Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences, Department of Earth Sciences

Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With a population of 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the Faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, Sustainable Development, and Human Geography & Spatial Planning.

The Department of Earth Sciences conducts teaching and research across the full range of the solid Earth and environmental Earth sciences, with activities in almost all areas of geology, geochemistry, geophysics, biogeology and hydrogeology. The department hosts a highly international tenured staff of over 50 scientists and more than 110 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. Our research programme spans four intertwined themes: Climate & Life, Earth interior, Earth materials, and Environmental Earth Sciences. We house or have access to a wide variety of world-class laboratories.

About Utrecht
Utrecht is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of nearly 360,000 and forms a hub in the middle of the country. Its historical city centre and its modern central station can easily be reached from our campus in Utrecht Science Park by public transport or by a 15-minute bicycle ride. Utrecht boasts beautiful canals with extraordinary wharf cellars housing cafés and terraces by the water, as well as a broad variety of shops and boutiques.

Homepage: http://www.uu.nl/geo/aw

We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD researcher on Forecasting Subsidence in the Groningen Reservoir Region to become a part of our team, consisting of eight members.

Surface subsidence is a significant problem above the gas reservoir in the Netherlands province of Groningen, affecting the environment, buildings, infrastructure, and water management. Compaction of the reservoir continues to drive subsidence, but there also are other, shallower, earth processes that have a significant footprint on the subsidence. Groningen is located close to sea level, so it is highly relevant to answer questions like ’how long will subsidence continue?’ and ’how much more subsidence will occur?’.

Your main tasks will be to:

• develop a physics-based surface deformation model driven by groundwater variations in unsaturated soils;
• develop a mechanical model of surface deformation due to compaction of deep (> 200 m, sub-Holocene) rock layers driven by pore pressure changes in the gas reservoir and aquifers;
• couple these models and optimize the resulting model to make it most suitable for assimilation of geodetic time series data.

A personalised training programme will be set up, reflecting your training needs and career objectives. About 20% of your time will be dedicated to this training component, which includes training on the job in assisting in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes of the Earth Sciences department at Utrecht University.

The position is funded through the national DeepNL programme of the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Close collaboration is foreseen with a PhD candidate at Delft University of Technology on Satellite InSAR and data assimilation for subsidence analysis.

Qualifications
You have a Master’s degree (MSc) in geophysics, aerospace engineering, physical geography, or earth sciences, ultimately obtained at the start of the position.

In addition, we look forward to your application if you have multiple of the following qualifications:

• affinity to work in a diverse environment of junior and senior scientists;
• ability to work independently and take initiative;
• good organisational and communication skills;
• excellent skills in writing and speaking English;
• an open, critical, and interdisciplinary mindset.

This is a diverse project, and the ideal candidate is a jack-of-all-trades who possesses vast and diverse knowledge and skills in all project disciplines and who also excels in all topic areas. We recognise however that it is more realistic that the you demonstrate a solid grasp of one or few of the following subject areas:

• continuum mechanics;
• mechanical properties of soils and rocks;
• numerical computing including writing code;
• algebra and solving differential equations.

We expect you to demonstrate curiosity, intellectual versatility, and a deep interest in exploring and mastering new subjects. You are expected to publish your results in peer-reviewed academic journals as Open Science contributions.

Terms of employment
You will be offered a full-time PhD position, initially for one year with extension to four years in total upon a successful assessment in the first year, and with the specific intent that it results in a doctorate within this period. The gross monthly salary starts with € 2,770 in the first year and increases to € 3,539 in the fourth year of employment with a full-time appointment. Salaries are supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. A pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities.

In addition to the collective employment conditions, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. These include agreements on professional development, leave arrangements, sports and cultural schemes, and you get discounts on software and other IT products. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment through the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we encourage you to grow. For more information, please visit working at Utrecht University.

For informal questions, please contact Dr Rob Govers (Associate Professor and project leader) at r.govers@uu.nl.

To apply click this link to the equivalent of this advertisement on UU’s own website and follow the guidelines mentioned there. Interviews are expected to take place soon after the application deadline of April 8, 2024. The preferred starting date is June 1, 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. Note that international candidates that need a visa/work permit for the Netherlands require at least four months processing time after selection and acceptance. Finding appropriate housing in or near Utrecht is your own responsibility and, unfortunately, we must warn that it is a tight market at the moment.

Online screening may be part of the selection. Commercial response to this ad is not appreciated.

Utrecht University wishes to be a home for everyone. We value staff with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and identities, including cultural, religious or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age. We strive to create a safe and inclusive environment in which everyone can flourish and contribute.