The department of Ocean Systems (OCS: principal investigator prof. dr. Gert-Jan Reichart) at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) is looking for a highly motivated PhD student with a background in (bio)geochemistry/chemical oceanography to investigate biomineralization in foraminiferal calcite and its relation to marine inorganic carbon chemistry.
ROYAL NIOZ
NWO-NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is the Dutch national oceanographic institute and principally performs academically excellent multidisciplinary, fundamental, and frontier applied marine research addressing important scientific and societal questions pertinent to the functioning of the ocean and seas. NIOZ includes the National Marine research Facilities (NMF) department that operates a fleet of research vessels and the national pool of large seagoing equipment, and supports excellence in multidisciplinary marine research, education, and policy development.
THE DEPARTMENT
The department of Ocean Systems (OCS) studies the role of the ocean in a changing climate, from equator to pole, from the continental shelf to the deep ocean and from the past to the present. The ocean is Earth’s largest reservoir of CO2 and heat; circulation, mixing, biogeochemistry and other marine processes strongly impact global climate. Advanced ocean observations allow us to decipher the current and future functioning of the ocean. Furthermore, seafloor sediments have recorded past changes in conditions on land and in the ocean, in the form of biological residues or physical and chemical signals, which allow us to reconstruct feedbacks between oceanic processes and climate in the (ancient) past. Today, the ocean is changing rapidly because of (human) stressors such as excess CO2, warming and eutrophication. This impacts on the strongly linked but poorly understood ocean processes that control marine ecosystem functioning and thereby climate. The OCS department investigates ocean functioning by means of sea-going expeditions, during which data and samples are collected from the water column and the seafloor. The samples are analyzed in on-board and on-shore laboratories and we have collected a large information and sample repository over past decades.
THE PROJECT
Within the EMBRACER research program we investigate the complex feedbacks in Earth’s climate system, triggered by ongoing CO2 emissions and warming. These feedbacks influence global warming now, but even more so in the they will determine the future of Earth’s climate far beyond 2100. In depth knowledge about these feedbacks is essential for informed policy making now. The position here advertised will combine biological and chemical techniques to investigate how marine calcifying organisms turn dissolved ions into crystalline carbonate minerals. Marine calcification, with organisms building shells and/or structural support out of carbonate minerals, forms an important part of the global carbon cycle. The balance between calcification and carbonate mineral dissolution impacts CO2 exchange between the atmosphere and ocean and thereby atmospheric pCO2. However, the effects of CO2 emissions and climate change on marine calcification are highly uncertain.
Existing studies disagree not only about the size of future change in calcification, but also about its direction: calcification has been reported to increase as well as to decrease at higher CO2 concentrations and temperatures. Fundamental aspects of processes including trans-membrane ion transport, diffusion-reaction dynamics, crystallization and precipitation kinetics will be studied. There will be a focus on how each process interacts with environmental parameters such as CO2 concentration and temperature, across the ranges of these parameters that marine calcifying organisms may encounter in the future.
YOUR ROLE
Within the larger context of EMBACER you will be connecting to more than 30 other PhD’s and Postdocs. You will focus on chemical and biological processes responsible for calcium carbonate precipitation, in particular in relation to marine inorganic carbon chemistry (i.e. seawater pCO2, pH, saturation, etc.). Using a broad array of (analytical) equipment at NIOZ (e.g. laser ablation-ICP-MS, confocal laser scanning microscopy) you will investigate ion uptake mechanism and crystallization dynamics: this will help predicting future marine calcification rates and thereby help understanding carbon cycling in a changing ocean. At the same time, understanding biomineralization mechanisms may help constraining paleoreconstructions based on calcite chemical signatures, this way linking to other EMBRACER projects. Handling living foraminifera is an essential part of this project in combination with high-resolution analysis of marine inorganic carbon chemistry. Affinity with chemistry/crystallography and (cell) biology is therefore of added value. You are expected to contribute pro-actively to open and effective exchange of ideas and results within our department and with other (inter)national colleagues. You present the data from experiments and at (international) conferences and you prepare scientific articles for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Within OCS, you share your knowledge and expertise with your colleagues in an open, safe and inclusive environment.
THE CANDIDATE
We seek an enthusiastic and energetic student who has a keen interest in marine biogeochemistry and who is eager to sail the Atlantic Ocean and endure challenging conditions to get unique field data. You are a team player, with:
An MSc degree in earth sciences, marine scienes or a related field
Experience and affinity with biogeochemistry and marine research
Passion for chemical laboratory work and data analysis
An open, communicative and collaborative attitude
Strong communication skills in English
We want to be a transparent institute with a healthy working climate and an inclusive culture, where people from diverse backgrounds and gender bring their talents and further develop these talents. We aim for inclusive decision-making processes and expect our leadership to show visible commitment, awareness of bias, and cultural intelligence.
CONDITIONS
Employment of this full-time position at Royal NIOZ is by NWO-I, for a total duration of 4 years. You start with an appointment for the duration of 1 year, that, after a positive evaluation in the 9th month (Go-No go), will be extended to the full period of 4 years.
Salary compliant with scales for PhD candidate (OIOs) CAO-WVOI (Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Research Institutes).
An appointment at NIOZ as a PhD candidate means working and learning simultaneously conform the NIOZ PhD policy.
338 annualized holiday hours for a full-time 40-hour work week.
Pension scheme via ABP, 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.33%.
2nd class public transportation travel is reimbursed 100%.
Employment benefits plan to exchange a portion of your salary for days off or vice versa, or can be used to purchase a bicycle with tax benefits.
We offer relocation expenses for employees coming from abroad and support with finding accommodation.
At EMBRACER we work at the very frontiers of knowledge on climate change, Earth’s climate system and climate feedbacks. Within its 10-year research programme, funded by NWO, EMBRACER brings together a wide range of world-leading climate experts with the aim to address existing uncertainties about climate feedbacks at the boundaries between oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere. Our interdisciplinary approach and state-of-the-art infrastructure will bring us forward in our understanding of the impact of climate feedbacks emerging over the next decades to centuries.
MORE INFORMATION
For additional information about this vacancy, please contact Gert-Jan Reichart or Lennart de Nooijer. For additional information about the procedure, please send an e-mail to [email protected]
Closing date for this vacancy is 30 June.
