May 12th, 2010 
Eawag is the Swiss Federal Institute for Aquatic Science and Technology, a Swiss-based and internationally operating aquatic research institute within the ETH domain.
The Department of Aquatic Ecology seeks to recruit a
PhD student in Aquatic Ecosystems Ecology
The PhD student will be funded by a Swiss National Science Foundation grant, entitled “Responses of Aquatic Food Webs and Ecosystems to Global Environmental Change”.
The aim of the project is to understand how environmental change will affect the functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The project involves large-scale experiments that manipulate the ecological and evolutionary diversity of food webs under contrasting environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, inorganic nutrients, and dissolved organic matter). The project is broadly focused on aquatic food webs, so the student may work on microbial, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish communities. Ultimately, the research addresses fundamental links between the ecology and evolution of food webs and the physical environment and biogeochemistry of ecosystems.
We are looking for a self-directed and motivated student with a broad interest in ecology, evolution, and/or ecosystem science. Ideally, the student will be interested in fieldwork, microbial communities and food-web experiments.
Eawag is an international research institute, and is closely affiliated with top universities that grant PhD degrees, such as ETH-Zurich. The working language of the department is English. We offer a stimulating research environment in the Aquatic Ecology department, which has locations in Dübendorf (near Zurich) and Kastanienbaum (near Lucerne).
Located on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Eawag’s Center for Ecology, Evolution & Biogeochemistry (CEEB) is a strong nucleus of Eawag research groups aimed at integrating evolutionary biology, community ecology, and ecosystem science. At both locations, the student will interact with a diverse range of researchers studying community ecology, evolutionary biology, ecological genetics, ecosystem science, and applied environmental science. The project will also involve collaborations between researchers at Eawag (Dr. Blake Matthews, Dr. Mark Gessner, and Dr. Helmut Bürgmann) and the University of Vienna (Dr. Christian Winter, and Dr. Gerhard Herndl).
The starting date for the PhD student is flexible, but a starting date in 2010 is preferred. The PhD program at ETH-Zurich generally lasts three years. Applications should include a cover letter, a curriculum vita, and three references. Copies of prior publications or theses will also be considered if made available via PDF.
Please submit your application by 1 July 2010 as a single PDF
file to Sandra Isenring, Eawag, Human Resources Department
(recruiting@eawag.ch), indicating reference number 104402.
For further information:
please visit Eawag’s website (http://www.eawag.ch)
contact Dr. Blake Matthews by email
(blake.matthews@eawag.ch)
or visit his website (http://homepages.eawag.ch/~matthebl)
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