PhD: Impact-based forecasting of compound heat/drought events in the Netherlands
PhD @Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam posted 4 days agoJob Description
Are you keen to contribute to our understanding of and resilience to compound heat or drought events? Do you want to carry out scientific research that supports the development of early warning systems? Then we are looking for you!
Your function
Heat-/drought-related events can have substantial impacts in countries typically not accustomed to these natural hazards, such as the Netherlands. It is therefore crucial to improve our understanding of these hazards, how they compound, and what impacts that may pose, for instance on wildfire risk, health, or agriculture.
In this role, you carry out research on impact-based forecasting of heat-/drought-related compound events in the Netherlands. Your focus is the representation of hazard-impact relationships and your results contribute to the development of operational impact-based forecasting models at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)’s Early Warning Centre. You perform literature reviews, engage with stakeholders, researchers and modellers, and explore and develop new empirical methods to capture hazard-impact relationships. These methods can include a wide-range of approaches depending on your interest and background, for example qualitative analysis, spatial analysis, and artificial intelligence.
Your duties
- you will closely collaborate with the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) Early Warning Centre and their crisis management partners to align your research outcomes
- you are expected to contribute 0.1 FTE (10% of working time) to support teaching in BSc and MSc educational programmes and supervise BSc and MSc students
- you will contribute to the scientific and public community, by working with fellow academics as well as crisis management partners in the public domain, and presenting your work at international conferences and stakeholder presentations
Your profile
- you have a MSc degree in Hydrology, Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Meteorology, Computer Sciences or similar
- you possess excellent skills in quantitative analysis and modelling, and have programming skills in Python or a similar programming language
- you have excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English and you are interested in doing cutting-edge scientific research
We realise that each individual brings a unique set of skills, expertise and mindset. Therefore we are happy to invite anyone who recognises themselves in the profile to apply, even if you do not fully meet all the requirements.
What do we offer?
An interesting position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:
- a salary of minimum € 2.901,00 (PhD scale 85.0) and maximum € 3.707,00 (PhD scale 85.3) gross per month in the fourth year, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile PhD candidate.
- a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year. Afterwards, if there is sufficient perspective, this will be extended to a total of 4 years. Your dissertation at the end of the fourth year forms the end of your employment contract.
We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:
- A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
- 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
- solid pension scheme (ABP)
- contribution to commuting expenses
- optional model for designing a personalized benefits package
Additionally, we also offer a PhD education programme including training for teaching assistants and courses that are part of the SENSE graduate school.
Interested
Are you interested in this position and do you believe that your experience will contribute to the further development of our university? In that case, we encourage you to submit your application.
IMPORTANT: Motivation letter should be limited to 1 page, resumés to 2 pages. Motivation letters generated with ChatGPT or other AI language tools will not be considered.
We expect two rounds of interviews for the position, which will take place in the period September-October. Please take this into account when applying for the position.
Submitting a diploma and a reference check are part of the application process.
Reference letters can either be uploaded with your application, or you can list the contact information of two references in your CV or cover letter.
Applications received by e-mail will not be considered.
Acquisition in response to this advertisement is not appreciated.
