil Management research group (NyMarkModel part) aims at developing better ways to manage soils, crops and fertiliser inputs in agriculture that result in reduced emissions of greenhouse gases, while maintaining productivity and avoiding any detrimental environmental effects such as nutrient leaching. (https://plen.ku.dk/english/research/plant_soil/climate-change-mitigation-and-sustainable-soil-management/)
The Environmental Chemistry research group (PHISHES part) works on the molecular insight in the fate of a wide range chemicals and natural compounds, to provide data to safeguard the use and management of these. Research focus is also on developing methods to clean up polluted soils and waters, i.e. filters or reactive nanomaterials introduced to polluted soils, extracting or binding toxic compounds. Finally, modelling the turnover and fate of these compounds in the agroecosystem is a research topic. (https://plen.ku.dk/english/research/env_chem_phys/ec/)
Both groups are part of Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PLEN), Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen (https://plen.ku.dk/english/). We are located in Copenhagen, with main campus in Frederiksberg and field trial facilities at our experimental farm in Taastrup, 20 km from the main campus. Our research facilities include modern laboratories, growth chambers, greenhouses and experimental fields. We offer creative and stimulating working conditions in a dynamic and international research environment.
The postdoc candidate will also collaborate with national and international researchers from other partners in the two projects.
The postdoc’s duties will include research within the above scientific topics, but may also involve limited teaching activities on modelling-related courses. The post may also include performance of other duties.
Further information on the Department is linked at https://plen.ku.dk/english/
For more information on the position, contact Associate Professor, Bjarne W. Strobel, Environmental Chemistry research group, bjwe@plen.ku.dk, +45 3533 3481 or Professor Lars Stoumann Jensen, Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Soil Management research group, lsj@plen.ku.dk, +45 2122 2039.
The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.
Terms of employment
The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.
Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.
Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.
The application, in English, must be submitted electronically by clicking APPLY NOW below.
Please include
- Cover letter, including motivation for applying for this position
- Curriculum vitae
- Diplomas (Master and PhD degree or equivalent)
- Research plan – brief description (1p) of future research plans (within the position topics)
- Complete publication list
- Separate reprints of 3 particularly relevant papers
After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee.
You can read about the recruitment process at http://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.
Interviews will be held week 34 or 35 (last half of August).