Vacancy No. 430/2025

Postdoctoral Researcher (f/m/d) in the field of "Effects of climate and management on carbon storage and greenhouse gas emissions from German forests"

Job description

The division "Landscape Biogeochemistry" of the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research / Atmospheric Environmental Research (KIT/IMKIFU) at Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, invites applications for a postdoctoral Researcher (f/m/d).

The announced position is embedded in the BMFTR-funded collaborative projekt "ForestOvershoot" and will be carried out in close collaboration with project partners from German research organizations, universities and the private sector. Within the project KIT Campus Alpin LandscapeDNDC model will be applied to quantify ecosystem functions of forests, such as climate protection services (sink/source funktion for greenhouse gases) as influenced by nitrogen and water availability. We will assess threats to these services retrospectively, but also by simulating furture developments based on assumptions about forest management as well as climate and atmospheric deposition changes.

The successful candidate will

  • Initialize, evaluate and adapt the process-based LandscapeDNDC model (https://ldndc.imkifu.kit.edu) on selected sites using available measurements.
  • Prepare input data for national scale applications and run LandscapeDNDC simulations; retrospectively and as scenario studies.
  • Interpet and discuss model results in close collaboration with project partners.
Personal qualification

We seek a highly motivated person experienced in forest and biogeochemical modeling who likes to get to the bottom of things and enjoys working in a team with the following qualifications:

  • A successfully completed academic university degree (Master's) with a completed doctorate in environmental sciences, forestry, geoecology, physics, chemistry, or any related field
  • Sound programming skills (C/C++, Fortran, SVN, Git, Python, R, Bash)
  • Experience in forest ecosystem modeling
  • Understanding of biogeochemical carbon and nitrogen cycles in plant-soil systems
  • English language proficiency and ability to write scientific publications
  • Strong communication and teamwork skills
Organizational unit

Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research Atmospheric Environmental Research (IMKIFU)

Starting date

01.01.2026

Salary

Salary category 13 TV-L, depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements.

Contract duration

limited to 3 years

Application up to

09.11.2025

Contact person in line-management

For further information, please contact PD Dr. Ralf Kiese (ralf.kiese@kit.edu).

Application

Please apply online using the button below for this vacancy number 430/2025 .
Personnel Support is provided by 

Ms Rink
phone: +49 721 608-25004,

Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

We prefer to balance the number of employees (f/m/d). Therefore we kindly ask female applicants to apply for this job.
Recognized severely disabled persons will be preferred if they are equally qualified.