PhD position: Modelling pollutant transport across the soil-atmosphere continuum

at  Wageningen University Research

ARE YOU A HIGHLY MOTIVATED AND CURIOUS RESEARCHER WHO IS PASSIONATE ABOUT SOIL AND AIR QUALITY? WOULD YOU ENJOY PURSUING A PHD IN MODELLING THE TRANSPORT OF SOIL POLLUTANTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE? ARE YOU ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT COMBINING FIELD WORK AND MODELLING APPROACHES? DO YOU THRIVE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS? THEN YOU COULD BE THE IDEAL PHD CANDIDATE TO JOIN OUR TEAM!

The Soil Physics and Land Management (SLM) group of Wageningen University is coordinating an EU-funded project SOILPROM, which aims at modelling soil pollution processes across the soil-water-atmosphere continuum and quantify the impacts on ecosystem services. Within the SOILPROM project, a PhD position is available joint with the Meteorology and Air Quality group (MAQ), focussing on the soil-atmosphere interface and dealing with field measurements and atmospheric modelling.
In this PhD project, you will specifically focus on the environmental fate of microplastics and pesticides. Your research involves designing field campaigns for measuring soil wind erosion and dust transport and associated pollutants in two Dutch case study sites of the SOILPROM project. Using data collected, you will develop a physically based dust module within the open-source Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) MicroHH model. With this advanced model, the soil-atmosphere interface will be studied in detail to assess the impact of soil wind erosion on emission and atmospheric transport of pollutants. You will first carry out high resolution field scale simulations to compare model results to fine-scale field observations. Once validated, you will use larger spatial domains to investigate the transport of particulate phase pesticides and microplastics to offsite areas. Your work will also involve pesticide and microplastic analysis by conducting chemical experiments in the lab under guidance of qualified staff.
Data on concentration and distribution of soil pollutants, especially emerging pollutants such as microplastics, are scarce. Therefore, this PhD position provides you with a great opportunity to work on an emerging research topic within an interdisciplinary team. Your project is also linked to a recently funded NWO Plastic Aerosol project, and collaboration with another PhD candidate appointed through the sister project is foreseen. The proposed position offers potential connections and collaborations with 12 project partners across Europe as well as with on-going PhD students within the two chairgroups that are working on soil pollution and/or atmospheric modelling, guaranteeing an engaging and dynamic working environment.

Your duties and responsibilities include:

• conducting field measurements for wind-driven transport of soil pollutants including microplastics and pesticides;
• developing and validating a high-resolution atmospheric model for pesticides and microplastics;
• conducting chemical lab experiments for analysing pesticides and microplastics in soil and dust samples;
• publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals;
• disseminating project results to stakeholders and scientific community through workshops.

Wageningen University & Research offers excellent terms of employment. A few highlights from our Collective Labour Agreement include:

• Partially paid parental leave;
• working hours that can be discussed and arranged so that they allow for the best possible work-life balance;
• the option to accrue additional compensation / holiday hours by working more, up to 40 hours per week;
• there is a strong focus on vitality and you can make use of the sports facilities available on campus for a small fee;
• a fixed December bonus of 8.3%;
• excellent pension scheme.

In addition to these first-rate employee benefits, you will receive a fully funded PhD position and you will be offered a course program tailored to your needs and the research team.
The gross salary for the first year is € 2.770 - per month rising to € 3.539,- in the fourth year in according to the Collective Labour Agreements for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU) (scale P). This is based on a full-time working week of 38 hours. We offer a temporary contract for 18 months which will be extended for the duration of the project if you perform well.
There are plenty of options for personal initiative in a learning environment, and we provide excellent training opportunities. We are offering a unique position in an international environment with a pleasant and open working atmosphere.
You are going to work at the greenest and most innovative campus in Holland, and at a university that has been chosen as the “Best University” in the Netherlands for the 19th consecutive time.

• conducting field measurements for wind-driven transport of soil pollutants including microplastics and pesticides;
• developing and validating a high-resolution atmospheric model for pesticides and microplastics;
• conducting chemical lab experiments for analysing pesticides and microplastics in soil and dust samples;
• publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals;
• disseminating project results to stakeholders and scientific community through workshops