Utrecht University, 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. The latter houses the TurbiFlume. We also have excellent High- Performance Computing facilities and organise a warm welcome for every new member.

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: https://www.uu.nl/geo/aw/

The Department of Earth Sciences is looking for a highly motivated PhD candidate with an MSc background in Earth Sciences, Civil or Hydraulic Engineering, or other appropriate fields. You will work on the project Novel experimental turbidity currents in the TurbiFlume.

More than 10,000 submarine canyons connect the continents to the deep ocean. These canyons are the conduits for transport of land-derived materials to the ocean floor in avalanche-like events called turbidity currents. Turbidity currents transport enormous amounts of sediment and Particulate Organic Carbon (POC) and bury this in deposits below the ocean floor. They additionally convey abundant nutrients and oxygenated water masses, which together with the POC (as food) support conditions for abundant life at unexpected depths in the absence of light for photosynthesis. Submarine canyons are also called the ‘human connection to the deep sea (Dissanayaka et al., 2023)’. Unfortunately, this connection brings land-derived pollutants (microplastics, pesticides, pharmaceuticals) into the very heart of these ecodiverse hotspots, making them vulnerable to far-field human interference. While this general knowledge is established, the processes of transport and burial during turbidity current events remain poorly understood.

Previous experimental research into turbidity currents has been fundamental in generating the basic understanding of how they shape deep marine environments. Real world monitoring of turbidity currents is challenging and risky due to the difficulty of reaching submarine canyons and the sometimes violent nature of turbidity current events. But despite these challenges, a flurry of recent successes in real world monitoring has resulted in various additional insights and hypotheses that have not been tested or reproduced in the laboratory yet. This includes aspects and phenomena such as the role of dense frontal cells and basal layers, substrate erosion, flow ignition, the distinction between high- and low-density flows, and effect of submarine canyon dynamics such as tides, internal waves, nepheloid layers, and up- and downwelling. This body of work suggests that conventional experimental structures are not sufficient to fully understand the dynamics of turbidity current processes in natural environments.

The TurbiFlume set-up in the Earth Simulation Laboratory of Utrecht University has been designed and implemented to overcome some of the limitations that have prevented experimental contributions to these newly emerged themes. This project will utilize the TurbiFlume set-up to establish a new framework for experimental turbidity currents that goes beyond previous studies. The results will form a platform for future research that quantifies the role of submarine canyons as conveyors of sediments, carbon, pollutants, nutrients, oxygen, and heat from the continental shelves to the deep ocean.

Training

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 following courses/workshops as well as training on the job in assisting in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes of the department at Utrecht University.

Qualifications

We seek candidates who are motivated by the proposed research, take initiative to develop ideas, are self-driven, and can work both independently and within a team. Applicants should hold an MSc degree in Earth Sciences, Civil or Hydraulic Engineering, or a related discipline by the time the position starts. Non-Dutch MSc diploma’s may be subjected to specific approval by the Board for Conferral of Doctoral Degrees before the candidate can be accepted in the PhD programme.

Furthermore, you should have:

• Experience designing and conducting experiments with water and sediments
• Coding experience
• A willingness to experiment with new data collection methods
• A flair for written, graphical and oral communication.
• And above all, creativity and curiosity

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.

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 € 3,059 in the first year and increases to € 3,881 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 (not for applications), please contact the project leader Dr Joris Eggenhuisen at j.t.eggenhuisen@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 January 5^th, 2026. The position is preferably filled 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. 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.