Open Positions

Background

C4LaNd is a new research training group in which researchers from a variety of disciplines approach the issue of sustainably using land for the benefit of both people and nature from a variety of angles. All positions offer a multidisciplinary, international research environment, with partners at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, the University of Melbourne, Australia and the University of Hohenheim, Germany. Here you can read more about the educational concept.

One PostDoc position in Germany (KIT-Campus Alpin, Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and 24 doctoral positions (12 in Australia and 12 in Germany) are now open for applications.
In Australia, all PhD positions are based in Melbourne.
In Germany, there are different home locations: KIT has positions open based in Karlsruhe and at its Campus-Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The University of Hohenheim also has positions available.
Please note that a mandatory research stay at the partner institute (in Germany if you’re based at the University of Melbourne or the other way around) is foreseen for a period of 12 months.
Most of the positions are already filled, but application deadline is extended for some positions.

PostDoc Position in Germany

C4LaNd will also provide two systematic review papers during its five-year funding period, synthesising knowledge gained in C4LaNd as well as the broader literature. This activity is led by a post-doctoral researcher. The position is within the Global Land-Ecosystem Modelling Group at KIT’s 'Campus Alpin' in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Post-doctoral researcher position: State of the Nexus: systematic review and synthesis at KIT/Campus Alpin (expired)

Background

The ‘State of Nexus Solutions Report’ (SoNR), aims to be the authoritative summary of:

our understanding of resource demands and conflicts and solutions in the food-biomaterials-renewable energy nexus, regarding climate change and biodiversity;
a range of advanced analysis methods that can be applied across geographies and scales to support the goals under (1), including the further development of LandSyMM to operate seamlessly from regional to global scales.

The SoNR will be submitted to leading international peer-review journals. Given the breadth of the nexus aspects in C4LaNd and its cross-scale and mixed-methods research activities, the methodology underpinning the SoNR will be guided by methods for interdisciplinary collaboration, including systems’ mapping approaches, rigorous systematic literature searches, combined with (semi)automated text mining, content analysis and machine learning approaches.
Chang et al. (2025) have recently demonstrated the capacity that lies in modern methods for systematically searching, extracting, and analysing data from an enormous body of published literature. Their approach could serve as a methodological guidance, and will be further refined in the SoNR.
The SoNR will identify combinations of measures that may work, and those which may not (and why), to overcome current, unsustainable land-use practices in view of enhancing positive impacts for climate change mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity.
The position is initially for two years. Upon reaching a first major milestone (initial draft of the first review in place at the end of year two, for submission in year three) it can be extended for three more years. The expectation is to submit two SoNR publications over this 5-year period. If time permits, the post-doctoral researcher can also contribute with own original research to C4LaNd, and be involved in co-supervision of some of the doctoral researchers.

Description

Do you have sound knowledge of land ecosystems, climate change and land use change? Do you have very good systematic review and text mining skills? Are you keen to apply these to address societal and ecological research challenges? If so, we can offer you a post-doctoral position within C4LaNd.

Lines of research include:

Develop the overarching questions of the Nexus review and a structure of the foreseen manuscripts
Lead the systematic literature review and subsequent synthesis and assessment
Utilize modern tools for automated text mining and content analysis, including machine learning approaches
Coordinate with contributing researchers to this effort
Lead drafting and revision of manuscripts
Document the workflow

Requirements

PhD degree in environmental science, ecology, meteorology, or related areas
Experience in systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses, including machine learning techniques for content analyses
Capacity to synthesise and assess information from diverse literature sources
Organisational skills and experience in leading group-efforts
Fluency in English
Delight in engaging within a multi-disciplinary international team
Willingness to travel

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L). Funding will be initially for a two-year period with the possibility of extension up to five years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications should include a letter of motivation, CV, and contact details of two references. Applications are open until May 17. Interviews will be conducted before mid June. We expect the position to start ca. October/November 2026.
Please apply here.

Contact person

For inquiries, please contact almut.arneth∂kit.edu

Open PhD Topics in Cluster 1 (Rethinking Food)

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Understanding, mapping and reducing the impact of food production supply chains Australia and Germany (extended application deadline until August 30, 2026)

Project Details

Climate change and biodiversity loss are converging systemic risks to economies, societies, and ecosystems. Climate change may reduce global GDP by ~20% by 2100, while more than half of GDP depends on nature. Yet global GHG emissions have not peaked, and species are going extinct at 100–1000 times the natural rate.

Both crises are recognised in international and national policy— in Australia, the Long-Term Emissions Reduction Plan for climate, and the Nature Positive Plan for biodiversity.

In the corporate domain, climate governance is relatively mature, with accounting standards, disclosure frameworks, assessment tools, and target-setting mechanisms developed over the past two decades. By contrast, biodiversity governance is only emerging. Despite their interdependence, climate and biodiversity are still tackled in silos, creating inefficiencies and straining corporate capacity. This interdependence is especially relevant in the food production sector and their supply chains.

This project will seek to understand how Australian food producers and retailers are addressing biodiversity impacts in their value chains and identify synergies and trade-offs. This project will review and develop tools and analyses to better understand food production impacts on biodiversity under changing climates and identify opportunities and barriers for the uptake of decision-support tools in this context.

This project will strengthen biodiversity strategy by examining synergies with existing climate mitigation activities—such as cost efficiencies, capacity savings, data leverage, and streamlined reporting. The focus is on upstream value chains, where sourcing of materials and produce drives most biodiversity impacts.

Selection Criteria

A Masters or Honours-level degree (including a research component) in biodiversity, climate, land-use, supply-chain analysis, or related disciplines.
Experience in spatial analysis (GIS) and/or corporate strategy and/or business supply chain and/or business risk.
Evidence of publishing in international peer-reviewed journals.

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Please note that applications will close once a suitable candidate is identified. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible.
Anticipated project start date: Oct 01, 2026

Supervision team

The University of Melbourne:
Supervisor: Dr. Billy Geary
Contact: billy.geary@unimelb.edu.au

KIT-Campus Alpin (IMKIFU):
Prof. Dr. Mark Rounsevell
Contact: mark.rounsevell@kit.edu

PhD position at the University of Hohenheim: Feasibility of Scaling Up Novel Land-Use Systems (expired)

Motivation

A wide range of novel farming options is being promoted to address land use challenges, including agroecological approaches (e.g., diversified and low-input systems) and high-tech solutions (e.g., digital and precision agriculture). While these systems can demonstrate promising results in pilot programs or experimental settings, their potential for scaling up at the farm and landscape levels is often unclear. This project will investigate the conditions under which these novel land-use systems can be adopted more widely, as well as the factors that enable or hinder their transferability.

Research Focus

The exact focus and case study design will be tailored to the candidate’s background, interests, and the C4LaNd research program. Indicative research questions are:

How feasible is the adoption of selected novel land-use systems at the individual farm level, particularly in terms of economic and financial performance?
Which nontechnical and social factors (e.g., risk perceptions, norms, networks, and institutional settings) affect the transferability and uptake of these systems in different contexts?
What leverage points, policy instruments, and support measures can assist in scaling up promising systems at the farm and landscape levels?

Methods and Data

The project combines quantitative and qualitative approaches with a strong focus on farm-level analysis:

Enterprise budgeting and farm-level optimization will be used to evaluate the financial feasibility of alternative land-use systems.
Interactive agent-based modeling using the MPMAS framework, developed at the University of Hohenheim, to explore adoption dynamics and interactions among farm holdings at the landscape scale.
Use of farm-level datasets collected at UHO, complemented by data and scenarios from KIT and UoM.
Interviews and focus group discussions with farmers and other stakeholders at the landscape scale to identify social, institutional, and behavioral drivers and barriers to scaling up.

Requirements

An above-average master's degree (either completed or in progress) in agricultural sciences, environmental/resource economics, sustainability science, or a closely related field.
Profound knowledge of quantitative research methods relevant to the position, such as farm-level economic analysis and optimization and/or agent-based modeling. Experience with qualitative social science methods (key informant interviews, focus group discussions, Net-mapping) is a plus.
A strong interest in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of economics, the social sciences, and land use/agricultural systems.
High motivation to work in an international, multidisciplinary research environment and contribute actively to the C4LaNd research and qualification program.
Fluency in English (written and spoken). German language skills are advantageous but not mandatory.
Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne and comply with the formal requirements of a dual doctoral degree program in both locations.

Employment Conditions

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%). Funding is available for three and a half years.

Hohenheim University is an equal opportunity employer, and strongly encourages female researchers to apply. Hohenheim University is a founding member of the European Bioeconomy University (EBU) and the Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS), both being networks of leading European universities cooperating in the fields of bioeconomy and natural resources.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications should be submitted as a single PDF and include:

A letter of motivation that outlines your research interests and explains how they relate to this project and C4LaNd
A curriculum vitae (CV)
Contact details of two academic references

Applications are open until May 17. Please apply here.

Contact person

For questions regarding this specific research project, please contact:
Prof. Dr. Thomas Berger
Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute
Land Use Economics (490d)
University of Hohenheim

Open PhD Topics in Cluster 2 (Rethinking Urban Spaces)

PhD position at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Ethics of care and just mobility transitions (application deadline extended)

Project Summary

One fully funded project on “Ethics of care and just mobility transitions” is available. This joint PhD project will be primarily based at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) with a minimum 12-month stay at the University of Melbourne.

Project Description:

A just transition involves respecting the perspectives of many stakeholders. So far climate ethics focuses (mainly) on future generations, energy ethics recently has put the focus (also) onto often marginalized groups that may be severely impacted by an energy transition (e.g Heffron et al 2017, Jenkins 2021). A just transition needs to address both aspects. As an answer to this challenge, care ethics has been suggested to augment considerations of energy ethics (Gram-Hanssen 2024, Frigo et al 2023). Also in the emerging inter- and transdisciplinary field of mobility and transport justice a potential central role of care ethics has been discussed (e.g. Verlinghieri et al 2020).

The research question to be addressed here is as to how the ethics of care can augment research on fairness and equity of mobility and land use. While often ethical considerations are added as an afterthought in regional and urban planning, the aim of this project is to develop a blueprint of how to integrate ethical aspects into the full cycle of urban and regional planning, including mobility and land use. A particular focus will be set on how to ethically balance competing interests and how to integrate t he uncertainties of potential impacts.

This is a conceptual project and uses tools mainly from (analytic) philosophy. The work involves key fields of applied ethics (mobility justice, energy ethics, research ethics, and engineering ethics) as well as political philosophy (capabilities approach) and normative ethics (care ethics). The project aims to blend philosophy with stakeholder engagement, for example, by the use of public forms of reflective equilibrium (Wolff & De Shalit 2007, 2024) or reflective equilibrium stakeholder workshops (e.g. Brandstedt et. al 2024). While also considering mobility or transport transitions more broadly, the focus will be on indigenous mobility justice and a close link with project 1.

This PhD project examines how care ethics can help the planners and designers of mobility transitions to identify and address ethical problems that are preliminarily assumed to involve high empirical uncertainties as well as competing values. A moral framework based on care ethics considerations to address value conflicts in design and planning is devised. The PhD project will also examine in detail how such a ‘micro ethical approach’ can be linked to considerations of (transport, mobility or energy) justice. Here it will be explored to what extent the capability approach may serve as a connecting link between the care ethical approach on the micro level and macro or meso ethical approaches to justice, or whether care ethics (e.g. Held 2006, Tronto 2013) can itself provide such a macro ethical framework for mobility (energy) justice.

References

Brandstedt, E., Busch, H., Lycke, E., & Ramasar, V. (2024).
Winds of change: An engaged ethics approach to energy justice. Energy Research & Social Science, 110, 103427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103427.

Gram-Hanssen, K. (2024).
Beyond energy justice: Ethics of care as a new approach in the energy system, Energy Research & Social Science, 111 (103470). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103470.

Frigo, G., Milchram, C. & Hillerbrand, R. (2023).
Designing for Care. Science and Engineering Ethics 29(16). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-023-00434-4.

Heffron, R.J. & D. McCauley (2017).
The concept of energy justice across the disciplines, Energy Policy 105, 658–667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.018.

Held, V. (2005).
The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global. Oxford University Press.

Jenkins, K.E.H., Sovacool, B.K., Mouter, N. , Hacking, N. , Burns, M.-K. & McCauley, D. (2021).
The methodologies, geographies, and technologies of energy justice: A systematic and comprehensive review. Environmental Research Letter 16 (4), 043009. https://doi.org/10.1088/ 1748-9326/abd78c.

Tronto, J. C. (2013). Caring democracy: Markets, equality, and justice. New York University Press.

Verlinghieri E, Schwanen T. Transport and mobility justice: Evolving discussions. J Transp Geogr. 2020 Jul;87:102798. doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2020.102798. Epub 2020 Jul 14. PMID: 32834675; PMCID: PMC7359804.

Wolff, J., & De-Shalit, A. (2007). Disadvantage. Oxford University Press.

Wolff, J., & De Shalit, A. (2024). City of Equals (1st ed.). Oxford University PressOxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198894735.001.0001

Supervision team

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT):
Principal Supervisor: Prof Rafaela Hillerbrand
ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7890-3715

The University of Melbourne:
Principal Supervisor: Prof Wolfram Dressler
ORCID Profile: 0000-0003-1105-3805

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications are open until May 17. Please note that applications will close once a suitable candidate is identified. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible. Please apply here.

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Deconstructing infrastructure for regeneration (expired)

Description and background

This project will take a nexus-thinking approach in investigating the impact of interventions combining space reallocation and mobility service implementations in suburbia that are aiming to avoid and shift individual motorized mobility. Specifically, the project will study the impact of shared autonomous services designed to solve the last mile problem prevalent in suburbia. These services will be studied for their short-term and long-term impact on activity participation, destination and mode choice, and the discovery of rebound effects and other unintended consequences.
More information will follow.

Supervision team

The University of Melbourne:
Supervisor: Dr. Patricia Sauri Lavieri
Contact: patricia.lavieri@unimelb.edu.au

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT):
TT-Prof. Dr. Franziska Meinherz
Contact: franziska.meinherz@kit.edu

PhD position at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Urban retrofitting - how to tackle surface conflicts between different uses (expired)

Job Description

The Institute for Industrial Production (IIP) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) invites applications for a doctoral research position within the international research training group C4LaNd – Competition for land: Tackling the climate and biodiversity crises through the food, energy and materials nexus. The position is located in Karlsruhe, Germany, at KIT-IIP and will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Frank Schultmann and Prof. Dr. Rebekka Volk (University of Freiburg, Chair of Sustainability Assessment of Technical Systems).
This doctoral project is embedded in Cluster C2: Rethinking Urban Spaces and addresses a key challenge of the urban transformation: the increasing competition for land/surface associated with the growing demand for living space, energy generation, urban green and (transport) infrastructure. Urbanisation is an unbroken trend, not only in developed but also in less developed countries that leads to immense stress/competition for land and surfaces in metropolitan areas while landuse leads to surface sealing with deteriorated soil functions, CO2 emissions from construction activity and materials, urban heat islands or disruption of the natural water balance.
The doctoral research will investigate these interactions in a spatially explicit manner and develop decision-support approaches for identifying more sustainable land- and surface utilisation pathways. The project will combine geographic information systems (GIS), techno-economic and life cycle assessment methods, scenario analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to assess where, and under which ecological, economic and policy conditions, urban transformation can support climate goals while minimising negative impacts on ecosystems and urban societies.
The work is expected to generate both methodological advances and practically relevant insights for planning, governance and value-chain design in the urban research. A particular strength of the position lies in its integration into the international and interdisciplinary C4LaNd environment. The project is closely connected to collaboration with the University of Melbourne, especially with research on participatory decision-making for multi-use urban land. Within the training group, doctoral researchers are expected to undertake a 12-month research stay at the partner institution and to contribute actively to the broader interdisciplinary research and training programme.

The focus is on the structured analysis and resolution of urban land-use conflicts within the context of urban redevelopment, restoration and upgrading. The goal is to develop an optimizing decision support tool that identifies user-specific trade-offs and suggests potential solutions. This is based on techno-economic and (local) ecological analyses of possible urban retrofits, as well as data collection and analysis, and systemic analyses of new technologies, with a focus on de-sealing, soil restoration, climate change mitigation, food production, energy generation, and the creation and improvement of urban green spaces and biodiversity through blue-green infrastructure in cities. This includes, for example, the application and further development of tools and guidelines for life-cycle-based planning, new construction, upgrading, maintenance, and (climate-)resilient, multi-functional sustainable use of urban areas and urban infrastructure. In particular, innovative quantitative and optimization approaches, as well as approaches for investigating acceptance, trade-offs, management, and decision support for the sustainable development of urban districts, are to be developed, and applied.

Personal Qualifications

Applicants should hold an excellent Master’s degree in a relevant field such as urban planning, geoinformatics, civil engineering, industrial ecology, business and environmental sciences, geography, environmental engineering, sustainability assessment, or a related discipline. A strong interest in interdisciplinary research on land use, climate change, biodiversity and sustainable value chains is essential. Experience with GIS, spatial data analysis, quantitative modelling or sustainability-assessment methods is highly desirable. Familiarity with MCDA, scenario analysis, land-use systems or urban planning research would be advantageous, as well as particular experience in programming, especially SQL, PostgreSQL and QGIS (possibly also Python and Java), as well as the development and coupling of computer-aided models. Very good written and spoken English is required, as is the willingness to work in an international research environment, to complete a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne, and to contribute actively to scientific publication and participation in international conferences and project-related dissemination activities.

Our offer

An attractive and modern workplace with access to KIT's excellent infrastructure
A self-determined and varied job, flexible working time models and the possibility of mobile working
The opportunity to network with national and international co-operation partners from science and industry
A broad spectrum of further training opportunities
A supplementary pension scheme (VBL)
A subsidy for the JobTicket BW

Salary

The position is funded for 3.5 years. Salary and benefits are based on the Collective Agreement for the Public Service of the German Federal states (TV-L, 75%).

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Organisational unit: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Industrial Production (IIP)

Contract term: 3.5 years

Start 01.10.2026

Application deadline: 17.05.2026

Contact person: For further information on the position, applicants may contact Prof. Dr. Frank Schultmann or Prof. Dr. Rebekka Volk

Application: Applications should be submitted as one single PDF file containing a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, copies of academic transcripts and certificates, and the contact details of two academic references to: Applications_Chair_of_Production@iip.kit.edu We are committed to achieving a balance in the number of employees (f/m/d). We therefore particularly encourage female applicants to apply for this position. Severely disabled persons with equal qualifications will be given preference.

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Redistributing mobility space in suburbia (expired)

Project Details

Compared to urban centres, suburbia has lower population density, lower activity density, more parking space, longer commutes, and is public transport disadvantaged. The car dependency of suburbia causes conflicts for space with a broad range of known adverse effects. In addition, it limits many people’s access to basic services and social and economic participation, e.g., for the underage, elderly, and low-income households, adding social justice issues to this conflict. This project will take a nexus-thinking approach in investigating the impact of interventions combining space reallocation and mobility service implementations in suburbia that are aiming to avoid and shift individual motorized mobility. Specifically, the project will study the impact of shared autonomous services designed to solve the last mile problem prevalent in suburbia. These services will be studied for their short-term and long-term impact on activity participation, destination and mode choice, and the discovery of rebound effects and other unintended consequences.

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For further information, please contact: Prof. Stephan Winter
Contact: winter@unimelb.edu.au

PhD position at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Optimizing Blue-Green Infrastructure for Climate and Biodiversity (expired)

Description and background

Do you have an interest in urban environments, climate change, and biodiversity? Do you enjoy working with spatial data, models, and decision-making approaches? Are you motivated to contribute to sustainable solutions for cities?

If so, we offer you the opportunity to pursue a PhD within the international and interdisciplinary graduate school C4LaNd, Cluster 2 (Rethinking Urban Spaces), with partners at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the University of Melbourne, and the University of Hohenheim.

The PhD position “Optimizing Blue-Green Infrastructure for Climate and Biodiversity” is based in Campus South at KIT in Karlsruhe within the junior research group GRUSS lead by Dr. Benz, with close collaboration with the University of Melbourne. The position is embedded in a joint supervision framework, including a research stay of one year in Melbourne and a joint (cotutelle) PhD degree. In Melbourne the position is placed in the group of Prof. Wu.

The overarching question of the doctoral research will be:
How can blue-green infrastructure in cities be designed to jointly enhance biodiversity conservation and urban climate adaptation under increasing land-use pressure?

Lines of research include:

Explore how biodiversity in urban areas can be assessed using conservation-based frameworks (e.g. Natura 2000 / FFH)
Analyze spatial patterns of urban green infrastructure and their ecological characteristics
Investigate how different urban green configurations influence urban climate, particularly heat stress
Compare alternative design strategies for blue-green infrastructure
Identify trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity conservation and urban climate adaptation
Contribute to the development of multi-objective optimization approaches for urban land-use decisions
Develop ideas for analysis, publications, and integration within the C4LaNd programme

Requirements

M.Sc. degree in environmental sciences, geography, ecology, climate science, environmental engineering, urban planning, or related fields
Interest in urban sustainability, biodiversity, and climate adaptation
Experience with spatial data analysis (e.g. GIS)
Programming skills (e.g. Python or R) and/or modelling skills are an advantage
Experience in interdisciplinary research is an advantage
Interest in quantitative methods and decision-support approaches
Fluency in English
Motivation to work in an international and interdisciplinary research environment
Willingness to spend an extended research period (one year) at the University of Melbourne

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications should be submitted as a single PDF and must include a letter of motivation, CV, contact details of two references, and transcripts of records.
Applications are open until May 17. Interviews will start from mid June. We expect the position to start late 2026.
Please apply here.

Contact person

For further information, please contact: Susanne Benz

Open PhD Topics in Cluster 3 (Rethinking Rural Spaces)

PhD position at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): From Conflict to Complementarity: Governing Land-Use Transitions through Values and Technological Innovation in Physical and Digital Infrastructure and Security (expired)

Description and background

Do you have knowledge of economics and interest in land ecosystems, climate change and land use change? Do you have good quantitative and coding skills? Are you keen to apply these to address societal and ecological research challenges? If so, we can offer you an interesting PhD position as part of a multidisciplinary, international research training group with partners at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the University of Melbourne and the University of Hohenheim.

C4LaNd is a new research training group that brings together doctoral researchers the from the natural, social, economic and engineering sciences to address the challenges of sustainably using land for the benefit of both people and nature. You will receive a dual PhD degree from KIT and University of Melbourne, including a one-year research stay in Melbourne.

The PhD position “From Conflict to Complementarity: Governing Land-Use Transitions through Values and Technological Innovation in Physical and Digital Infrastructure and Security” is based at the Chair of Economic Policy (ECON) at KIT’s main campus in Karlsruhe. Chair of Economic Policy (ECON) at KIT’s main campus in Karlsruhe. The PhD project examines how land-use and infrastructure decisions generate coordination challenges related to global public goods such as biodiversity, climate stability, and (cyber)security. It focuses on how technological change—particularly in energy, transport, and digital infrastructures—reshapes these challenges by increasing interdependencies and spatial spillovers.
The overarching research questions are:

How do infrastructure developments alter incentives and conflicts in land-use systems?
Under what conditions can technological and institutional innovations transform land-use conflicts into complementarities?
How do societal values and governance frameworks influence coordination across actors and governance levels?

The project adopts a political economy perspective and conceptualizes land-use transitions as strategic interactions shaped by coordination problems, incentive structures, and institutional arrangements.

The overarching aim of the doctoral research is to develop a theoretically grounded framework that explains how micro-level behavior translates into macro-level outcomes. This includes deriving model assumptions from theory, implementing simulation-based approaches to analyze system dynamics, and empirically testing these mechanisms using experimental methods. The objective is to generate causal insights into the design of policy instruments and their effects on individual incentives.

Tasks include:

Design and conduct experimental studies (e.g. survey and field experiments) to analyze cooperation in land-use contexts
Apply quasi-experimental approaches to evaluate governance and infrastructure settings
Develop and implement dynamic economic models (e.g. agent-based models; ABM) to simulate system-level dynamics
Analyze how behavioral mechanisms interact with regulatory and technological conditions
Contribute to academic publications and interdisciplinary collaboration within the research training group

Requirements

A M.Sc. degree in economics, political economy, environmental economics, or a related field
Strong analytical and quantitative skills
Experience or interest in experimental and/or computational methods
Fluency in English
Proficiency in Python and/or R
Delight in engaging within the environment of a multi-disciplinary international training programme
Willingness to spend a one-year research stay at University of Melbourne
Interest in interdisciplinary research on global political economy, coordination processes between countries and/or governments, the private sector, and society, all related to the topic of land use, (digital) infrastructure, and sustainability

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Interviews will be conducted mid to end of May 2026.

Applications should be submitted as a single pdf and include a letter of motivation, CV and contact details of two references to: wipo@econ.kit.edu
We expect the position to start in November 2026.

Contact person

For further information, please contact wipo@econ.kit.edu

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Biodiversity, community, and Indigenous values in renewable energy transitions (application still open)

Project Details

This project will explore how Indigenous biocultural and local biodiversity values are articulated, negotiated, and integrated into renewable energy and land-use transition planning in biodiverse and contested landscapes. Grounded in political ecology and anthropology, it responds to concerns that technocratic planning and biodiversity modelling approaches often marginalise community perspectives and Indigenous priorities. Through qualitative interviews, participatory methods, and ethnographic case studies in Australia, the project will examine how communities experience renewable energy development, how biodiversity and biocultural values are defined and contested, and how participatory processes shape whose voices are recognised in decision-making. By identifying good practice and key risks, the project aims to contribute practical insights into how community voices can be meaningfully amplified to support just and biodiverse renewable energy transitions.

The PhD student will spend the first 10 months at the University of Melbourne in probationary status to prepare for their confirmation, which is a major milestone in their candidature to evaluate the progress of the research project, including an in-depth design of the project and literature review, and research ethics approval. The student will then spend a further 6-8 months in Australia carrying out field research, before travelling to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for a period of 12 months of focused data analysis, writing and inter-disciplinary engagement. The student will spend the final stage of the candidature back in Melbourne finalising thesis writing prior to submission.

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Please note that applications may close earlier once a suitable candidate is identified. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible.
Anticipated project start date: Jan 31, 2027
Please apply here.

Contact person

For further information, please contact: A/Prof Kate Macdonald
Contact: kmac@unimelb.edu.au

PhD position at the Institute for Industrial Production (IIP) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Trade-offs of Bio-based Products in Different Land-use Environments (expired)

Description and background

The position is located in Karlsruhe, Germany, at KIT-IIP and will be supervised by Prof. Dr. Frank Schultmann.
This doctoral project is embedded in Cluster C3: Rethinking Rural Spaces and addresses a key challenge of the emerging bioeconomy: the increasing competition for land associated with the growing demand for biomass-based materials. Bio-based products such as wood-based construction materials, bioplastics and bio-based chemicals may contribute to climate-change mitigation by substituting fossil-based alternatives. At the same time, their expansion may intensify pressures on land, biodiversity and other ecosystem services, and may create new trade-offs with food production, renewable energy deployment and nature conservation. The doctoral research will investigate these interactions in a spatially explicit manner and develop decision-support approaches for identifying more sustainable biomass-utilisation pathways.
The project will combine geographic information systems (GIS), scenario analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to assess where, and under which ecological, economic and policy conditions, material uses of biomass can support climate goals while minimising negative impacts on ecosystems and rural societies. The work is expected to generate both methodological advances and practically relevant insights for planning, governance and value-chain design in the bioeconomy. A particular strength of the position lies in its integration into the international and interdisciplinary C4LaNd environment.
The project is closely connected to collaboration with the University of Melbourne, especially with research on participatory decision-making for multi-use rural land. Within the training group, doctoral researchers are expected to undertake a 12-month research stay at the partner institution and to contribute actively to the broader interdisciplinary research and training programme.

Research tasks

The doctoral candidate will contribute to the development of a spatially explicit assessment of competing biomass-utilisation pathways and their implications for biodiversity conservation and climate-change mitigation. This includes the identification and harmonisation of relevant spatial datasets, the development of land-use and policy scenarios, the analysis of trade-offs and co-benefits between biomass use, food production and conservation, and the application of MCDA to compare alternative pathways and landscape configurations. The position also involves the scientific interpretation of results in relation to land-use governance, sustainability standards and planning instruments for the bioeconomy.

Candidate profile

Applicants should hold an excellent Master’s degree in a relevant field such as industrial ecology, business and environmental sciences, geography, environmental engineering, sustainability assessment, bioeconomy or a related discipline. A strong interest in interdisciplinary research on land use, climate change, biodiversity and sustainable value chains is essential. Experience with GIS, spatial data analysis, quantitative modelling or sustainability-assessment methods is highly desirable. Familiarity with MCDA, scenario analysis, land-use systems or bioeconomy research would be advantageous. Very good written and spoken English is required, as is the willingness to work in an international research environment, to complete a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne, and to contribute actively to scientific publication and participation in international conferences and project-related dissemination activities.

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application procedure

Applications uploaded as a single pdf should include a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae, copies of academic transcripts and certificates, and the contact details of two academic references.
Applications are open until May 17, or until the position has been filled.

Contact

For further information on the position, applicants may contact Prof. Frank Schultmann at KIT-IIP

Project Details

Across Southeast Asia, rural landscapes are increasingly shaped by competing demands for conservation, ecosystem restoration, sustainable agriculture, and livelihood security, often under conditions of overlapping land claims and unequal power relations. Nature-based solutions (NBS) have emerged as a prominent governance framework for managing these trade-offs, promising to reconcile biodiversity protection, climate mitigation, and community well-being through integrated land-use planning. Yet while NBS are frequently presented as ‘win–win’ solutions, far less is known about how they are experienced and contested in practice, particularly in contexts where subnational governments play a central role in land-use governance.

We are seeking a PhD candidate to undertake original research on the governance of NBS in multi-use rural landscapes, with a focus on Southeast Asia (preferably Indonesia, the Philippines, or Vietnam). The project will examine how NBS are designed, implemented, and negotiated in practice, by asking: Who decides where and how NBS interventions are implemented? How are trade-offs between conservation and livelihoods defined, contested, and resolved? And who ultimately benefits and are marginalised as landscapes are reorganised under NBS frameworks? The candidate will ideally adopt a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative methods (e.g. interviews, ethnography, document analysis) with quantitative and spatial approaches to generate empirically grounded insights on NBS governance and its outcomes, but applications that are predominantly qualitative will also be considered.

This joint PhD between the University of Melbourne (UoM) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) offers a unique interdisciplinary training environment. The candidate will focus on their topic but have the opportunity to engage with modelling and systems-based approaches to land-use planning at KIT, while critically examining how such pathways are interpreted, contested, and reshaped in practice. Through joint supervision and a research stay at KIT, the project equips the candidate to work across qualitative and quantitative approaches, and to contribute to more socially grounded and just decision-making in complex rural landscapes.

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For further information, please contact: Prof Rachael Diprose
Contact: rachael.diprose@unimelb.edu.au

PhD position at the Science Faculty at the University of Melbourne (UoM): An analysis of expanding road infrastructure on indigenous land rights, food security and forest cover in southern Palawan, the Philippines (expired)

Project Summary

One fully funded project on the study of “An analysis of expanding road infrastructure on indigenous land rights, food security and forest cover in southern Palawan, the Philippines” is available. This joint PhD project will be primarily based at the University of Melbourne with a minimum 12-month stay at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Project Description:

Across the Southeast Asian uplands, expanding road infrastructure increasingly penetrates remnant forests and Indigenous territories, with major consequences for land rights, food security, and biodiversity (Clements et al., 2014; Reddiar and Osti, 2022). In the Philippines, where only 10 percent of original forest cover remains, new road networks linked to critical minerals mining, oil palm and tourism estate expansion are affecting forests long managed by Indigenous peoples (Sze et al., 2022; Nolos et al., 2023; Mason et al., 2025). As the country’s last ecological frontier, Palawan loses roughly 5,500 hectares of forest annually as roads penetrate forest reserves and ancestral lands (Nolos et al., 2023), yet their impacts remain poorly understood.

Research Question: What are the origins and impacts of road networks on land rights, food security, and forest cover in southern Palawan? How and why do different types of roads emerge, and who wins and loses from them?

This PhD project examines the historical and contemporary rise of road networks penetrating the upland forests of southern Palawan, where Indigenous communities face intersecting pressures on land, resources, and governance. It analyses how roads intersect with ncestral domain claims, livelihood changes, shifting land classifications, territorial disputes, and changing accessibility, and how these processes affect Indigenous food security, forest cover, and biodiversity.

Using spatial analysis and ethnographic methods, the project traces the spatial and temporal dynamics of road expansion, land use conversion, livelihood changes, forest degradation and biodiversity declines. It integrates satellite imagery, planning documents, and community sketch maps to quantify forest cover change and model relationships between road density, agricultural transitions, and biodiversity.

Grounded in political ecology and Indigenous land politics, the project examines how competing claims intersect along roads as socioecological corridors that facilitate market integration while catalysing dispossession and reconfigurations of customary authority. hrough ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and spatial analysis, it generates a multiscalar account of road building as a political project reshaping ancestral lands, food systems, forest cover, and biodiversity in southern Palawan.

References

Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben, et al. (2014)
"Where and how are roads endangering mammals in Southeast Asia's forests?." PloS one 9.12 (2014): e115376.

Dressler, W. (2021).
Defending lands and forests: NGO histories, everyday struggles, and extraordinary violence in the Philippines. Critical Asian Studies, 53(3), 380-411.

Mason, D., Dressler, W., & Novellino, D. (2025).
Extracting Value, Losing Ground: The Critical Minerals Boom in Palawan. New Mandala. June 13, 2025. https://www.newmandala.org/extracting-value-losing-ground-the-critical-minerals-boom-in-palawan/

Nolos, R. C., Zamroni, A., & Evina, K. F. P. (2023).
Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Palawan, Philippines: an analysis using social-ecological systems (SES) and institutional analysis and development (IAD) approaches. Geography, environment, sustainability, 15(4), 44-56.

Reddiar, I. B., & Osti, M. (2022).
Quantifying transportation infrastructure pressure on Southeast Asian World Heritage forests. Biological conservation, 270, 109564.

Sze, J. S., Childs, D. Z., Carrasco, L. R., & Edwards, D. P. (2022).
Indigenous lands in protected areas have high forest integrity across the tropics. Current Biology, 32(22), 4949-4956.

Desirable qualifications

Include a background in anthropology and/or human geography; ethnographic methods, spatial analysis, proficiency in, or willingness to learn, Filipino and/or a relevant Palawan dialect; excellent written and spoken English; a scholarly record including published journal articles and/ or media pieces; cultural sensitivity and research integrity; and willingness to conduct fieldwork in remote rural settings.

Supervision team

The University of Melbourne:
Principal Supervisor: Prof Wolfram Dressler
Contact: wolfram.dressler@unimelb.edu.au

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT):
Principal Supervisor: Prof Rafaela Hillerbrand
Contact: rafaela.hillerbrand@kit.edu

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

PhD position at KIT-Campus Alpin: Ecosystem and biodiversity impacts of novel land-use futures (expired)

Description and background

Do you have knowledge of land ecosystems, climate change and land use change? Do you have good quantitative and coding skills? Are you keen to apply these to address societal and ecological research challenges? If so, we can offer you to earn your PhD degree within the multidisciplinary, international research training group C4LaNd.
The PhD position 'Ecosystem and biodiversity impacts of novel land-use futures' is within the Global Land-Ecosystem Modelling Group at KIT’s 'Campus Alpin' in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, partnered with Melbourne’s Quantitative Ecology Group

The overarching question of the doctoral research will be:
How do different, novel land-use futures affect ecosystem state and function globally, what are implications of these for biodiversity and ecosystem services in the present day and under future climate change?

Lines of research include:

Familiarize yourself with the LandSyMM modelling framework and in particular its ecosystem model LPJ-GUESS
Simulate how a range of novel future land-use change scenarios, available from LandsyMM simulations affects ecosystem carbon cycling and a range of other ecosystem processes and services
Explore how a range of biodiversity indicators such as species habitat availability and extinction risk would be affected under a suite of land use futures
Explore literature and other data sources to support interpretation of outputs and model evaluation
Develop ideas for model applications, simulation set-up and analysis and publications
Document code development and performance

Requirements

M.Sc. degree in environmental science, ecology, meteorology, or related areas
Knowledge in coding languages, ideally C++
Proficiency in Python or R
Fluency in English, written and spoken
Delight in engaging within the environment of an international, multidisciplinary training programme
Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne and comply with formalities at both locations
Readiness to engage within the LPJ-GUESS and LandSyMM communities
Willingness to travel between KIT-Campus Alpin, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and KIT in Karlsruhe for C4LaNd courses

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications uploaded as a single pdf should include a letter of motivation, CV, contact details of two references, and Bachelor and Master studies transcripts.
Applications are open until May 17. Interviews will be conducted before mid June. We expect the position to start ca. Oktober 2026.
Please apply here.

Contact person

For inquiries, please contact almut.arneth@kit.edu

Description and background

This PhD aims to develop and test a new robust decision framework that identifies water supply portfolios that:

maximise water security and system resilience under current and future hydroclimatic extremes,
deliver land-use and environmental co-benefits
minimise economic cost, and
remain robust across a wide range of plausible futures.

More information will follow.

Supervision team

The University of Melbourne:
Principal Supervisor: Dr Benjamin Henley
Contact: bhenley@unimelb.edu.au

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT):
Principal Supervisor: TT-Prof. Dr. Peer Nowack
Contact: peer.nowack@kit.edu

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Strategic Land Buyback for Urban Flood Risk Reduction (expired)

Description and background

Do you have an interest in urban flooding, land-use planning, and climate adaptation? Do you enjoy working with spatial data, models, and decision-making frameworks? Are you motivated to apply your skills to real-world challenges in urban resilience and sustainability?
If so, we offer you the opportunity to pursue a Ph.D. within the international and interdisciplinary graduate school C4LaNd, based at the University of Melbourne, with a research placement at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

Project Description

The PhD project “Strategic Land Buyback for Urban Flood Risk Reduction” will investigate how government-led property buyback (e.g., managed retreat) programs can be systematically designed to reduce long-term flood risk in urban areas.

Urban flooding is intensifying due to climate change, urbanisation, and increasing exposure in flood-prone areas. One emerging policy response is the acquisition of high-risk properties by governments, followed by conversion of these areas into floodplains, wetlands, or other nature-based solutions. While such programs have been implemented in several countries, they are often reactive and lack systematic approaches for prioritisation and long-term planning.

This project aims to develop a decision-support framework to address key questions such as:

Which properties should be prioritised for buyback?
How should acquisition programs be staged over time under limited budgets?
How can land conversion contribute to long-term flood risk reduction and urban resilience?

Research Questions

The overarching research question is:
How can land buyback programs be strategically prioritised and staged to maximise long-term flood risk reduction under climate and urban development uncertainty?

Lines of research include:

Develop and apply urban flood inundation models to assess flood hazard and risk.
Analyse spatial patterns of flood exposure and identify high-risk property clusters.
Investigate the role of land-use change and land conversion in modifying flood risk.
Develop a decision framework for prioritising property acquisition under budget constraints.
Explore trade-offs between flood risk reduction, economic cost, and spatial planning objectives.
Conduct scenario analysis under alternative climate and urban development futures.
Contribute to scientific publications and policy-relevant outputs.
Document model development, data processing, and analytical workflows.

Requirements

Masters’ degree in civil or environmental engineering, geography, environmental science, urban planning, or a related field
Strong interest in urban flooding, land-use management, and climate adaptation
Experience with programming (e.g. Python, MATLAB, or R)
Familiarity with GIS and spatial data analysis
Interest in quantitative modelling and decision-support approaches
Fluency in English (both speaking and writing)
Motivation to work in an interdisciplinary and international research environment
Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and collaborate across institutions

Scholarship

The successful candidate will be enrolled at the University of Melbourne. Scholarship and conditions will follow University of Melbourne PhD funding arrangements.
Funding is expected for up to 3.5 years, including support for the international placement.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications should be submitted as a single PDF including a letter of motivation, CV, contact details of two referees, and academic transcripts
Applications are open until May 17 or until position filled. Interviews will start from mid June. We expect the position to start end 2026 - early 2027.

Contact person

For further information, please contact: A/Prof Wenyan Wu (University of Melbourne)

Open PhD Topics in Cluster 4 (Unlocking Restoration)

PhD position at KIT-Campus Alpin: Forest Vulnerability to Hotter Droughts (expired)

Description

Do you have a strong interest in forest ecosystems, climate extremes, and carbon cycling? Are you excited about linking physiological mechanisms to landscape-scale patterns to address pressing challenges related to forest dieback and climate mitigation? Are you motivated to work in an interdisciplinary and international research environment? If so, we invite applications for a PhD position in the Plant Ecophysiology Lab as part of the multidisciplinary, international research training group C4LaNd.
The PhD position, ‘Forest Vulnerability to Hotter Droughts´, is within the Plant Ecophysiology Lab at the KIT-Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Project Background and Research Question

Forests across Europe and beyond are increasingly threatened by hotter droughts, which are leading to rising tree mortality and may undermine forests’ role as carbon sinks. However, forest vulnerability is not spatially uniform and varies strongly among species and environmental conditions.
The overarching research question of this PhD project is:
How do hotter droughts alter the physiological mechanisms and thresholds of tree mortality, and how can these processes be linked to landscape-scale patterns of forest vulnerability?

Tasks

The doctoral researcher will:

Investigate physiological mechanisms and mortality thresholds of trees under hotter droughts through experimental approaches
Identify spatial patterns and hotspots of forest vulnerability using remote sensing data and climatic information
Integrate experimental and landscape-scale observations to develop a mechanistic framework of heat-induced forest decline
Publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present findings at international conferences

Requirements

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate with:

M.Sc. degree in ecology, environmental sciences, forestry, biology, earth system science, climate science, or a related field
Experience in one or more of the following areas:

Remote sensing and geospatial data analysis
Plant ecophysiology
Forest ecology or biogeochemistry

Programming skills (e.g., R, Python, or similar) and motivation to work with large datasets
Fluency in English, written and spoken
Willingness to travel between KIT-Campus Alpin (IMKIFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen and KIT in Karlsruhe for C4LaNd courses
Interest in interdisciplinary collaboration within an international graduate programme
Willingness to spend a one-year research stay at University of Melbourne, Australia

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For inquiries, please contact nadine.ruehr@kit.edu

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Spatial optimisation of restoration actions for ecosystem services (expired)

Description

We offer a PhD stipend at with Dr Runting’s research group at the University of Melbourne in collaboration with the Plant Ecophysiology research group of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

Project Details

Restoration offers a pathway to reconcile biodiversity conservation with agricultural production by enhancing ecosystem services such as pollination and pest control. However, the ecological benefits from restoration take time to emerge, have uncertainties in a changing climate, and depend on the type of restoration and the spatial configuration. This project addresses the temporal and spatial complexities by asking where – and how much – restoration should occur to maximise multiple services without reducing agricultural production.

This project will focus on coffee production landscapes in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and Australia’s tropical north. The aim is to develop a spatially explicit, dynamic optimisation framework (using Mixed Integer Programming) that integrates flows of multiple ecosystem services and explicitly tests different levels of fragmentation and landscape composition. Ecosystem-service metrics will be updated iteratively as the optimisation proceeds, and trade‐offs between objectives along fragmentation and composition gradients will be assessed. The outcome will be a decision‐support tool for restoration planning that can be tested and adapted across case-study regions.

Selection Criteria

A Master degree (including a research component) in operations research, ecology, geography, or related disciplines.
Experience in spatial analysis (GIS)
Experience in optimisation or operations research
Evidence of publishing in international peer-reviewed journals.

Available Scholarships

The scholarship offers a living allowance of around AU$39,500 up to 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Please note that applications will close once a suitable candidate is identified. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit their application as early as possible. (Applications will close on 17 May 2026. Anticipated project start date is 1 Oct 2026.
Please apply here.

Contact person

For further information, please contact: Dr Rebecca Runting
Contact: rebecca.runting@unimelb.edu.au

PhD position at KIT-Campus Alpin: The role of animals for forest ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling (expired)

Description and background

Do you have knowledge of land ecosystems, climate change and land use change? Do you have good quantitative and coding skills? Are you keen to apply these to address societal and ecological research challenges? If so, we can offer you to earn your PhD degree within the multidisciplinary, international research training group C4LaNd.
The PhD position 'The role of animals for forest ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling' is within the Global Land-Ecosystem Modelling Group at KIT’s 'Campus Alpin' in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, partnered with Melbourne’s Quantitative Ecology Group
The overarching question of the doctoral research will be:
How does the presence or absence of full trophic chains affect carbon and nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems, in the present day and under future climate change?

Lines of research include:

Familiarize yourself with the ecosystem models LPJ-GUESS and Madingley
Further develop key processes in Madingley (e.g. selective or height-depended feeding; introduction of detritivores, etc.)
Explore literature and other data sources to support this parameterization as well as model evaluation
Conduct simulations and evaluate output against observations
Develop ideas for model applications, simulation set-up and analysis and publications
Document code development and performance

Requirements

M.Sc. degree in environmental science, ecology, meteorology, or related areas
Knowledge in coding languages, ideally C++
Proficiency in Python or R
Fluency in English, written and spoken
Delight in engaging within the environment of an international, multidisciplinary training programme
Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne and comply with formalities at both locations
Readiness to engage within the LPJ-GUESS and Madingley communities
Willingness to travel between KIT-Campus Alpin, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and KIT in Karlsruhe for C4LaNd courses

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For inquiries, please contact almut.arneth@kit.edu

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Mapping land use competition in a renewable energy transition that is good for nature and people

Description and background

More information will follow.

Supervision team

The University of Melbourne:
Principal Supervisor: Prof Brendan Wintle
Contact: b.wintle@unimelb.edu.au

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT):
Principal Supervisor: Prof Mark Rounsevell
Contact: mark.rounsevell@kit.edu

PhD position in Computer Science / Environmental Data Science at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Advancing deep learning for probabilistic predictions of wildfire risks (expired)

Description and background

Do you want to pursue a PhD in Computer Science focused on the development of deep learning methods and apply these methods to a critical climate risk factor societies will face in the 21st century? If so, we encourage you to apply for our PhD position within the multidisciplinary, international research training group C4LaNd!

You will focus on advancing probabilistic deep learning models for spatiotemporal forecasting, with the primary goal of modelling multiple dimensions of wildfire risks, using data from both computer simulations and Earth observations (e.g., satellite data). A central component will be the development of improved algorithms, building on recent advances in AI such as versions of diffusion models. You will then apply these methodological developments to support climate change risk assessments. For example, your project will explore the combined impacts of climate change and changes in land use on biodiversity.

Ultimately, your wildfire model is intended to become a component of the dynamic global vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (https://web.nateko.lu.se/lpj-guess/download.html) and of the AI world model WOW of the Earth system (https://www.carl-zeiss-stiftung.de/en/project-overview/detail/wow-a-world-model-of-our-world). As such, your work will also lead to an improved online representation of wildfires in future climate and ecosystem simulations.

This PhD project will be based in the AI in Climate and Environmental Sciences research group (ki-klima.iti.kit.edu) at the Computer Science department of KIT in Karlsruhe, Germany. Your primary PhD supervisor will be Prof. Peer Nowack, and you will collaborate closely with Prof. Almut Arneth and Dr. Carolina Natel from KIT’s Atmospheric Environmental Research institute. Your Melbourne co-advisor will be Dr. Benjamin Henley.

Lines of research include

Advancing deep learning methods for probabilistic spatiotemporal modelling.
Using these methods to assess multiple dimensions of wildfire risk under future climate and land use scenarios, in particular concerning impacts on biodiversity.
Collaborating with fellow C4LaNd PhD researchers and with modellers in the LPJ-GUESS and WOW research communities.
Reviewing literature and other data sources to support your work.
Presenting your results at national and international conferences.

Requirements

Master’s degree in computer science, mathematics, physics, data science, or a related field.
Strong programming skills, ideally in Python and C++.
Fluency in English, written and spoken
Delight in engaging within an international, multidisciplinary training programme.
Willingness to undertake a one-year research stay at the University of Melbourne.

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Applications should include a letter of motivation, a CV, transcripts of your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (for the latter, also preliminary transcripts), and the contact details of two academic referees.
Applications are open until May 17. Interviews will be conducted before mid June. We expect the position to start in November 2026.
Please apply here.

Contact person

For inquiries, please contact Peer Nowack

PhD position at KIT-Campus Alpin: Modelling sustainable European forests in a future climate (expired)

Description and background

Do you have knowledge of land ecosystems, climate change and land use change? Do you have good quantitative and coding skills? Are you keen to apply these to address societal and ecological research challenges? If so, we can offer you to earn your PhD degree within the multidisciplinary, international research training group C4LaNd.
The PhD position 'Modelling Sustainable European Forests in a Future Climate' is within the Global Land-Ecosystem Modelling Group at KIT’s 'Campus Alpin' in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, partnered with Melbourne’s Quantitative Ecology Group
The overarching question of the doctoral research will be:
How can European forests be made ‘climate smart’ with synergies for multiple ecosystem services under different climate-change and socio-economic futures?

Lines of research include:

Familiarize yourself with the ecosystem model LPJ-GUESS
Further develop the parameterisation of European forest species in LPJ-GUESS
Review literature and other data sources to support this parameterization
Explore options of bringing plant functional trait-based approaches into the parameterization of European trees in the model
Conduct simulations and evaluate output against observations
Develop ideas for model applications, simulation set-up and analysis and publications
Document code development and performance

Requirements

M.Sc. degree in environmental science, ecology, meteorology, or related areas
Knowledge in coding languages, ideally C++
Proficiency in Python or R
Fluency in English, written and spoken
Delight in engaging within the environment of an international, multidisciplinary training programme
Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne and comply with formalities at both locations
Readiness to engage within the LPJ-GUESS community
Willingness to travel between KIT-Campus Alpin, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and KIT in Karlsruhe for C4LaNd courses

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For inquiries, please contact almut.arneth@kit.edu

Project Details

It is critical that we develop decision support systems that underpin the selection of climate-adapted future forests. However, we are lacking holistic assessment of forests systems in-situ, where the adaptive responses of trees to climate stressors are investigated and understood on a tree and ecosystem basis. This is where this project will act and deliver badly needed whole of system understanding of tree and forest responses to climate. We propose to study tree and ecosystem responses to climate and environmental stresses in eucalypt forests along a climate gradient in southeastern Australia. The project will combine ecophysiology (tree traits and water relations) with ecosystem ecology (carbon and water exchanges). Thus, it will deliver in-depth process understanding of how tree species are adapted to the environment, identify if tree and forest responses differ along the gradient and if there is an indication for maladaptation in species or systems and/or if there is evidence that some trees or ecosystems have different responses and adjustments to climatic stresses. The process understanding will better inform decision support and selection of tree species for forest restoration.

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For further information, please contact: Prof Stefan Arndt
Contact: sarndt@unimelb.edu.au

PhD position at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT): Cross-sensor transfer learning for long-term forest biomass and structure estimation using established and next-generation SAR missions (extended application deadline until June 01, 2026)

Description and background

Do you have a strong interest in remote sensing, forests, and Earth observation? Are you excited about combining next-generation satellite missions with machine learning to reconstruct long-term forest dynamics? If so, we invite applications for a PhD position at the Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (KIT-IPF), as part of the international research training group C4LaND.

Forests play a central role in the land-use nexus by providing carbon storage, biodiversity, and renewable resources, while being increasingly affected by land-use change and climate extremes. Robust, spatially explicit and temporally consistent information on forest biomass and structure is essential for assessing long-term land-use trade-offs and informing integrated modelling and governance frameworks. Recently launched Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite missions have been specifically designed to retrieve three-dimensional forest structure and above-ground biomass with high sensitivity, but their observational records are short. In contrast, established SAR missions such as Sentinel-1 offer dense and consistent time series extending back more than a decade, albeit with limited biomass sensitivity.

This PhD position is part of the International Research Training Group C4LaND and focuses on developing transfer learning approaches that link forest above-ground biomass and structure estimates from next-generation, biomass-oriented SAR missions to long-term SAR archives, thereby enabling spatially explicit reconstruction of forest dynamics at least back to the beginning of the Sentinel-1 era. The project will be hosted at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Institute for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (IPF), under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Hinz. Your Melbourne co-advisor will be Dr. Jagannath Aryal.

Lines of research include:

Developing cross-sensor transfer learning frameworks based on multi-level SAR observables for above-ground biomass estimation by exploiting polarimetric SAR features across sensor generations and enriching them with higher-order structural information from Polarimetric InSAR and Tomographic SAR where available.
Exploration of multi-modal and multi-model support using optical and hyperspectral data to improve robustness and generalizability of transfer learning between SAR sensors.
Sensor-aware uncertainty characterization and error transfer, with emphasis on decomposing the error budget and estimating loss of precision associated with products derived from established missions compared to new biomass missions.
Validation across long-term forest observatories in multiple regions, including Europe (TERENO), Australia (CSIRO Permanent Rainforest Plots), and potentially Brazil, ensuring transferability across forest types, climatic zones, and land-use contexts relevant to C4LAND.

Requirements

An above-average M.Sc. degree (or equivalent) in remote sensing, environmental sciences, computer science, forestry or a related field.
Strong background and interest in Earth observation, remote sensing of forests and SAR data processing
Experience with machine learning, domain adaptation, or transfer learning methods is highly desirable.
Excellent communication skills and enthusiasm for working in an international and multidisciplinary research environment.
Fluency in English, written and spoken
Willingness to undertake a one-year research placement at the University of Melbourne, Australia and comply with formalities at both institutions.

Salary

Salary and benefits will be based on the Collective Agreement for the German Public Service Sector (TV-L, 75%).
Funding is available for 3.5 years.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For further information, please contact: Prof. Stefan Hinz

PhD position at the University of Melbourne (UoM): Transfer learning across forest types for biomass and structure estimation using next-generation SAR missions (expired)

Project Details

Remote sensing offers a unique capability to observe the environment and forest systems consistently across large areas and long time periods. In particular, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) enables cloud- and illumination-independent monitoring and provides sensitivity to forest structure through polarimetric, interferometric, and tomographic techniques. While remote sensing has enabled large-scale forest monitoring, biomass and structure retrieval methods remain dependent on region-specific calibration and forest-type-specific assumptions. This limits their transferability across climatic zones, management regimes, and forest compositions. For C4LAND, which explicitly seeks integrated and globally relevant insights, it is therefore essential to understand how forest observation methods perform across fundamentally different forest types and how knowledge gained in one region can be transferred to another in a controlled and uncertainty-aware manner.

Next-generation SAR satellite missions such as BIOMASS and NISAR have been specifically designed to retrieve forest structure and above-ground biomass by exploiting, polarimetric, interferometric, and tomographic SAR methods applied to observations at longer wavelengths with better canopy penetration. Thus, these missions offer unprecedented sensitivity to three-dimensional forest structure and woody biomass across a wide range of forest conditions.

However, even with advanced SAR observables, biomass and structure retrieval remains influenced by forest type, species composition, canopy architecture, disturbance history, and environmental conditions. Methods developed and calibrated for one forest biome may therefore not be directly applicable to another.

This PhD project addresses this challenge by focusing on transfer learning across forest types, using Germany as a representative of temperate European forests and Australia as a representative of subtropical and tropical forest systems. The emphasis of this PhD topic is placed on spatial transferability and uncertainty quantification when applying biomass-oriented SAR methods across contrasting forest environments.

Requirements

The candidate should have a master in geomatics, geography, mathematics, machine learning and computer vision or similar, and be able to dissect remote sensing research methods with biodiversity of forests.

Available Scholarships

The successful applicant will receive a scholarship package which includes a tuition fee waiver, living allowance, health insurance, and relocation support.

Application deadline, selection and expected start date

Contact person

For further information, please contact: A/Prof Jagannath Aryal
Contact: jagannath.aryal@unimelb.edu.au

Last update: 2026-05

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PostDoc Position in Germany

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Open PhD Topics in Cluster 1 (Rethinking Food)

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Open PhD Topics in Cluster 2 (Rethinking Urban Spaces)

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Open PhD Topics in Cluster 3 (Rethinking Rural Spaces)

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