Interdisciplinary Postdoc Position in Assessment of Ecosystem Services of A

at  Syddansk Universitet

Are you interested in assessing and quantifying ecosystem services in aquatic nature-based solutions (NbS) for climate adaptation and mitigation? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a postdoc to join our team at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Department of Biology for a period of three and a half year.
We are seeking an enthusiastic postdoc to join us for a position working together with our team on the assessment of a biotic and abiotic wide range of aquatic NbS’s. This work is to be done in collaboration with local and European partners as part of the large EU climate mission project ARCADIA: TrAnsformative climate ResilienCe by nAture-baseD solutions in the contInentAl bio-geographical region . In addition to your scientific role, you will also be coordinator for the SDU Biology team within this larger project.
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are actions inspired and supported by nature that effectively and robustly address challenges to achieve benefits for both people and nature. Blue-green infrastructures are strategically planned and interconnected networks of natural and semi-natural areas with environmental features designed and sometimes managed, to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services. Ecosystem services are often evaluated on their capacity to provide regulation (ex. climate control or flood prevention), provisioning (food, water etc.), support (ex. nutrient cycling, biodiversity), and cultural values (ex. recreation).
In ARCADIA, we describe all the above and focus on understanding how NbS and blue-green infrastructures currently and in the future help with climate change risk such as extreme rain events, flooding and sea level rise. One of the study regions in ARCADIA is the Danish Island of Funen (where SDU-Odense is located) where we focus in particular on the assessment and evaluation of aquatic NbS for climate adaptation and mitigation as well as other benefits, such as biodiversity. This work is done in close collaboration with local partners from municipalities, agencies and water supply companies for the study region as well as European collaborators for the overarching work across study regions. Check link for info on SDU’s role and collaborators .
Starting date: 1 January 2025.

You will have a dual role within the ARCADIA project. One role is scientific as postdoc where we expect you to collaborate with our team on the assessment and analysis of aquatic NbS and BGI within the ARCADIA consortium and elsewhere. We currently utilize an ecosystem service (ES) framework for these analyses and thus are looking for someone with experience in working qualitatively and quantitatively with ES.
Your second role is as project coordinator for the SDU team within the ARCADIA project. This entails communication, planning, coordination and reporting to both our local and EU partners within this project. This role is, essential for our success in ARCADIA and thus is substantial (approximately 50% of your time).
You will be joining the Ecology research group and working in close collaboration with our ARCADIA team. The Ecology group has diverse and substantial expertise with aquatic ecosystems ecology, habitat restoration, NbS, sustainability, stakeholder involvement, collaboration with external research, government and private sector partners. We are strongly engaged in teaching in the Biology Bachelor and Master’s programmes as well as in the interdisciplinary one-year Danish Master’s programme in Climate Adaptation.