Vacancy No. 1288/2025

PhD Position (f/m/d) in Seismology: Full-Waveform Inversion of the Ardiatic Plate

Part time 75%

Project Background

The tectonic structure of the Adriatic microplate and its interaction with surrounding orogens (Alps, Apennines, Dinarides, Hellenides) remain debated, with unresolved questions on slab tearing, detachment, and subduction polarity. As part of the large-scale international Adria-Array project we will construct the first high-resolution multiscale 3D P- and S-wave velocity model of the circum-Adria region using a full-waveform inversion (FWI) approach and jointly inverting for regional earthquake waveforms, ambient noise cross-correlations, and teleseismic waveforms. This project is imbedded in the multidisciplinary DEFOMR project funded by DFG on shedding new light on slab dynamics, crust–mantle coupling, and the driving parameters of mantle and crustal processes on geohazards.

Job description
  • Design, develop and apply an flexible and integrative multiscale FWI using GPU-accelerated spectral-element simulations (Salvus, Specfem3D).
  • Integrate diverse seismic datasets from AlpArray, AdriaArray, ANTICS, and C2S-RLN.
  • Analyze the resulting models in the context of tectonics, geodynamics, and seismic hazard.
  • Collaborate with leading groups (KIT, RUB, GFZ, ETH Zürich) and present results at major conferences (EGU, AGU, DGG).

The PhD student will benefit from close supervision and mentoring by internationally recognized experts:

Personal qualification
  • Master’s degree in Geophysics, Physics, Computational Earth Sciences, or related field.
  • Strong background in seismology, numerical modelling, or HPC.
  • Interest in tectonics and geodynamics.
  • Experience with programming (e.g., Python, Fortran, C/C++) and/or parallel computing is an advantage.
  • Enthusiasm for interdisciplinary, international collaboration.
Organizational unit

Geophysical Institute (GPI)

Starting date

as soon as possible

Salary

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

Contract duration

3 years

Application up to

02.11.2025

How to apply

Please send your application as a single PDF including:

  • a motivation letter (max. 2 pages),
  • CV with publications (if any),
  • transcripts of academic records,
  • contact details of two referees.
Contact person in line-management

For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Andreas Rietbrock  or Dr. Yajian Gao .

Application

Please apply online using the button below for this vacancy number 1288/2025 .
Personnel Support is provided by 

Ms Carrasco Sanchez
phone: +49 721 608-42016,

Kaiserstr. 12, 76131 Karlsruhe

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.

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