PhD: Microbial Nitrogen Cycling for Climate Resilience

Delft University of Technology; Delft; On-site; EUR 36,000 - 48,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Customisable compensation package

Discounts on health insurance

Monthly work costs contribution

Flexible work schedules

Job summary

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) invites applications for a PhD candidate position focused on decoding the microbial nitrogen cycle. You will combine experimental and computational methods to reveal how nitrogen-cycling microbes shape greenhouse gas emissions.

The project integrates high-throughput reactor work, metagenomics, metaproteomics, and mathematical modelling in a highly interdisciplinary setting at the environmental biotechnology and engineering interface.

Qualifications

• MSc in Chemical or Environmental Engineering, Systems Microbiology, Computational Biology or related field.
• Laboratory experience and interest in laboratory-scale bioreactors.
• Independent, self-motivated, and curiosity-driven mindset.
• Strong analytical skills and a hands-on scientific approach.
• Excellent spoken and written English.

Responsibilities

• Combine experimental and computational approaches to study nitrogen-cycling microbial communities.
• Study how co-occurrence of nitrogenous substrates shapes genomic and functional signatures.
• Employ high-throughput bioreactor cultivations, metagenomics, metaproteomics, and modelling.
• Work in an interdisciplinary environment at the interface of environmental biotechnology, engineering, systems microbiology and computational biology.

Skills

Lab experience

English proficiency

Analytical mindset

Independent mindset

Self-motivated

Education

MSc in Chemical or Environmental Engineering

MSc in Systems Microbiology

MSc in Computational Biology

MSc in Bioinformatics

Tools

Linux

Python

R

Bioreactor operation

Job description

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) invites applications for a PhD candidate position focused on decoding the microbial nitrogen cycle. You will combine experimental and computational methods to reveal how nitrogen-cycling microbes shape greenhouse gas emissions.

The project integrates high-throughput reactor work, metagenomics, metaproteomics, and mathematical modelling in a highly interdisciplinary setting at the environmental biotechnology and engineering interface.