University of Geneva

Postdoctoral researcher position at the University of Geneva

One fully financed (salary and research founds) Postdoctoral researcher position funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation is available at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Geneva (Switzerland). The contract will be for 24 months. We seek a postdoctoral researcher to complement the existing team of a PhD, a postdoc and two PIs working on the project “Volatile cycling and magma degassing on Earth and Exoplanets: A window into the geodynamics of planetary bodies”. The successful candidate will be integrated in the group of Volcanology and Petrology at the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Geneva, with researchers that have strong expertise in petrology, volcanology, geochemistry, statistics and numerical modelling. The successful candidate will also be part of the Centre for the Life in the Universe of the University of Geneva and benefit from the close collaboration with the Natural History Museum Geneva.
https://www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/en/groups/petrology-and-volcanology/projects/

Summary

The overarching goal of the project is to enhance our understanding of the processes that govern the interactions between the solid Earth and its atmosphere during the Hadean, Archean, and Proterozoic. The successful candidate will focus on the analysis of existing geochemical datasets to address questions related to the emergence of land and/or the recycling of surface rocks and/or chemical weathering throughout Earth’s history. We will also consider applicants with experience on the simulation of the interaction between planetary bodies and their atmospheres. We expect the successful applicant to formulate its own research project broadly within the framework of the topics outlined above, and to briefly describe it in the required motivation letter (max. half a page).

Deadline

Application will be accepted until June 22nd 2025.
The starting date is ideally in November 2025 but can be discussed.

Requirements and Application

The applicant should have a PhD on subjects close to geochemistry, petrology and/or volcanology, or planetary science. The postdoctoral researcher will be integrated in a dynamic research group and only highly motivated candidates will be considered for this position. Demonstrated capacity to apply machine learning and/or statistics to big geochemical datasets will be considered a plus. The interested applicants should send a CV, academic record, a short motivation letter (Maximum 1 A4 page), and names and contacts of two potential referees in a single pdf to:

Luca Caricchi (luca.caricchi@unige.ch) and Nicolas Greber (nicolas.greber@unige.ch)