"Professorship in Soil Ecosystems"

The position:

Soil ecosystems are vital for planetary health. They are susceptible to global change and play a key role for feedback mechanisms related to climate change. We are searching for candidates who examine the structural and functional aspects of soil ecosystems, with an emphasis on the role of soil microorganisms in soil function under future climate conditions. This includes microbially mediated ecosystem processes and potential underlying mechanisms, such as interactions among microbes and with their biotic and physicochemical environment.

The professorship is embedded in the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS), which integrates terrestrial ecosystem research with microbiome science, computational systems biology and environmental pollution research. Active collaboration with these areas is expected.

Your academic profile:

• Doctoral degree/PhD
• Outstanding research achievements, excellent publication and funding record, international reputation
• Proven leadership qualities
• Gender and diversity competence
• Experience in designing and managing large research projects
• Enthusiasm for excellent teaching and supervision at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral level
• Willingness to take on organisational and administrative responsibilities within the Faculty and/or the University

The University of Vienna expects the successful candidate to acquire, within three years, proficiency in German sufficient for teaching in bachelor’s programmes and for participation in university committees.

We offer:

• a dynamic research environment
• a wide range of research and teaching support services
• attractive working conditions in a city with a high quality of life
• an attractive salary according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement for University Staff (§98 UG, level A1, to be negotiated individually) and an organisational retirement plan
• a “start-up package”, in particular for the initiation of research projects
• comprehensive relocation support

Application documents:

Please submit a single PDF file (LastName_FirstName.pdf) containing the following information in English via email to the Head of the Centre, Andreas Richter, mail to: application.cemess@univie.ac.at

Appendices to application document:

• 1. Letter of motivation
• 2. Academic curriculum vitae
• education and training
• positions held to date
• relevant parental, family or other care times
• awards and honors
• commissions of trust
• previous and current cooperation partners
• list of most important acquired third-party funding as principal investigator, and, if applicable, of inventions/patents
• list of most important scientific talks (max. 10)
• teaching and mentoring
• supervision experience (Master and PhD)
• 3. List of publications and a link to your ORCID record
• 4. Research statement
• most important research achievements (max. 2 pages) and planned future research activities (max. 4 pages)
• synopsis of five key publications with relevance to the position advertised
• 5. Teaching and supervision statement
• teaching and supervision concept, including a description of the previous and planned priorities in academic teaching and supervision (max. 2 pages)
• a. Five key publications as electronic full text version
• b. Teaching evaluations (if available, compiled into a single PDF file)
• c. Copies of certificates of academic degrees (mandatory, compiled into a single PDF file)

The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We lay special emphasis on increasing the number of women in senior and in academic positions among the academic and general university staff and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

Reference no.: SEGC2025

Application deadline: 17 September 2025