The section of Forest & Landscape Ecology at the Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management (IGN) invites applicants for a PhD fellowship in soil N₂O fluxes and processes in temperate forest ecosystems.

The project is part of the research project ‘Predicting the climate change mitigation potential of new forest landscapes in Denmark’, which is financed by the Independent Research Fund Denmark.

About the Project.

Forests are key ecosystems in Denmark for sequestering atmospheric CO₂, conserving water resources, and supporting biodiversity.

As Denmark aims to reach climate neutrality by 2045, afforestation is a central component of the Green Tripartite to achieve this goal.

A total of 250 000 ha of new forests will be planted over the next two decades, profoundly transforming the Danish landscape.

To reach these ambitious goals, we must understand forest ecosystem functioning, particularly balancing carbon and nitrogen cycling, in the transition from agriculture to forest.

The combined benefits of afforestation for climate change and N (i.e., reduced GHG emissions as well as decreased N pollution) vary with tree species, climate, and soil conditions, and management practices.

In Denmark, especially, legacy effects of agricultural management (e.g., fertilization, liming, soil disturbance, and homogenization) have created a novel state of soil N cycling, in which forests may grow faster and sequester more carbon (C).

However, this may increase nitrogen leaching and soil N2O emissions, partially offsetting enhanced C sequestration.

Thus, large uncertainties exist regarding changes in the nitrogen balance, particularly losses of gaseous N, along land cover transitions, partly due to limited focus on N fluxes compared to C fluxes in new forests.

About the PhD position.

The PhD position aims to fill this knowledge gap by addressing how tree species, soil types, and forest management practices impact net fluxes of greenhouse gases from the forest soil, focusing primarily on the strong greenhouse gas N₂O, but also including CH₄ and CO₂.

The project involves working with existing unpublished datasets from Danish forests, fieldwork at selected forest sites in Denmark with different tree species (conifers and broadleaves) and land use legacies (agriculture and forest), and doing laboratory mesocosm experiments.

You will be measuring greenhouse gas fluxes using advanced methods for gas detection in the field and laboratory, including stable isotope techniques, and deploy mathematical and statistical tools to analyze the data.

Key responsibilities in the PhD project are:

• Analyse existing unpublished data sets on N2O and other greenhouse gases for Danish forests
• Plan and execute field work in Denmark during your PhD project
• Plan and execute laboratory studies of soil greenhouse gas dynamics
• Attend PhD courses (a total of 30 ECTS)
• Write scientific articles and your PhD thesis
• Disseminate your research at the institute and conferences
• Research visit to Land-CRAFT at Aarhus University
• Work for the department (teaching and supervision of students)

Qualification Requirements.

• Looking for candidates within the field(s) of soil, biogeochemistry, or environmental science, and it is expected that you are experienced in data analysis and the use of R or a similar programming language.
• Fieldwork experience is required, and it is an advantage that you have demonstrated prior knowledge of handling advanced equipment for greenhouse gas studies.
• Applicants must be fluent in both written and spoken English to a level sufficiently high for communication and dissemination at an academic level.

Application and Assessment Procedure

Your application, including all attachments, must be in English and submitted electronically through the official application portal. 

Please include:

• Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
• Brief description of possible research ideas and relevant methods (max. one page, cited literature excluded) related to this specific project
• Curriculum vitae including information about your education, experience, language skills, and other skills relevant to the position
• Original diplomas for Bachelor’s or Master’s and transcripts of records in the original language, including an authorized English translation if issued in a language other than English or Danish. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor is accepted.
• Publication list (if possible)
• Reference letters (if available)

Application deadline:

• The deadline for applications is 16 August 2026, 23:59 GMT +2.
• You can read about the recruitment process at https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/recruitment-process/.
• Interviews with selected candidates are expected to be held in week 38.

Questions.

For specific information about the PhD fellowship, please contact the principal supervisor.

• Jesper Riis Christiansen (IGN, jrc@ign.ku.dk)

General information about PhD study at the Faculty of SCIENCE is available at the PhD School’s website: https://www.science.ku.dk/phd/.

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