项目介绍

2026年9月18日

About the position

Agricultural land use strongly alters the functioning and biodiversity of the surrounding landscape. Conventional practices rely heavily on chemical inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, which readily make their way into adjacent waterways. Yet how these agrochemicals affect aquatic microbial communities and their functioning remains poorly understood. This is a pressing research priority, since the Netherlands has approximately 300,000 km of drainage ditches. These ditches hold huge ecological potential, supporting ecosystem services such as carbon cycling and water transport, but they are also most heavily exposed to agrochemical inputs — a combination that may threaten biodiversity and undermine the very services they provide.

This PhD position will focus on aquatic microbial ecotoxicology, aiming to unravel the effects of agrochemicals on the structure and functioning of microbial and viral communities in agricultural ditch sediments and the linked ecosystem function of carbon cycling. It incorporates pesticide mixture toxicity, which is severely understudied, especially to viruses, bacteria, archaea, and fungi. As such, it goes beyond the effects of single chemicals on single organisms and takes a wide scope of microbial diversity and a key ecosystem function – carbon cycling, including both sediment carbon pools and greenhouse gas emissions. This project will broaden our understanding of the impacts of agrochemicals from being toxic to aquatic life to the intertwined consequences for global warming.

The position will be based at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) of the University of Amsterdam, bridging the Departments of Freshwater and Marine Ecology (FAME) and Ecosystem and Landscape Dynamics (ELD). 

What are you going to do?

You will address this multidisciplinary topic using state-of-the-art analytical techniques and data processing and analysis, guided by the highly qualified support staff at IBED. Together with your supervisors, you will bridge the fields of aquatic ecotoxicology, environmental chemistry, and microbial ecology. This requires thinking outside the traditional spheres of these fields, and demands creativity and flexibility as well as a strong motivation to address this challenge using multiple lines of evidence.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Co-designing and conducting field sampling and measurements, lab experiments, and instrumental analyses;
• Conducting large dataset processing and statistical analyses;
• Communicating with local researchers, water authorities, and stakeholders;
• Presenting work at national and international symposia and scientific conferences;
• Writing publications for peer-reviewed journals;
• Mentoring BSc and MSc students.

Your profile

We seek a motivated PhD candidate to work at the interface of Ecotoxicology and Microbial Ecology. You hold a Master’s degree in Ecology, Environmental Science, Microbiology, or a related field, with a background spanning both disciplines. Ideally, you have experience with microbial community analysis (e.g., sequencing, bioinformatics) and/or assessing chemical stressor effects on organisms or ecosystems, along with solid skills in experimental design and data analysis.

You are genuinely curious about how anthropogenic chemicals shape microbial communities and their functioning, and eager to bridge the conceptual and methodological gap between Ecotoxicology and Microbial Ecology. As an independent, proactive thinker who thrives in interdisciplinary collaboration, you are excited to contribute new insight into this understudied but ecologically highly relevant research field.

Your experience and profile:

• MSc in Ecology, Environmental Science, Microbiology, or a related field;
• Strong background and experience in Ecotoxicology and/or Microbial Ecology;
• Experience with field and/or lab work;
• Experience with data analysis, such as statistics, data management, etc.;
• Experience in scripting/programming (e.g., R, Bash, Python);
• Strong interest in understanding human impacts on ecological processes, biodiversity, and ecosystem health;
• Proficiency in scientific writing;
• Experience or strong interest in transdisciplinary research;
• Ability to speak and communicate in English at an academic level.

Our offer

A temporary contract for 38 hours per week for the duration of 4 years (the initial contract will be for a period of 18 months and after satisfactory evaluation it will be extended for a total duration of 4 years). This should lead to a dissertation (PhD thesis). We will draft an educational plan that includes attendance of courses and (international) meetings. We also expect you to assist in teaching undergraduates and master students. The preferred starting date is as soon as possible. For this position, the University Job Classification profile “Promovendus” (PhD candidate) applies. Your salary will be €3,204 gross per month in the first year and will increase to €4,051 in the final year, based on full-time employment of 38 hours per week. In addition, you will receive an 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% year-end allowance. 

A favourable tax agreement, the ‘30% ruling’, may apply to non-Dutch applicants.

The Collective Labour Agreement of Universities of the Netherlands is applicable.

Besides the salary and a vibrant and challenging environment at Science Park, we offer you multiple fringe benefits:

• 232 holiday hours per year (based on full-time) and extra holidays between Christmas and 1 January;
• multiple courses to follow from our Teaching and Learning Centre;
• a complete educational program for PhD students;
• multiple courses on topics such as leadership for academic staff;
• multiple courses on topics such as time management, handling stress and an online learning platform with 100+ different courses;
• 7 weeks birth leave (partner leave) with 100% salary;
• partly paid parental leave;
• the possibility to set up a workplace at home;
• a pension at ABP for which UvA pays two-thirds of the contribution;
• the possibility to follow courses to learn Dutch;
• help with registration at UvA-Housing for a studio or small apartment when you’re moving from abroad. 

Are you curious to read more about our extensive package of secondary employment benefits? Take a look here.