Are you eager to help advance and upscale the restoration of peatland ecosystems?
Are you eager to help advance and upscale the restoration of peatland and coastal ecosystems? As one of the two 4-year PhD positions in the NWO funded project ‘Bioprime: applying biomimicry to produce restoration designs for multiple ecosystems’ at Utrecht University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, you will create ecosystem-specific, mass-produceable structures that are ready for large-scale ecosystem restoration.
The PhD candidate at Utrecht University will focus on peatland ecosystems (peat moss-dominated bogs and reed-dominated fens), while the PhD candidate at NIOZ Texel will focus on coastal ecosystems.
Wetland ecosystems shaped by habitat-forming species, such as peatlands, salt marsh, seagrasses and reef-forming bivalves (i.e. ‘biogenic’) provide important ecosystem services but are rapidly declining worldwide. Supported by for example the UN’s call to action in the ‘Decade on Restoration’ and the ‘EU Nature Restoration Law’, governments, industry and nature organizations increasingly use restoration as a vital tool to halt and reverse ecosystem losses. However, restoration of biogenic ecosystems is failure-prone, because their stability depends on self-facilitation generated by ‘emergent traits’, such as water holding mosses, dense sediment-stabilizing root mats or strong and persistent reef structures. Such traits emerge when habitat formers aggregate, causing self-facilitation to only work beyond certain minimum patch sizes and densities. This creates a ‘chicken-and-egg problem’ when ecosystem restoration is attempted on degraded ecosystems.
In this project, the team will apply a new ‘ecology-meets-engineering’ design approach to create ecosystem-specific, mass-produceable structures ready for large-scale application. Specifically, the team will test a new framework that combines methods from ecology, industrial design, and engineering to optimize and upscale and biodegradable structures that temporarily mimic key emergent traits using industrial-scale additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D-printing) techniques. The resulting mimics should ‘kick-start’ establishment of the target habitat-modifying species, after which the structures are allowed to biodegrade. Within the team, the role of both PhD candidates will be to (1) create and produce mimics for peatlands, salt marsh, seagrasses and reef-forming bivalves ecosystems, (2) test the organism-specific suitability of various prototypes with field tests, and (3) unravel the optimal mimic size for contrasting ecological settings in field experiments. Both PhD candidates will closely work together, and with a post-doc that will analyse patch-size dynamics as well as a post doc that leads upscaling.
You must have completed your MSc degree in ecology, biology, geomorphology, environmental, marine science or civil technical or related discipline. Preferably, you will also have:
Depending on your preference, you can choose to apply for one of two positions or for both. We do request a motivation for your choice.
We offer:
In addition to the terms of employment laid down in the CAO NU, Utrecht University also offers a range of its own schemes for employees. This includes arrangements for professional development, various types of leave, and options for sports and cultural activities. You can also tailor your employment conditions through our Terms of Employment Options Model. In this way, we encourage you to keep investing in your personal and professional development. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.
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Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty of Geosciences is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Human Geography & Spatial Planning, Physical Geography, and Sustainable Development.
You will work at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development and the section Environmental Sciences. At Environmental Sciences, we are dedicated to deepening our understanding of complex, interrelated changes and developing solutions that contribute to a sustainable society, healthy environment, and resilient ecosystems for both humans and nature.
For more information about this position, please contact Dr Ralph Temmink at r.j.m.temmink@uu.nl.
Candidates for this vacancy will be recruited by Utrecht University.
As Utrecht University, we want to be a home for everyone. We value staff with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and identities, including cultural, religious or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. We strive to create a safe and inclusive environment in which everyone can flourish and contribute.
To apply, please send your curriculum vitae, including a letter of motivation, via the ‘apply now’ button.
The first round of interviews will take place on Friday 14 November.