Postdoctoral Researcher in Zoology and Anthropology

University of Göttingen

Pending on final approval by the funding agency the Institute of Zoology and Anthropology at the University of Göttingen seeks highly qualified and motivated candidates for a

Postdoctoral researcher (m/f/d)

with 100 % of a full position. Regular working hours are currently 39.8 hours per week with a limited contract of 1.5 years with the possibility to prolong for further 1.5 years at the collaborating Institute for Forest Protection of the Julius-Kühn-Institute in Quedlinburg. The position should be filled by 01 April 2026. Salary: Pay grade E13 TV-L.

The position is part of the DFG-funded project “Biodiversity Exploratories: LitterLinks2 – Forest soil food web structure and functioning in response to forest management”.

Your duties

The postdoc will investigate the response of soil animal communities to forest management practices within the “Biodiversity Exploratories”, a large-scale research platform in Germany. The project focuses on analyzing the temporal stability of soil animal communities and soil food web structure in response to forest gap formation and deadwood availability using a long-term dataset. The postdoc will work closely with the project's associated PhD student to integrate their data with data from previous phases of the project in order to model changes in energy fluxes through soil food webs. In addition, the postdoc will lead a synthesis project combining data from below- and aboveground invertebrate communities to identify patterns of resistance, resilience, and long-term stability in response to forest management.

Your profile

• You hold a completed PhD in ecology or a closely related field.
• You have a research focus on arthropods and/or soil fauna and have a good understanding of the structure and functioning of soil food webs.
• You are interested in basic research and applied aspects of forest ecology.
• You have a strong publication record in relevant ecological journals.
• You have strong skills in statistical modelling of time-series and are confident in handling large and complex datasets in R.
• You have very good English language skills in written and spoken form.
• You have strong scientific communication skills and you are willing to engage in synthesis efforts.

The University of Göttingen is an equal opportunities employer and places particular emphasis on fostering career opportunities for women. Qualified women are therefore strongly encouraged to apply in fields in which they are underrepresented. The university has committed itself to being a family-friendly institution and supports their employees in balancing work and family life. The University is particularly committed to the professional participation of severely disabled employees and therefore welcomes applications from severely disabled people. In the case of equal qualifications, applications from people with severe disabilities will be given preference. A disability or equality is to be included in the application in order to protect the interests of the applicant.

Please send your application as a combined pdf file (file name: Surname_Name.pdf) with the subject line “Postdoc position” by January 25, 2026 to Dr. André Junggebauer (andre.junggebauer@uni-goettingen.de), consisting of:

• A motivation letter including relevant experiences
• CV, incl. a publication list
• Copies of academic certificates

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. André Junggebauer (andre.junggebauer@uni-goettingen.de).