Utrecht University's Faculty of Geosciences offers education and research concerning the geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and anthroposphere. With a population of 2,500 students (BSc and MSc) and 600 staff, the faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The faculty is organised in four departments: Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, Innovation, Environmental & Energy Sciences, and Human Geography & Urban & Regional Planning.

The Department of Earth Sciences conducts teaching and research across the full range of the solid Earth and environmental Earth sciences, with activities in almost all areas of geology, geochemistry, geophysics, biogeology and hydrogeology. The department hosts an international tenured staff of over 40 scientists and more than 100 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. The research programs in Earth Sciences contribute strongly to Utrecht University's sustainability focus areas of Water & Climate, Energy & Resources, and Smart Materials.

The seismology group at Utrecht University is seeking a motivated and enthusiastic candidate for a PhD position commencing not later than 1st of October 2013. The position will be part of an interdisciplinary project aimed at constraining the Earth's 3-D density structure that drives convective motion in the mantle. Harnessing modern high-performance computing resources, the research will focus on the development and application of novel tomographic techniques that combine information from seismic, gravimetric and mineralogical data.

The project will involve close collaboration with ETH Zurich, with regular visits being an integral part of the PhD. The position will allow the candidate to develop expertise in a wide range of fields, including computational seismology, numerical modelling, high performance computing and thermodynamic modelling. Candidates with a strong background in quantitative natural sciences, and an interest in deep Earth structure, are encouraged to apply.

The position is of 4 years' duration and will be funded by the NWO (Dutch Science Foundation). The position will be supervised by Dr Andreas Fichtner, Dr Laura Cobden and Prof. Jeannot Trampert.

Qualifications:

Candidates should have, or expect to have before start of the project, a Masters degree in Geophysics, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, or any related quantitative field. Fluency in both written and spoken English is essential.

Terms of employment:

The successful candidate will be offered a full-time PhD position, at first for one year. Contingent on a (yearly) satisfactory performance this may be extended to a total period of four years, with the specific intent that it results in a doctorate within this period. The first evaluation will take place approximately after 6 months of employment, the second after 9 months. After the 9 months evaluation the decision will be made whether an extension of the contract to the maximum period of 4 years will be offered to the employee.

Employment conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement of the Dutch Universities. The gross monthly salary starts at € 2,062.- in the first year and increases to € 2,638.- in the fourth year, and is supplemented by a holiday allowance of 8% per year and a year-end bonus of 8.3% (salary level 1-1-2013). We also offer a pension scheme, a health insurance allowance and flexible employment conditions.

Further details:

Informal enquiries and applications may be sent to a.fichtner@uu.nl. You may also wish to visit the website of the Institute of Earth Sciences: http://www.geo.uu.nl/ivau.

How to apply:

Visit http://www.geo.uu.nl/vacancies, find the equivalent of this advertisement and fill in the application form. Please, attach your motivation for the position, a statement of your research and teaching interests, a curriculum vitae, and the names and contact addresses of at least two referees (with e-mail contact addresses).

Applications are accepted until the position is filled, but we prefer to receive your application before May 4, 2013. We seek to appoint as soon as possible thereafter and ultimately by October 1, 2013.