PhD Position in Environmental/Atmospheric Chemistry

The University of Bern is the third largest university in Switzerland. The position offers a world-class environment with an outstanding infrastructure.

Carbonaceous particulate matter comprises a large fraction of the atmospheric aerosol and, therefore, badly affects our climate and human health. Measures that aim at improving air quality require that emission sources are apportioned and quantified individually. However, this endeavor has succeeded only for a small fraction of the carbonaceous particulate matter so far. The determination of the long-lived radioisotope 14C (radiocarbon) has become a unique and powerful tool for source apportionment, especially in combination with complementary techniques such as aerosol mass spectrometry.

Tasks

You will perform such analyses on filter samples of ambient aerosols collected in Switzerland, Antarctica and other locations. These results will contribute to the understanding of the sources of carbonaceous aerosols and, thus, improve current measures of air-quality improvement.

Education

• You have a master degree in chemistry or natural sciences. 
• You are an excellent scientist with creative ideas, fascinated to develop and apply analytical methods. 
• You have strong technical skills and an affinity for multidisciplinary cooperation. 
• You are fluent in spoken and written English. A good level in German is a plus.

Entrance upon

As soon as possible.

Remarks

Please send your application, which should include a motivation letter, CV, a PDF file of the Master's thesis, an academic transcript of your studies and contact details for at least one academic reference to soenke.szidat@unibe.ch.

Application deadline

3rd of May 2023

Contact address
Prof. Dr. Sönke Szidat
Laboratory for the Analysis of Radiocarbon with AMS (LARA)
Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences &
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research
University of Bern
Freiestrasse 3
CH-3012 Bern
http://www.14c.unibe.ch

To apply, go here.