PhD Phytoplankton Dynamics in the North Sea

Do you have a keen interest in marine biology? Are you interested in the dynamics of phytoplankton communities, and how they are affected by environmental change? Do you like to combine statistical analysis of ecological data with fieldwork on the North Sea? Apply for this vacancy and start your PhD research.

A research program for the North Sea

The North Sea is subjected to a range of local and global anthropogenic impacts, including global warming, changes in nutrient loads, and development of off-shore windfarms. Yet, information is lacking on how these factors will impact the productivity and composition of phytoplankton communities in the North Sea, which provides the basis for the entire food web. These knowledge gaps challenge our capacity to design management strategies that foster the productivity and biodiversity of the North Sea, and limit our predictions of how the marine food web will respond to future environmental changes.

The MONS program, coordinated by Rijkswaterstaat (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management), is a large research program that aims to understand how the changing use of the North Sea affects its ecological functioning. To fully grasp these effects, more knowledge is needed on the underlying processes. The insights generated by the MONS program are used for the implementation of the agreements in the North Sea Treaty.

What are you going to do?

As PhD student in the MONS program you will investigate how the primary production, species composition and nutritional value of phytoplankton in the North Sea are affected by changes in nutrient availability, turbidity, temperature, and other environmental factors.

Your tasks and responsibilities are:

• Statistical analysis of long-term data of phytoplankton, nutrients, temperature and other environmental variables that have been monitored in the North Sea during the past several decades;
• Participation in research cruises on the North Sea to collect new data on the species composition of phytoplankton and their nutritional value for zooplankton;
• Performance of laboratory experiments with plankton communities sampled from the North Sea to assess their response to environmental change under controlled conditions;
• Publication of the results in international scientific journals;
• Presentation of the results in the department, at meetings of the MONS program, and at (international) scientific conferences;
• Supervision of BSc and/or MSc students who wish to do an internship on phytoplankton dynamics of the North Sea;
• Completion of a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years.

This PhD position is tightly linked to another PhD position of the MONS programme, on zooplankton dynamics in the North Sea (see PhD vacancy at NIOZ). Together, the two PhD students will join the research cruises and run the laboratory experiments, to assess interactions between the phytoplankton and zooplankton communities.

The research of these two PhD students will be supervised by a team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam (IBED/UvA), the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and the knowledge institute Deltares. Training and courses during the PhD trajectory will be offered by UvA and NIOZ, and by the Graduate School for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation (PE&RC).

Your profile

We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate, who enjoys a combination of statistical analysis, field studies and laboratory research. You have a keen interest in marine phytoplankton ecology and are eager to perform research at the North Sea. You are a well-organized team player, but also able to work independently.

What do we require?

• A MSc degree in marine biology, microbial ecology, aquatic ecology, or closely related discipline;
• Experience with statistical analysis of ecological data, with field research in marine and/or freshwater ecosystems, and with culturing of bacteria or phytoplankton in the laboratory;
• A demonstrated ability to work with programming software such us R, Phyton or Matlab;
• Strong communication and writing skills in English;
• Willingness and ability to spend consecutive days at sea;
• Driving license B.

Techniques to be used in this research include, e.g., multivariate statistics, nutrient analysis, flow cytometry, remote sensing and DNA barcoding. We do not expect that candidates master all these techniques from the start, but consider previous experience with one or more of these techniques as an advantage.

Our offer

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). The preferred starting date is 1st of January 2025 or shortly after. This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students.

For this position the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” (PhD candidate) applies. Your salary will be €2,872 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €3,670 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week. This does not include 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end allowance. The UFO profile PhD candidate is applicable. A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January
• multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• a complete educational program for PhD students;
• multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• partly paid parental leave;
• the possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• the possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• help with registration at UvA- Housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad.