PhD fellowship (3 years).

Monitoring and modelling of organic contaminants in Nordic and Arctic ecosystems

Are you interested in science for a toxic-free future? NILU is seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to take part in a research project on monitoring and modelling of organic contaminants. Different factors affect how organic contaminants once released into the environment distribute and accumulate, enter various food-chains, and potentially cause harmful effects in ecosystems over time. Sound control strategies thus require the determination of the quantitative relationship between emissions and human exposure. The overall goal of this PhD project is to better understand and predict relationships between emissions of selected organic contaminants, levels and trends in Nordic and Arctic environments and uptake within terrestrial and aquatic food-chains through complementary monitoring and modelling studies.

The research project is financed by the Research Council of Norway, and involves collaboration with universities in Oslo, Stockholm (Sweden), Lancaster (UK) and Toronto (Canada). The candidate will be located at the NILU offices in Kjeller or Tromsø, but may also carry out parts of her/his research at Stockholm University. The position is available for a limited period of 3 years, affiliated to the Department for Environmental Chemistry. The successful candidate is expected to start this year and to carry out the analysis, interpretation and publication of results in close collaboration with other project participants. 

The following requirements to the applicants are essential:

• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant (e.g. environmental chemistry, analytical chemistry, organic chemistry or ecotoxicology) or related field. Experience with scientific programming / modelling is an advantage.
• Applicants need to fulfill the requirements for admission to the PhD research training programme at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo (www.mn.uio.no).
• A good command of both written and spoken English is required.

The successful candidate is expected to:

• Take active part in field work across Norway.
• Perform analytical work at the NILU chemical laboratory.
• Be involved in relevant modelling activities to support interpretation of data.
• Work both independently as well as part of a team.
• Obtain a PhD after 3 years of research.

NILU offers competitive benefits such as group life-/accident insurances and pension. Further details about NILU can be found at www.nilu.no.

The application should include:

•  Application letter

• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications)

• Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records and letters of recommendation

• Names and contact details of minimum 2 references (relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number)

Foreign applicants are advised to attach an explanation of their University’s grading system. Please remember that all documents should be in English or a Scandinavian language. Applications with documents missing will not be considered further. Original documentation may be requested. Please note that application documents will not be returned with exception of original publications.