Are you excited by ecosystem modeling, climate change and polar oceans? Do you enjoy quantitative work, coding, and turning ecology into equations? We are looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate who is eager to study Antarctic krill and salp population dynamics, and their impacts on Southern Ocean carbon export in a changing climate.
About the position
The Southern Ocean plays a disproportionately large role in the global ocean carbon cycle. Its carbon cycling is strongly influenced by zooplankton, especially Antarctic krill and salps, whose fecal pellets drive vertical carbon export. Krill depend closely on sea ice and under‑ice habitats, while salps thrive in warmer, often ice‑free waters. Warming and sea‑ice loss are already shifting their distributions and increasing spatial overlap, with implications for competition, food webs, and fisheries. Yet current ecosystem models represent these key grazers only crudely, leaving major uncertainties in future projections.
This project asks how changing interactions between Antarctic krill and salps reshape Southern Ocean ecosystems and the global carbon cycle. It will explore how sea‑ice loss, warming, predation and fisheries affect krill and salp population dynamics, and how shifts in their relative dominance alter grazing, fecal pellet production and vertical carbon export. Ultimately, it aims to reduce uncertainty in projections of Southern Ocean functioning under future climate and fishing scenarios.
What are you going to do?
You will develop stage‑structured population models for both species, explicitly including life‑history processes, sea‑ice dependence, predation and fisheries. You will couple these models to an ocean-sea‑ice-biogeochemical framework for the Antarctic Peninsula to quantify impacts on vertical carbon export. Finally, you will explore future climate and fishing scenarios to assess how shifts in krill-salp dominance affect Southern Ocean functioning.
Tasks and responsibilities:
- Complete and defend a PhD thesis within the official appointment duration of four years
- Develop and analyze stage-structured population models for krill and salp
- Couple the stage-structured models to an ocean-sea ice-biogeochemical framework to quantify how zooplankton life-histories influences vertical carbon export and local carbon cycling
- Publish your results in international scientific journals
- Present your results at meetings and scientific conferences
- Discuss your work in our group meetings, incorporate feedback, and give input to others
- Assist in teaching activities and in supervising bachelor and master students
Your profile
Your experience and profile:
- Completed, or soon-to-be completed MSc in the biological sciences or different fields in the natural sciences (e.g. computational, mathematical, earth or marine sciences) with a strong interest in ecology and modeling
- Demonstrated experience with mathematical modelling, and an ability to learn new concepts and (computational) methods as needed
- A demonstrated ability to work with programming languages such as R, Python, Matlab, or C++
- A keen interest in advancing our understanding of marine ecosystems, polar regions, and/or biogeochemistry
- Proficient communication skills in spoken and written English
- Experience in scientific writing, bifurcation analysis or numerical ocean modeling are considered a plus.
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). 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. The preferred starting date is as soon as possible. For this position the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” (PhD candidate) applies. Your salary will be € 3.204 gross per month in the first year and will increase to € 4.051 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week. In addition, you will receive a 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end allowance.
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.
Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.
About us
The Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) is one of eight research institutes of the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam. The research at IBED aims to unravel how ecosystems function in all their complexity, and how they change due to natural processes and human activities. At its core lies an integrated systems approach to study biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment. IBED adopts this systems approach to ecosystems, addressing abiotic (soil and water quality) and biotic factors (ecology and evolution of plants, animals, and microorganisms), and the interplay between those. The IBED vision includes research encompassing experimental and theoretical approaches at a wide variety of temporal and spatial scales, i.e. from molecules and microorganisms to patterns and processes occurring at the global scale. The University of Amsterdam has excellent high performance computing facilities. Furthermore, IBED has a dedicated computational support team with specialized knowledge of bioinformatics, (geo)database management and scientific programming. IBED also works with non-academic partners to deliver transdisciplinary science for society.
The position will be based in the Department of Freshwater and Marine Ecology. The department of Freshwater & Marine Ecology aims to increase our understanding of the biodiversity and dynamics of freshwater and marine ecosystems from the level of molecules and genes to entire ecosystems.
Department of Theoretical and Computational Ecology. Research in the Department of Theoretical and Computational Ecology focuses on understanding the complexity of ecological systems by using theoretical and advanced computational approaches.
Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.
If you feel the profile fits you, and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your application. You can apply online via the ‘Apply’-button on the vacancy’s webpage. We accept applications until and including 18 October 2026.
Applications should include the following information (all files besides your cv should be submitted in one single pdf file):
- a detailed CV including the months (not just years) when referring to your education and work experience;
- a letter of motivation;
- a list of publications;
- the names and email addresses of two references who can provide letters of recommendation.
Only complete applications received within the response period via the link below will be considered.
A knowledge security check can be part of the selection procedure (for details: national knowledge security guidelines).
The interviews will be organized in two rounds. Potential candidates will be invited to the first round of online interviews soon after the closing date. In the second round we will invite 2-3 selected candidates to visit the UvA.