Five doctoral researchers in coastal biodiversity and carbon cycling

The CoastClim Biodiversity PhD Collegium at the University of Helsinki's Tvärminne Zoological Station recruits five doctoral researchers whose complementary projects test how species composition, functional traits, interactions and community change regulate coastal carbon cycling, and whether healthy and degraded coastal ecosystems differ in how biodiversity controls carbon production, storage, transformation and release. The projects cover SCUBA-based biodiversity manipulation and benthic ecosystem metabolism (main supervisor Alf Norkko); temporal biodiversity change, novel communities and non-native species, combining long-term datasets with field and laboratory work (Laura Kauppi); functional traits, bioturbation and sediment biogeochemistry (Anna Villnäs); warming, hypoxia and reoxygenation as interacting stressors in laboratory incubations and mesocosms (Joanna Norkko); and pelagic and microbial biodiversity, phytoplankton and climate-active compounds linked to the ICOS flux-tower footprint (Aleksandra Lewandowska).

CoastClim is a collaboration between the University of Helsinki and Stockholm University. The four-year positions are funded by the Walter and Andrée de Nottbeck Foundation and start in early 2027; the doctoral researchers are employed by the University of Helsinki and paid about €2,400 per month in total, 20% as salary and 80% as a personal grant. A six-month trial period applies, within which appointees must obtain the right to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki.

The application deadline is 7 December 2026 at 23:59 Finnish time.

Background matched to the chosen project: benthic ecology and experimental design with underwater fieldwork (scientific diving desirable); statistics and ecological time series; benthic ecology or sediment biogeochemistry; experimental marine ecology or aquatic biogeochemistry; or microalgal or microbial ecology with statistics or bioinformatics. One PDF with a motivation letter (maximum two pages, stating the position), a CV with publications and two letters of recommendation with referee contact details.