2-year Postdoc position in Constraining aerosols in Earth system models using novel satellite observations

The Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University, Roskilde, invites applications for a 2-year position as Postdoc in Earth system modelling to strengthen the research capacity at the department. The position is to be filled by January 1st, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. This is subject to negotiation.
Department of Environmental Science
The Department of Environmental Science is an interdisciplinary department under the Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University. The expertise of the department ranges from physics, chemistry, microbiology, social science, geography, economics, to policy analysis. Basic as well as applied research are conducted on some of the major challenges facing society, such as pollution and pollution control mechanisms, management of land, soil, water, air and biodiversity, protection of ecosystem services, and climate change. Advisory services within these areas are offered to ministries and other authorities. Currently, about 140 staff, postdocs and PhD students are working at the department. The department believes in values of equality, diversity, and inclusion, and creating an attractive work/life balance. Further information can be found at www.envs.au.dk.

The selected candidate will be affiliated with the Section for Atmospheric Emissions & Modelling in the group of atmospheric modelling. The research in the section is targeted towards an understanding of the fundamental atmospheric processes: transport, chemical transformation, dispersion, and deposition of air pollutants. The group develops, tests, and applies global to local-scale air pollution models, that integrate with environmental and health impacts, socio-economic impacts and climate change. The aim is to provide the state-of-the-art capacity in Denmark for research, development, application, teaching, and decision support within the area of climate and air pollution modelling, as well as integrated environmental and health assessment modelling.
Expertise within the Group of Atmospheric Modelling includes:

• Atmospheric physics and chemistry, numerical methods and computer science,
• Regional-scale transport modelling covering the Northern Hemisphere, Europe, Denmark and including governing physical and chemical processes,
• Local-scale modelling including governing physical and chemical processes on an urban/street scale, as well as point sources like stacks for industry and power plants,
• Weather forecast modelling from hemispheric scale down to urban scale,
• Operating and further developing integrated model systems covering all scales for 3- and 4-days forecasting as well as integrated assessment modelling with focus on the impact on human health, the environment and climate,
• Climate modelling and linkages to air pollution and health effects,
• Modelling impact of climate change on air pollution with focus on Europe and the Arctic,
• Taking part in integrated monitoring where state of the environment is assessed through combined use of measurements and model calculations,
• Decision-support to policy makers within emissions, source apportionment, air quality and deposition assessment, health impacts and related socio-economic costs, impact assessment of policy measures as well as information to the public about air quality.

Description of the position:
The selected candidate will work in frame of the European Union Horizon Europe funded CleanCloud (Clouds and climate transitioning to post-fossil aerosol regime: https://projects.au.dk/cleancloud) project, which aims to improve knowledge on aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) and its representation in state-of-the-art regional to global climate models, to quantify and understand regional and temporal effects of ACI-related processes and how they will evolve in the transition to the post-fossil regime, characterized by reductions in anthropogenic aerosols.
The candidate is expected to:

• Further develop, test, maintain and apply climate models focusing on atmospheric aerosols and clouds in the CleanCloud project,
• Combine models and novel upcoming satellite observations, such as ESA/JAXA-EarthCARE and NASA-PACE, to constrain ACI-related processes using advanced methods such as Perturbed Parameter Ensembles in frame of the CleanCloud projects,
• Conduct and publish international recognized research within climate modelling, focusing on aerosol-cloud interactions,
• Take active part in developing and enhancing interdisciplinary collaboration both internally and externally. The latter with both national and international partners, especially modelling centers and satellite partners in the CleanCloud project,
• Take active part with collaborating with other EU projects within the EC-ESA aerosol-cloud cluster,
• Actively contribute to the project portfolio in the department by taking part in applications for externally funded research projects.

Qualifications/profile:
The position requires a background in meteorology, physics, geophysics, mathematical modelling, chemistry, engineering, or related disciplines. Qualifications within research-based development, testing and application of atmospheric models are expected. Experience in Earth system modelling, with studies of physical/chemical processes in relation to atmospheric aerosols, data assimilation, and machine learning methods will be highly desirable. Experience in development and use of EC-Earth (European Community Earth System Model) in relation to aerosols and clouds will be highly desirable. Programming skills in Fortran are required and others are desirable, like e.g. Python and/or R. The candidate is expected to be enthusiastic about working in an interdisciplinary academic environment. The position requires a highly motivated researcher who is comfortable with teamwork, with good communication skills.

Applicants applying for the postdoc position (2 years) should as minimum hold scientific qualifications at PhD graduate level, and preferably be able to demonstrate publication activity independent of supervisors. The successful applicant must show evidence of an emerging productive publication record, and active participation in applying for external research funding. Participation in national and international networks of researchers is preferable.
Work location
The place of work will be at Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark, and the area of employment is Aarhus University with related departments. The city of Roskilde (www.roskilde.dk) is located approx. 30 km from Copenhagen. The area provides immediate access to a wealth of cultural and recreational pursuits.

International candidates may find information concerning living and working in Denmark at www.workindenmark.dk. AU International Center offers a full range of services to make your transition to Denmark as smooth as possible (http://www.au.dk/en/internationalcentre/ias/), and the department will assist foreign candidates with finding a suitable place to live.
Further information
Further information may be obtained by contacting Dr. Ulas Im ulas@[email protected] +4550154050.
Deadline
All applications must be made online and received by: July 15, 2024.

Application procedure
Shortlisting is used. This means that after the deadline for applications – and with the assistance from the assessment committee chairman, and the appointment committee if necessary, – the head of department selects the candidates to be evaluated. All applicants will be notified whether or not their applications have been sent to an expert assessment committee for evaluation. The selected applicants will be informed about the composition of the committee, and each applicant is given the opportunity to comment on the part of the assessment that concerns him/her self. Once the recruitment process is completed a final letter of rejection is sent to the deselected applicants.
Letter of reference
If you want a referee to upload a letter of reference on your behalf, please state the referee’s contact information when you submit your application. We strongly recommend that you make an agreement with the person in question before you enter the referee’s contact information, and that you ensure that the referee has enough time to write the letter of reference before the application deadline.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to ensure that letters of reference received after the application deadline will be taken into consideration.
Formalities and salary range
Technical Sciences refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities under the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The application must be in English and include a curriculum vitae, degree certificate, a complete list of publications, a statement of future research plans and information about research activities, teaching portfolio and verified information on previous teaching experience (if any). Guidelines for applicants can be found here.

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Taxation and the Confederation of Professional Associations.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants.

Research activities will be evaluated in relation to actual research time. Thus, we encourage applicants to specify periods of leave without research activities, in order to be able to subtract these periods from the span of the scientific career during the evaluation of scientific productivity.

Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including relocation service and career counselling to expat partners. Read more here. Please find more information about entering and working in Denmark here.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here.

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,300 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 935 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/

Department: Atmosfæriske Emissioner og Modelle/Atmospheric Emissions & Modelling

Deadline: 15 July 2024

Location: Roskilde Frederiksborgvej 399