PhD student and Postdoc plant and soil biogeochemistry- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences- Umeå, Sweden

We are looking for a PhD student and a postdoc, for projects at the interface of plant and soil biogeochemistry, including development of new isotopomer methods for estimating biogeochemical fluxes on centennial timescales, a key unknown in Earth System Models. The successful candidates will work in a collaboration environment between soil sciences, tree physiology and biophysics.

Project and Tasks: The goal is to understand biogeochemical fluxes from the leaf level to soil organic matter. We will use experiments under controlled conditions, field sites and paleo archives to identify isotopomer signals of key ecosystem processes. Isotopomers describe the abundance of stable heavy isotopes in defined intramolecular groups of a metabolite, and have fundamental advantages as direct reporters of metabolic regulation.
Scientific Surroundings include the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU, http://www.slu.se/en/departments/forest-ecology-management/) and the KBC centre at Umeå University (www.kbc.umu.se), Umeå, Northern Sweden.

Position 1: PhD student position (4 years) with focus on tracing isotopomer signals from leaf level to paleo archives. Requirements: A master’s university degree in chemistry or a related field. Experience with NMR or stable isotopes is a merit.
Position 2: Postdoc (2-year stipend) with focus on plant- and tree-physiological experiments for identifying isotopomer signals. Requirements: PhD in plant physiology or a related field.

For further information and application procedure please contact:
Professor Jürgen Schleucher, jurgen.schleucher@chem.umu.use
Professor Mats Nilsson, Mats.B.Nilsson@slu.se