The Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN) is a member of the Leibniz Association and is based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. SGN conducts natural history research with almost 800 employees and research institutions in six federal states. Within SGN, the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F) explores the interactions between biodiversity, climate, and society.

In the context of the DFG funded project “Consumption-based accounts of land-use change related carbon emissions – CoBALUCE”, the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung invites applications for a

PostDoc position (m/f)

Trade, carbon emissions and land-use change (100%)

Globally, areas under agricultural and forestry use are still expanding. International markets increasingly drive this expansion, which constitutes a major cause of carbon emission and biodiversity loss. Investigating how consumption in one place is telecoupled to production and its impacts elsewhere is paramount to devise more sustainable production and consumption systems. The project investigates ways to establish consistent global production- and
consumption-based accounts of carbon emissions related to deforestation and other land-use changes. These emissions will be attributed to biomass products (food, feed, materials, energy).

The project is conducted together with the Institute of Social Ecology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. The position at SBiK-F will be at the interface of ecology, geography and economics. The candidate will focus on advancing methods to capture production, trade, and consumption of biomass products and to attribute land-use change and environmental impacts to different consumption activities.

Your tasks:

• Compare and advance existing approaches for a consumption-based accounting of
  agricultural and forestry products
• Develop attribution schemes to assign environmental load (e.g., land-use change
  emissions, biodiversity loss) to production and consumption activities
• Conduct statistical analyses of global data
• Contribute to project management (strategic planning, meetings, reporting)
• Publish results in international journals in cooperation with the project team
  Your profile:
• PhD degree in interdisciplinary environmental or sustainability science, e.g. industrial
  ecology, social ecology, ecological economics, physical geography, land system science
  or another relevant field
• Programming skills (R, Matlab, Python or similar) and familiarity in working with large
  datasets and their statistical analysis
• Experience in environmental accounting methods such as environmental footprinting, lifecycle
  assessment, multi-region input-output analysis, material-flow accounting,
  greenhouse-gas accounting; preferably with a link to land-use issues
• Excellent publication record
• Excellent English language skills
• Interested and preferably experience in working in an interdisciplinary environment

What is awaiting you?

• An interesting task in a dynamic team of researchers in an international research group
• The possibility to build and extend your network with scientists at an international level
  and to attend national and international conferences
• Flexible working hours – annual special payment – company pension scheme – Senckenberg ID card for free entry in museums in Frankfurt

Salary and benefits are according to a full-time public service position in Germany (TV-H E 13, 100 %). Employment shall start as soon as possible and will be initially limited to 30 months. The Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung supports equal opportunity of men and women and therefore strongly invites women to apply. Equally qualified handicapped applicants will be given preference. The place of work is in Frankfurt am Main at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F).

Please send your application, mentioning the reference for this job offer (ref. #11-18015) before December 15th, 2018 by e-mail (attachment in a single pdf document) and including a cover letter describing your motivation to apply, a detailed CV, relevant credentials and certificates, two relevant publications, and contact details of two potential references to:

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung
Senckenberganlage 25
60325 Frankfurt am Main

E-Mail: recruiting@senckenberg.de

For scientific inquiries, contact Dr. Thomas Kastner, thomas.kastner@senckenberg.de

http://www.senckenberg.de/files/content/stellenausschreibungen/ref11-18015_postdoc.pdf