PhD: Landscape response to a changing climate in the Eastern Alps: Analysing Big Data for past, present, and future conditions

We are looking for students who are interested in bridging disciplinary gaps between the geosciences and the biosciences and in establishing links to social sciences – skills that are essential to address the challenges caused by the ongoing climate and biodiversity crises. The students will be based in the FWF-funded doctoral program AlpsChange, which is integrated into the Doctoral School “Dynamic Mountain Environments and Society” at the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg and offers an interdisciplinary research and training agenda.

The students will be part of an active and interdisciplinary consortium, conduct research at the interface between geo- and biosciences and apply state-of-the-art approaches and methods of both disciplines and of history (e.g. remote sensing, field and laboratory experiments and analyses, numerical and analogue modelling), benefiting from the wide range of expertise available in the AlpsChange consortium. Each student will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team of researchers.

Applications for one or more of the 10 projects (see below) are welcome. Please indicate your preference if you are applying for more than one of the projects. A successful applicant will be highly motivated, proficient in English language and scientific writing, and willing to work in an interdisciplinary context. A master-level degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline, preferably in the field of bio- or geosciences, is required.

Please send your application stating your project preference and including a letter of motivation, CV, certificates and contact details of two potential referees in electronic form as a single pdf file latest by April 13th 2025 to AlpsChange(at)plus.ac.at. Please contact AlpsChange(at)plus.ac.at in case you have any questions. Start dates are flexible between October 2025 and January 2026. All projects will be fully funded for 3.5 years and students will receive a monthly salary based on currently € 2786 before tax. Further information can be found at the AlpsChange Homepage.

Description of Project 6:

Landscape response to a changing climate in the Eastern Alps: Analysing Big Data for past, present, and future conditions

This project aims to understand and predict Alpine landscape sensitivity to climate change. Using Google Earth Engine and HPC (high performance computing) combined with field data from key sites representative for the river and hillslope system, we’ll analyze geospatial data to identify hidden correlations between climate, vegetation, and geomorphic processes. Tasks include: 1) computing spatio-temporal gradients of biotic and abiotic factors across the Alps, 2) determining changes in torrent erosional potential due to climate change, 3) detecting hillslope failure potential via deep learning, and 4) synthesizing these results to derive landscape sensitivity. Main supervisors: Jörg Robl, Andreas Tribsch

More Info:

https://www.plus.ac.at/personalwesen/stellenmarkt-en/projektmitarbeiter-innen-en/doctoral-school-dynamic-mountain-environments-and-society/?lang=en