Karlsruhe Institute of Technolgy, University of Hohenheim, University of Melbourne

Homepage: https://c4land.earth

C4LaNd is an International Research Training Group that addresses a classical “wicked problem”: how to meet the ever-increasing and often conflicting demands on land for food, renewable energy, and materials without compromising biodiversity conservation and climate action. The joint research program offers doctoral positions at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hohenheim University (UHO) and the University of Melbourne (UoM) and covers natural sciences, social sciences, and economics to deliver high quality, coordinated research towards land use becoming part of the solution to the climate and biodiversity crises, rather than a major cause.

The qualification program includes training courses in key academic skills, career development, and workshops that foster nexus thinking and peer-to-peer learning. Doctoral students will also complete a one-year research stay abroad in Australia or Germany, enabling them to benefit from the expertise within C4LaNd and will receive a doctoral degree from both institutions. The first cohort of 12 doctoral students in Germany and 12 in Melbourne will begin in late 2026.

More information, a list of the positions available and how to apply can be found at c4land.earth.

Rethinking Food

PhD1.1: Understanding, mapping and reducing the impact of food production supply chains in Australia and Germany (UoM, Australia)

PhD1.2: Feasibility of Scaling Up Novel Land-Use Systems (UHO, Germany)

Rethinking Urban Spaces

PhD2.1: Ethics of care and just mobility transitions (KIT, Germany)

PhD2.2: Deconstructing infrastructure for regeneration (UoM, Australia)

PhD2.3: Urban retrofitting - how to tackle surface conflicts between different uses (KIT, Germany)

PhD2.4: Redistributing mobility space in suburbia (UoM, Australia)

PhD2.5: Optimizing Blue-Green Infrastructure for Climate and Biodiversity (KIT, Germany)

Cluster 3: Rethinking Rural Spaces

PhD3.1: Incentives, values, and coordination in infrastructure and land-use decisions (UoM, Australia)

PhD3.2: Biodiversity, community, and Indigenous values in renewable energy transitions (KIT, Germany)

PhD3.3: Trade-offs of Bio-based Products in Different Land-use Environments (KIT, Germany)

PhD3.4: Community and Participatory Governance of Nature-Based Solutions in Multi-Use Rural Landscapes (UoM, Australia)

PhD3.5: An analysis of expanding road infrastructure on indigenous land rights, food security and forest cover in southern Palawan, the Philippines (UoM, Australia)

PhD3.6: Ecosystem and biodiversity impacts of novel land-use futures (KIT, Germany)

PhD3.7: Robust optimisation of water supply portfolios maximising water security, land-use and envirnmental benefit under hydroclimatic extremes (UoM, Australia)

PhD3.8: Strategic Land Buyback for Urban Flood Risk Reduction (UoM, Australia)

Cluster 4: Unlocking Restoration

PhD4.1 Forest Vulnerability to Hotter Droughts (KIT, Germany)

PhD4.2: Spatial optimisation of restoration actions for ecosystem services (UoM, Australia)

PhD4.3: The role of animals for forest ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling (KIT, Germany)

PhD4.4: Mapping land use competition in a renewable energy transition that is good for nature and people (UoM, Australia)

PhD4.5: Advancing deep learning for probabilistic predictions of wildfire risks (KIT, Germany)

PhD4.6: Modelling sustainable European forests in a future climate (KIT, Germany)

PhD4.7: Drought adaptation of forest systems across climate gradients (UoM, Australia)

PhD4.8: Cross-sensor transfer learning for long-term forest biomass and structure estimation using established and next-generation SAR missions (KIT, Germany)

PhD4.9: Transfer learning across forest types for biomass and structure estimation using next-generation SAR missions (UoM, Australia)

Requirements

• Above-average master’s degree or equivalent (either already completed, or completed by the time candidates are selected) related to the position of interest in Economics, Social Sciences or Natural Sciences
• Profound knowledge of research methods relevant to the position of interest
• Delight in engaging within a multi-disciplinary international team
• Fluency in English
• Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement in Australia (UoM) of in Germany (KIT or UHO) and to comply with formalities of a dual degree at both locations

Application Deadline: May 17^th 2026

Doctoral Positions

More information, a list of the positions available and how to apply can be found at c4land.earth. For questions on the research projects, please contact the contact person stated in the project descriptions on https://C4LaNd.earth or contact Dr.Thomas Schmitt (Thomas.schmitt@kit.edu).