Tasks and responsibilities:                     

As part of the HUMBOLDT project, you will work in an international team, present your research at conferences, publish in peer-reviewed journals, contribute to teaching, and help supervise BSc and MSc students.

For PhD-1, your work will focus on:

• Conducting fieldwork in Colombia and collecting samples in key regions of the Northern Andes;
• Laboratory work for cosmogenic nuclides and thermochronology data;
• Using your data to quantify erosion, exhumation, and orogen tectonics;
• Integrating field and laboratory results with geological and topographic data to constrain landscape evolution.

For PhD-2, your work will focus on:

• Compiling and analysing geological, topographic, and biodiversity datasets;
• Developing and applying landscape evolution and Bayesian inverse models;
• Reconstructing paleo-topography and spatially variable mountain building through time;
• Comparing paleo-topographic reconstructions with biodiversity and speciation data in collaboration with ecological partners.

Your experience and profile:

We are looking for ambitious and collaborative candidates with a strong interest in mountain building, landscape evolution, and interdisciplinary research at the interface of geoscience and ecology. You should have strong English communication skills, enjoy working in an international research environment, and be motivated to develop your quantitative and scientific skills further.

For PhD-1, you:

• have a MSc in Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, or a related field;
• have a background or strong affinity with geomorphology and tectonics (erosion, mountain building, structural tectonics, topographic analysis);
• enjoy combining field-based research with laboratory work and quantitative analysis;
• are willing to undertake physically demanding fieldwork in Colombia;
• have experience with, or a strong interest in learning, scripting/programming such as Python, R, or MATLAB. 

For PhD-2, you:

• have a MSc in Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, or a related field;
• have a background or strong affinity with geomorphology and/or ecology (erosion, mountain; building, structural tectonics, topographic analysis, macroecology, evolutionary dynamics);
• have a strong quantitative background and interest in numerical modelling;
• have experience with scripting/programming such as Python, R, or MATLAB.

We offer you a temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended to the total duration of 4 years). This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students. The preferred starting date is December 2026 but can be discussed.

For this position the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” (PhD candidate) applies. Your salary will be €3,059 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €3,881 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week. In addition, you will receive an 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end allowance.

A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on fulltime) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• a complete educational program for postdocs;
• multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• partly paid parental leave;
• the possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two third part of the contribution;
• the possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• help with registration at UvA- Housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad. 

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits, take a look here.