Nominations for an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship in modelling terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity responses to environmental and socioeconomic changes

Are you an excellent early career researcher from abroad, interested in obtaining a Humboldt Research Fellowship to perform research in Germany? Do your research interests include modelling of (large regional/global) land ecosystem processes, climate change, land-use change and socio-ecological modelling? Do you have skills in the analysis of large data sets, modelling or code development?

We are seeking candidates to be nominated for a Humboldt Research Fellowship funded under the new Henriette Herz-Scouting-Programme of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Humboldt Research Fellowships allow successful candidates to pursue an independent programme of research aligned to the research interests of the host organisation. These prestigious Fellowships are held for up to 24-months.

Candidates must meet the following formal requirements:

• Doctorate completed within the last 12 years
• Above-average publication record commensurate with career level
• Have not undertaken post-doctoral research stays nor completed degrees/doctorates in Germany
• Do not hold German nationality
• Good knowledge of German or English, depending on research proposal
• Availability: the research fellowship should commence within 12 months of being granted
• No previous applications submitted to the Foundation; no previous sponsorship in any of the Foundation’s fellowship programmes
• Initial preference will be given to female applicants

The research will be conducted at KIT’s Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research Division (IMK-IFU) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany). In addition to the formal requirements specified by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation we seek candidates who are interested in developing their research along the lines of the research groups Global Land Ecosystem Modelling (https://lemg.imkifu.kit.edu/) and Land Use Change and Climate Research (https://landchange.imk-ifu.kit.edu/). Our activities include:

• Developing, evaluating and applying process-based models of land ecosystems and their coupling to atmospheric, land-use and biodiversity models;
• Utilising different observational data streams (satellite remote sensing, field plot data, statistics) in novel ways to enhance process understanding of ecosystem or land-use change processes and to test models;
• Providing quantitative analysis related to changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services in the context of the groups’ modelling work.

More information is available at: https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/apply/sponsorshipprogrammes/henriette-herz-scouting-programme and: https://www.humboldtfoundation.de/en/apply/sponsorship-programmes/humboldt-research-fellowship

The first deadline for applications is February 15 2021, with a second call expected later this year.

Applications for nominations should be sent to Prof. Dr. Almut Arneth, Almut.arneth@kit.edu. Applications should include: a letter of motivation (max. one page) that provides a short self-assessment as to why you fit to the Henriette Herz-Programme, and a description of your research interests and skills in context of the broad research areas outlined above; a C.V. and degree certificates as well as publication list. Documents should be sent as a single pdf.