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. Our key research themes are Earth & Planetary Processes, Sustainable Use of the Subsurface, Planetary Health & Environment, and Climate & Life. The department hosts a highly international tenured staff. We house or have access to a wide variety of world-class laboratories, among which are UU’s Electron Microscopy Centre, the Geolab, and the Earth Simulation Lab. We also have excellent High- Performance Computing facilities.

About Utrecht:

The department and its facilities are located at Utrecht Science Park. 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

The Department of Earth Sciences is looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral candidate with a background in analytical chemistry related to characterizing dissolved organic matter in the ocean using high resolution mass spectrometry tools.

Your job

You will work on the ERC project “NanoMare”. In this position, you will develop an innovative mass-spectrometry based approaches (TD-PTR-MS, Orbitrap MS) to measure nano plastics (NPs) in sea water, sediments and marine biota to investigate the distribution of NPs in the marine realm and their interaction with ocean life. The successful candidate will join sea going expeditions and coastal sampling campaigns.

Based in the Department of Earth Sciences, you will work in an interdisciplinary team with colleagues from the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht and the Institute for Sustainable and Circular Chemistry at Utrecht University as well as the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).

Your qualities

We are looking for a candidate who has successfully completed a PhD programme in Analytical Chemistry, Physics, Biology or a related discipline by the time the position starts. Preferably, you will also have:

• Experience in mass spectrometry (PTR-MS and/or Orbitrap);
• Experience in lab work;
• Experience in data science and chemical analytics;
• Experience in coding (MATLAB, Python, etc.);
• Experience or strong interest in marine chemistry;
• Experience in oceanography and field sampling is highly appreciated;
• Adequate publishing skills;
• Adequate social/verbal/communication skills.

Due to the international character of our research, good command of spoken and written English is essential. We highly encourage applicants from all members of our community and of diverse backgrounds to join us.

Our offer

You will be offered a full-time postdoctoral position for approx. 24 months. The gross monthly salary starts between € 4,075 and € 5,538 based on experience after the PhD in the case of full-time employment (salary scale 10 under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, CAO NU). 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.

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 (not for applications), please contact Prof. Dr Helge Niemann at h.niemann@uu.nl.

To apply, please use this link to go to the advertisement on UU’s own website and follow the guidelines mentioned there. We aim for a quick selection procedure after the deadline of November 1^st, 2025. The position can start as soon as January 1^st, 2026, or shortly 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. This will be arranged with help of the International Service Desk (ISD) of our university. 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. In case of general questions about working and living in The Netherlands, please consult the Dutch Mobility Portal.

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