PhD Position: Microbiology of Arctic Freshwater Lakes

1. Introduction

Are you fascinated by microbe-environment interactions and do you enjoy working in a multidisciplinary team? Join CLIMET as a PhD candidate in environmental microbiology to study methane, microbes, and their environment in Greenland’s freshwater lakes.

2. Job description

Methane is an important greenhouse gas whose atmospheric concentration is rising rapidly. It is produced industrially through fossil fuel usage and agriculture, and naturally in lakes and wetlands. In natural systems, methane is consumed by various groups of microorganisms before it even reaches the atmosphere, the so-called ’microbial methane filter’. We currently have little knowledge of the factors that stimulate or inhibit the methane filter and can therefore not predict how it will function in the face of global warming.

The area around Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland harbours thousands of lakes that are not interconnected. Each lake is different, making this area an ideal living laboratory to study the factors that influence the microbial methane filter.

In this NWO-funded consortium which consists of microbiologists, paleo ecologists, ecologists, and limnologists from Radboud University, NIOO-KNAW, and Utrecht University, we will study methane emissions in these lakes on different spatial and temporal scales: from enzymes to atmosphere and from the current day back to the Medieval Climate Anomaly. As the microbiology PhD candidate on this project, you will perform fieldwork and labwork to identify the key microbial players in this ecosystem through metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and exometabolomics. You will then enrich and isolate these organisms and characterise their metabolism and enzymes. There will be opportunities for collaboration and interdisciplinary training in both the Department of Microbiology and the consortium.

You will communicate your results at national and international meetings and in scientific journals. As a member of the Department of Microbiology, you will be expected to contribute 10% of your working time to teaching in the BSc Biology programme or the MSc Microbiology specialisation track. All PhD candidates at the Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES) participate in the RIBES Graduate School and have the opportunity to receive training, develop their personal and professional skills, and prepare for their future career.

Would you like to learn more about what it’s like to pursue a PhD at Radboud University? Visit the page about working as a PhD candidate. 

3. Profile

• You have either a Master's degree in microbiology or a similar degree plus microbiology experience.
• You have experience with bioinformatics and/or -omics data analysis or a desire to learn these skills.
• You have good communication skills and enjoy working in a multidisciplinary team.
• You have a good command of oral and written English. 

4. We are

This project will be carried out in the Functional Metabolomics group led by Robert Jansen, which uses untargeted metabolomics to discover the function of uncharacterised enzymes and metabolites in microbes. The group is embedded in the Department of Microbiology of the Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES).

The Department of Microbiology comprises an enthusiastic and devoted team of researchers who closely collaborate in a flat organisational structure. Harmonious and productive collaboration and synergy are key to our success. The department has state-of-the-art equipment for sequencing and data analysis, light and electron microscopy, metabolomics, a large bioreactor facility as well as infrastructure for aerobic and anaerobic microbiology, and facilities for biogeochemical, molecular and physiological work. Our mission is to conduct research at the forefront of microbial ecology and physiology and biogeochemistry with the main aim of understanding the diversity of microorganisms responsible for the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen and carbon, and host-microbe interactions. We have expertise in microbial metagenomics, microbial metabolomics, environmental microbiology, microbial ecophysiology, microbial cell biology and biochemistry, microbial biotechnology, geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry.

The Department of Microbiology is part of the Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES). RIBES aims to perform world-leading research to understand the natural environment’s response to human impact. Research at RIBES encompasses three major groups of organisms (microorganisms, plants and animals) and spans nearly all levels of biological organisation. The institute is organised in four department: Ecology, Environmental Science, Plant & Animal Biology, and Microbiology.

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract (1.0 FTE) of 1.5 years, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, your contract will be extended by 2.5 years (4-year contract).     
• You will receive a starting salary of €2,901 gross per month based on a 38-hour working week, which will increase to €3,707 in the fourth year (salary scale P).
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. 
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. 

6. Practical information and applying

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Robert Jansen. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.

The first interviews will take place on Tuesday 6 May. You will preferably start your employment on 1 October 2025.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates.