2-Year Postdoctoral Position in Modeling of Microbial Soil Carbon Cycling

KU; København; On-site; DKK 520,000 - 660,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Copenhagen invites applications for a 2-year Postdoctoral position in modeling of microbial soil carbon cycling. The successful candidate will quantify microbial traits from metagenomes to develop a microbial-explicit version of the LPJ-GUESS model, working with a dynamic team at VOLT.

Requirements include a PhD in computational biology, environmental sciences or related fields, strong microbial ecology and bioinformatics experience, and fluent English.

Qualifications

• PhD in computational biology, environmental sciences or related field.
• Strong background in environmental microbial ecology and bioinformatics.

Responsibilities

• Predict microbial traits from metagenomes for carbon cycling.
• Implement microbial decomposition in LPJ-GUESS.
• Collaborate with group of ecologists, biogeochemists and modelers.

Skills

Microbial ecology

Bioinformatics

Statistics

R programming

Python programming

Education

PhD in computational biology

PhD in environmental sciences

Tools

LPJ-GUESS

Bioinformatics pipelines

Job description

2-Year Postdoctoral Position in Modeling of Microbial Soil Carbon Cycling

Postdoc of genome-informed microbial biogeochemical modeling

Department of Biology

Faculty of SCIENCE

University of Copenhagen

Soils store 2300 Pg of organic carbon – three times as much as in the atmosphere. Yet, the fate of these huge carbon stocks under global warming remains highly uncertain. Although microorganisms are key players in soil carbon decomposition, large-scale models ignore microbial processes due to difficulty of quantifying microbial traits that can inform models. To overcome this limitation, the aim of this position is to quantify microbial traits from metagenomes to develop a microbial-explicit version of the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS.

You will join a dynamic team at the Center of Excellence VOLT (Center for Volatile interactions, https://volt.ku.dk/ ) consisting of microbial ecologists, biogeochemists and ecosystem modelers. We offer a creative and stimulating working environment in a collaborative, international research group. We have state-of-the art laboratory facilities and bioninformatics pipelines for analyses of microbial communities and biogeochemical fluxes. Our team also comprises specialists in process-based ecosystem modeling with whom you will closely collaborate. We provide access to supercomputing facilities to carry out bioinformatics and modeling tasks.

You will work with microbial genomes and metagenomes to predict microbial traits relevant for carbon cycling and modeling using computational structural biology tools to infer protein function. These tasks will use public databases as well as environmental metagenomic datasets produced by the group. You will moreover work with the process-based ecosystem model LPJ-GUESS to implement microbial decomposition of soil organic matter.

We seek an ambitious and highly motivated candidate with a PhD in computational biology, environmental sciences or related fields. A successful candidate should have a strong background in environmental microbial ecology and bioinformatics as well as experience in advanced statistical analyses and programming with R, python or similar. Moreover, experience with process-based modeling is a plus. Fluency in written and spoken English is a requirement, as well as excellent writing skills demonstrated by the publication record. The candidate should be comfortable working in teams with a collaborative mindset.

The position is open from 1/2/2027 or as soon as possible thereafter and is for 2 years.

The Universitywishesour staff toreflect the diversity ofsociety and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

Terms of employment

The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.

Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.

Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

Please include

• Cover letter describing the motivation for the position
• Diplomas (Master and PhD degree or equivalent)
• Research plan – description of research plan (max. 3 pages)
• Separate reprints of 3 particularly relevant papers
• Contact details (name, address, telephone & email) of 2 professional referees

The deadline for applications is15 November 2026, 23:59 CET.

After the expiry of the deadline for applications, the authorized recruitment manager selects applicants for assessment on the advice of the Interview Committee.