At the University of Vienna more than 10,000 personalities work together towards answering the big questions of the future. Around 7,500 of them do research and teaching, around 2,900 work in administration and organisation. We are looking for a

YOUR PERSONAL SPHERE OF INFLUENCE:

We are looking for a highly motivated and creative PhD student to explore fundamental questions of planetary habitability related to Snowball Earth or Earth-like exoplanets. Possible topics could be the mechanisms that allow or inhibit water belt states as alternative scenarios for Snowball Earth, the impact of clouds, aerosols and hazes on the climate and habitability of Earth-like exoplanets, or the development of a new radiation scheme for climate model simulations with high atmospheric carbon dioxide. Whatever the topic, you will develop and run climate model simulations and combine the modeling work with theory and mechanistic understanding. You will have the opportunity to run global simulations with km resolution on some of the fastest supercomputers available for climate science. You will also benefit from our long-term collaborations on Snowball Earth and exoplanets with the Department of Astrophysics of the University of Vienna, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Peking University.
Rather than assigning a fixed topic from the start, we aim to define the research focus together, giving you ample freedom to shape your own project.
You will work closely with both Aiko Voigt and Blaž Gasparini, as well as other members of our team.

Active participation in research and teaching, which means:

• You conduct research on the topic of your thesis.
• You contribute to the further development of ICON or CESM as needed for your work.
• You disseminate your research through high-quality peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences.
• You teach independently within the scope of the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.
• You help to build and shape the positive, collaborative culture of our team and the department.
• You become an active member of the doctoral school “Vienna International School of Earth and Space Sciences”.