Whenever there are any new positions available at the ICOS or related communities we will announce it on this page.
If you have information about related open vacancies, please email ICOS Communications at icos-comms (at) icos-ri.eu
Open positions at ICOS Head Office and Carbon Portal
Postdoc - ICOS Carbon Portal Scientist, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands (Deadline 14th June 2025)
As ICOS Carbon Portal Scientist, you will contribute to the growing use of European carbon cycle observations by the international research community, in which our team at Wageningen plays a central role. As member of our team you will initiate research, build collaborations within and outside our team, and coordinate collective efforts in the wider community to use a wide range of greenhouse observations, models and derived data products. These are shared as open science through the Carbon Portal of the Integrated Carbon Observing System (ICOS) of the EU.
You will have opportunities to lead scientific publications, coordinate/support/conduct model intercomparisons, develop new data products for the ICOS Carbon Portal, and to support PhD candidates and BSc/MSc thesis students in their research. This includes the development and scientific use of our 'CarbonTracker' family of greenhouse gas models and data products. While strengthening our team in Wageningen with your creativity and scientific and interpersonal skills, you will also coordinate our collaboration with the ICOS Carbon Portal team at Lund University.
Your duties and responsibilities include:
- To initiate, support, and enable carbon cycle research in our team, and in the wider ICOS community we engage with
- To liaise with the ICOS Carbon Portal team at Lund University and support its mission to be the one-stop-shop of greenhouse gas information for Europe
- To contribute to the development and publication of science with our 'CarbonTracker' family of greenhouse gas models and data products
- To support science of our PhD candidates and BSc/MSc students through co-supervision, mentoring, problem-solving, and technical training
Deadline for applications is 14th June 2025.
Open positions in the ICOS field
3-yr PostDoc position Greenhouse gas balance of fen meadow landscapes, Water Systems and Global Change group, Wageningen University, Netherlands (Deadline 28th July 2025)
In support of emission reduction policies for fen meadow landscapes, we contribute to projects such as the Netherlands Research Programme on Greenhouse Gas Dynamics from Peatlands and Organic soils, and PeatPals. These aim to investigate the effects of various mitigation measures on total greenhouse gas balance of the targeted areas. We contribute to this peatland research with (mobile) tower based eddy covariance measurements of carbon dioxide and methane exchange at field scale and with airborne measurements using the same technique at regional scale. Dedicated staff operate 20+ sites and make 200+ flying hours annually. Building on this unique dataset we aim to link the various measurement scales to come up with distributed, wall-to-wall landscape budgets of these greenhouse gases.
As a PostDoc, you will work and publish on the following research topics (relative weight to be determined based on your interest and qualifications): analyse and scale carbon dioxide and methane flux data from multiple locations and transects in relation to explanatory variables from vegetation and soil characteristics, land and water management and meteorology; develop data driven models of regional greenhouse gas balances for the fen meadow areas of the Netherlands under (emission reduction) management; use the model to simulate distributed emissions at regional to national scale; analyse the impacts of climate anomalies and climate change on regional greenhouse gas emissions; analyse trade-offs and synergies between nature management and climate change mitigation and adaptation measures in wetlands.
Deadline for applications is 28th July 2025.
Two Atmospheric Scientist positions on methane research at SRON Space Research Organisation, Leiden, Netherlands (Deadlines 16th and 21st June 2025)
Are you an ambitious, highly motivated, and result driven (postdoctoral) scientist with experience in interpreting atmospheric observations ? Then you are the person we are looking for.
Reducing methane emissions has become an absolute priority of global climate policy. Satellites have been both a catalyst and prime supporter of these reductions by revealing large emission hot spots around the world. SRON has been at the forefront of this revolution by providing key data and analysis.
We have two vacancies in our SRON methane super emitter team. Your work will focus on better understanding methane emissions from large (super-emitting) methane hot spots by combining data from different satellite instruments. These instruments will include TROPOMI on Sentinel-5P that provides daily global coverage of methane at urban-scale resolution as well as the large family of instruments that can detect methane from individual facilities (e.g., Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3, PRISMA, EMIT, EnMAP, VIIRS and GHGSat). You will work to improve the quantification of methane emissions across scales using these instruments including by using atmospheric modeling; the validation and quality assessment of these quantifications; and advance the use of satellite data to support emission mitigation.
Your work will fit in and complement our on-going research on methane (super-emitters) as part of UNEP’s IMEO-MARS, CAMS, the Worldbank, ESA MEDUSA, HORIZON2020 IM4CA, and a Global Methane Hub funded landfill project.
Deadlines for applications are 16th and 21st June 2025.
Read more about the two positions here.
Postdoc for ecosystem-climate interactions (m/f/x), Faculty of Geosciences - Department of Geography, Physical Geography and Land Use Systems, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Deadline 23rd June 2025)
The Chair for Physical Geography and Land Use Systems (Prof. Julia Pongratz) at LMU’s Department of Geography investigates the interactions between humans, ecosystems and climate. Our group develops and applies the latest generation of carbon cycle, land surface and climate models and integrates them with Earth observations. We investigate the fate of ecosystems under the pressures of land-use and climate change; Earth system feedbacks that emerge through energy, water and biogeochemical cycles; and the role that vegetation and soils can play for greenhouse gas emissions reduction and CO2 removals in support of the Paris Agreement. The team is strongly involved in large national and international collaborations such as the Global Carbon Project, IPCC, CDRterra and several Horizon Europe projects like RESCUE, ForestNavigator and ClimTip.
We are looking for a Postdoc for ecosystem-climate interactions (m/f/x) in Munich
The postdoc is expected to contribute to our efforts of vastly improving our understanding and quantification of terrestrial carbon fluxes and is invited to join our ongoing collaborations. While there is some freedom in defining their own research question, studies could include improving the land-use representation in bookkeeping and Earth system models; disentangling natural and human-driven impacts in the terrestrial carbon budget (e.g., fires and other disturbances); and interact with other relevant communities (national greenhouse gas inventories, integrated assessment modeling, carbon accounting) to harmonize approaches.
Other responsibilities will be to
- take a leading role in the development of scientific publications
- contribute to outreach activities and support dissemination of results (data portals, visualizations, blogs, …)
- engage in shared responsibilities at the Chair and actively contribute to strengthening the intellectual atmosphere of the Department
- join the teaching activities at the Department of Geography and co-supervise Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. students
Deadline for applications is 23rd June 2025.
Postdoctoral researcher modeling and assessing terrestrial Carbon Dioxide Removal approaches (m/f/x) - Department of Geography, Physical Geography and Land Use Systems, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Deadline 23rd June 2025)
The Chair for Physical Geography and Land Use Systems (Prof. Julia Pongratz) at LMU’s Department of Geography investigates the interactions between humans, ecosystems and climate. Our group develops and applies the latest generation of carbon cycle and climate models and integrates them with Earth observations. Our group leads, pending final project confirmation, the synthesis, transfer and coordination of CDRterra Phase 2, the funding line on Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) by the German research ministry (BMFTR). To limit global warming in line with the Paris Agreement's goals, greenhouse gas neutrality needs to be reached within the next few decades. This will require CDR in addition to emissions reductions. Projects in CDRterra aim to enhance the research capacities in Germany for CDR, strengthen the links between research and other stakeholders, and provide an adequate science basis for political decision-making in research- and climate-policy.
We are looking for a Postdoctoral researcher modeling and assessing terrestrial Carbon Dioxide Removal approaches (m/f/x)
in Munich
The postdoctoral researcher will conduct innovative research on land-based CDR such as afforestation, forestry and bioenergy. The postdoc will assess these along with ocean-based methods regarding their potentials to take up CO2 and side-effects on climate and ecosystem functioning. Of particular interest are climate dynamics in overshoot scenarios and Earth system feedbacks that may affect CDR efficiency.
Tasks comprise
- developing the ICON/MPI Earth System Model (ESM) and its land surface component JSBACH to capture the complex effects and feedbacks of CDR on the Earth system
- setting up, running and analyzing ESM simulations for various CDR portfolios
- contributing to an interdisciplinary effort to assess CDR methods
- leading the analysis and writing of publications
- engage in shared responsibilities at the Chair and actively contribute to strengthening the intellectual atmosphere of the Department.
Deadline for applications is 23rd June 2025.
Post-doctoral fellow in atmospheric science with a focus on greenhouse gases (developing synergies between ACTRIS, ICOS and SITES), Lund University, Sweden (Deadline 8th June 2025)
Over the coming decades changes in ecosystems due to climate change, land-use driven changes, as well as continued direct anthropogenic emissions will all play a role in the extent of global temperature rise. In 2023 the greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring community was set a challenge through the approval by the World Meteorological Organisation’s Global Greenhouse Gas Watch (GGGW) to understand GHG fluxes at unprecedented resolution. This endeavour will require continued improvement of measurements, data processing and interpretation activities – making the most of existing infrastructure and data sources, while also trying to expand to geographical areas with currently limited coverage. We seek to support this area of work through employment of a postdoctoral scientist to bring the diverse measurement sets across different platforms in Sweden to enable the most efficient use of data across our combined monitoring infrastructure.
The main duty involved in a post-doctoral position is to conduct research. Teaching may also be included, but up to no more than 20% of working hours. The position shall include the opportunity for three weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning.
Greenhouse gases measured by ICOS and shorter-lived species measured by ACTRIS are connected in the combination of source and sink mechanisms responsible for the detected atmospheric concentration. Methane is of specific interest as it is at a nexus of study of these two networks, while it continues to rise year-on-year in the atmosphere without scientists having a clear understanding of the mechanisms involved. There is also a need to find analysis methods to reconcile distinct measurement methods and calculations in local scale flux studies made by both SITES, ACTRIS and ICOS in order to understand and predict forest carbon budgets under climate change.
Deadline for applications is 23rd May 2025.
Doctoral student, Ecosystem COS exchange, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (Deadline 1st August 2025)
The Grassland Sciences Group is a vibrant and international working group at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich. We are looking for a reliable, enthusiastic, and highly motivated doctoral student with a passion for science to join our team. Our research focuses on the process- and system-understanding of the biosphere- atmosphere greenhouse gas exchange and its drivers in forests and agroecosystems, in response to management and climate.
This position is part of the project Above- and below-canopy COS fluxes to constrain and partition forest CO2 and ET fluxes (ABACOS) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The aim of this project is to quantify COS (carbonyl sulfide) fluxes at different spatial and temporal scales in a temperate broadleaf forest in Switzerland (Lägeren), using an unprecedented integration of co-located measurements. We will measure above- and below-canopy COS fluxes as well as CO2 and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes, and quantify contributions of soil, branch, and understory vegetation to ecosystem fluxes. Driver analyses with machine learning approaches will provide detailed insights into the underlying processes. A COS-based estimate of ecosystem gross primary productivity (GPP) will be calculated and compared to other independent estimates. Thus, ABACOS will provide a comprehensive assessment of different GPP constraints and contribute unique COS flux data to the global COS community from a temperate mixed forest, where flux measurements are scarce. The ABACOS team will include a doctoral student (this position), a postdoc (years 3 and 4) and a technician (years 1 to 3).
The earliest starting date is 1 August 2025. We will start interviewing candidates end of May 2025.