The Department of Physical Geography at Georg-August University of Göttingen is seeking a Research assistant / PhD student
Your tasks
- in the DFG-funded tandem research project “Desert Pavements: Interactions with Pedogenic and Microbial Processes”, you will be the PhD candidate focusing on soil hydrology, resulting landscape water fluxes, and pedogenesis;
- you will collaborate closely with a second early career researcher, who will be located at the GFZ Potsdam and will focus on microbial processes in the same soils; together, the two of you will explore mutual relationships between relief, desert pavements, landscape water fluxes, spatial patterns of pedogenesis and soil properties, and microbial communities;
- with support from your supervisors, you will publish your results in three papers in international peer-reviewed journals.
Table of Content
Summary
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Benefits
- An exciting PhD project is waiting for you, aiming to shed light on landscape water fluxes and soil processes in desert soils of southern Namibia, including several field campaigns, measurements in the field (eg, soil moisture/temperature, infiltration rates, surface runoff, eroded sediment load in surface runoff), laboratory analyzes (eg, soil organic carbon fractions, pedogenic iron, carbonates, exchangeable cations, soluble salts), as well as soil thin section preparation and analysis for determining spatial differences in pedogenesis, soil structure, surface crusts and vesicular horizons;
- You will participate in the prestigious PhD program Geography of the Georg-August University School of Science (GAUSS) under joint supervision by an interdisciplinary team of three experienced researchers;
- You will be a member of the Physical Geography Department at the University of Göttingen, where your new international colleagues and friends are looking forward to welcome you into the team;
- You will be located on the North Campus of the University of Göttingen, in a nice and green surrounding, with a brand-new canteen, not far from the university's sports facilities; the medieval city center with its pubs and bistros, and an atmosphere characterized by the high proportion of students among the city's population, can be reached in 10 minutes by bike.
Requirements
- You hold a master's degree in geography, geoecology, soil science or a related field, with a good to very good grade;
- You have profound knowledge in soil hydrology and pedogenesis;
- You are prepared to conduct extended fieldwork under basic field conditions (staying in tents, with showers and toilets provided), together with an interdisciplinary team, with which you share living, cooking, and research work;
- You have strong soil-analytical skills and enjoy doing laboratory analyzes in a very clean and accurate manner;
- You are able to work independently, but also in a team, and you have very good organization and communication skills;
- You are enthusiastic and highly motivated, focused on achieving research outcomes, and ready to handle the physical demand of extended fieldwork;
- Excellent written and spoken English skills are essential;
- Experience with extended camping stays in foreign countries, especially in Africa, is advantageous.
Check also:
2026 Fully Funded Humboldt Research Fellowship
2026 Konrad Adenauer Foundation Scholarship
Application Deadline
April 30, 2026How To Apply
- Applications, including the usual supporting documents, can be submitted until April 30, 2026 in the form of a single PDF document to the secretary of the department, Ms. Dörte Dede: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Department of Physical Geography, Goldschmidtstr. 5, 37077 Göttingen, Germany, E-mail: [email protected].
For more information, kindly visit the Universität Göttingen webpage.
