Funded by the Graduate School Scholarship Programme (GSSP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), we offer two full DAAD PhD scholarships at the Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography of University of Potsdam, Germany for a period of three years (or up to four years for candidates from developing or emerging countries).

The following positions are on offer:

Position 1: "1A: Impacts of reservoir networks on rivers in the Balkans" or "1B: Hydrological analysis of the August-2021-flood disaster in Western Germany"

Position 2: "Quantification of land use impact on floodplain biodiversity and functions and evaluation of the potential for ecological restoration"

The scholarship includes

• a monthly scholarship of € 1,200
• travel support and potential support for studies and research
• combined insurance (health, accident, liability)
• a research allowance of currently € 460 per year for scholarship holders from emerging countries, or € 230 per year for scholarship holders from industrialized countries
• under certain circumstances, grant holders may receive the following additional benefits: potential support for rent, family allowance (about € 200 child allowance per child and about € 275 marriage allowance)
• full funding for a German language course in Germany of up to 6 months preceding the scholarship
• a material resource and supervision allowance of currently € 1,000 per year, which is paid upon application to the host institution

The selected candidate will be fully integrated in the activities and the teaching curriculum of the NatRiskChange Research Training Group, and enjoy the vibrant international research environment in the Institute of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Potsdam, located around 40 km from the center of Berlin. The schedule and length of the language course will be determined after consultation with the selected candidates.

Formal requirements:

• upon nomination, the last final exam (master degree) must have been obtained no longer than six years ago,
• upon nomination, applicants must not have resided in Germany for more than 15 months.

Scientific requirements depend on the project and are written in the job announcements: Project 1 and Project 2. The prespective holder of position 1 will be work on one of the mentioned topics only. Please submit your research concept for either 1A or 1B. 

Application

Applications should include the following components: a detailed CV, a letter of motivation, a brief research concept for the PhD project of not more than 1-2 pages, a record of studies, master and bachelor certificates including a transcript of records, an English synopsis of the Master thesis, a list of publications, oral and/or poster presentations at conferences, and two letters of recommendation.

Applications can only be submitted through https://www.geo-x.net/daad-gssp/. The application should be uploaded in one single PDF document (< 10 MB) by 20 December 2021. Applications per email will not be considered.

Based on the applications, the University of Potsdam will, in a first stage, nominate two to four candidates. These candidates will be required to submit a full application to the DAAD which will then, in a second stage, be evaluated by DAAD. Candidates will be informed in detail about the second stage in case they are nominated after the first stage. The actual scholarship and the related PhD study are envisaged to start in October 2021.

Handicapped applicants will be given preference in case of equal suitability. The NatRiskChange consortium strives to increase the proportion of women in research and specifically encourages females to apply for these positions.