Postdoc: Above-belowground interactions in grasslands under global change - NIOO-KNAW - Wageningen

Bij het Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) is een volledig gefinancierde postdocpositie beschikbaar gericht op bovengrondse en ondergrondse interacties in graslanden onder mondiale verandering, gevestigd in Wageningen.

What you will be doing

Grasslands are under increased pressure from global changes, with nutrient enrichment and changes in vertebrate grazer communities among the most prominent drivers. Although the impacts of global changes on plant communities have been well documented, much less is understood about how they affect soil community composition and functioning. This role offers the unique opportunity to use a long-term experiment at the Veluwe in the Netherlands, part of the global Nutrient Network, to study the impacts of nutrient addition and grazing on plant and soil communities.

With your expertise in plant or soil ecology you will:

• collect field samples and analyse long-term data sets to understand plant and soil community responses to global changes;
• make current datasets FAIR and analyse these data from new angles;
• write scientific publications;
• contribute to the development of a long-term strategy for using the experimental facility;
• help develop project proposals for funding future work;
• present your research at conferences and scientific meetings.

What are we looking for

We are looking for a highly motivated researcher with a PhD degree in plant or soil ecology, plant-soil interactions, or a related discipline. You should be strong in open communication, work well within a team of researchers, and have creative ideas for building a research strategy for the future.

Essential qualifications include expertise with (multivariate) statistical analyses of plant or soil community data sets, good writing and presentation skills, fluency in English, and a driver’s license B. Experience with field work, chemical or molecular laboratory analyses, or acquisition of funding would be an advantage.

What do we offer

A fully funded 1.0 FTE postdoc position for one year initially, with the possibility of extension by up to 6 months depending on the initial starting date. The preferred starting date is 1 July 2026, and the latest starting date is 1 September 2026. You can become a member of the graduate school PE&RC. The Department of Terrestrial Ecology (TE) and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) organise weekly seminars, science lunches, and journal clubs to stimulate scientific discussion and exchange ideas.

Your workplace

You will be based at the Department of Terrestrial Ecology (TE) at NIOO-KNAW, consisting of a dynamic, interactive, and collaborative group of researchers from diverse backgrounds. You will share office space with other PhD candidates and postdocs in the department and join an active community of researchers, postdocs, PhDs, research assistants, and internship students.

In TE, we aim to understand, predict, and mitigate the effects of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land use change in terrestrial ecosystems. Our research focuses on interactions between plants, microbes, and (in)vertebrates, in the soil and aboveground. Our approach is conceptual-experimental and ranges from evolutionary adaptation to community interactions and ecosystem processes. NIOO-KNAW has state-of-the-art research facilities.

About NIOO

The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) is a national research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). At NIOO we perform ecological research on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable use of land and water. We stimulate ecological research in the Netherlands and share our ecological knowledge with society. Everyone in our organisation is passionate about contributing to a sustainable world from their own area of expertise.