PhD position: modelling the biodiversity impacts of non-food biomass

Application deadline: 1 May 2022

About the position

We have a vacancy for a PhD candidate in the Industrial Ecology Programme at the Department of Energy and Process Engineering.

The appointment has a duration of three years with an anticipated start date in September 2022. The appointment is financed through the Horizon Europe project “Biodiversity and trade: mitigating the impacts of non-food biomass global supply chains” (BAMBOO).

BAMBOO is a project with partners in the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Peru and Tanzania. The project aims to improve the tools to assess the impacts of international trade of non-food biomass on biodiversity, to help policymakers, retailers and other stakeholders to assess and mitigate their impacts. We plan to develop models to quantify biodiversity impacts using four indicators: species richness, mean species abundance, functional diversity and ecosystem services and we will use a combination of existing models and newly developed ones. To improve the representation of trade, we will create a new, hybrid multiregional input-output (MRIO) model based on the well-known EXIOBASE and the biomass-specific FABIO models.

The focus of this PhD is the development of models for quantifying the impacts of ocean acidification, seabed damage and overexploitation on species richness and investigate how impacts on ecosystem services can be included in the models. The project includes collaboration with Leiden University in the Netherlands, ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency.

We have a vacancy for a PhD candidate in the Industrial Ecology Programme at the Department of Energy and Process Engineering.

IndEcol is a pioneer in the development and application of industrial ecology methods, as well as the use of large data sets and scientific computing in industrial ecology. We focus on understanding resource use and environmental pollution associated with human activities, assessing the environmental aspects of different technologies and modeling society’s use of materials. IndEcol combines world-class competence in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Input-Output analysis (I/O), and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) with scientists’ contribution to IPCC assessment reports, the International Resource Panel, active participation to the UNEP/SETAC Life-Cycle Initiative, and numerous publications featured in high-ranked journals. IndEcol hosts its own International MSc program and contributes to NTNU’s engineering education- The research team consisting of seven faculty members, the Industrial Ecology Digital Laboratory, and about 50 researchers, post.docs and PhDs.

The Head of Department is Professor Terese Løvås. The position’s supervisor is Professor Francesca Verones, the co-supervisor is Dr. Konstantin Stadler.

Duties of the position

Modelling impacts of ocean acidification, seabed damage and overexploitation on a global scale
Work on the inclusion of ecosystem services within the framework of life cycle impact assessment
Deriving spatially differentiated characterization factors
Dissemination of results in scholarly journals, at international conferences and for the general public
Integrate the results into the BAMBOO project by linking impacts and characterization to the hybrid MRIO model and contribute to the BAMBOO deliverables

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About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must follow the application. Please note that applications are only evaluated based on the information available on the application deadline. You should ensure that your application shows clearly how your skills and experience meet the criteria which are set out above.

The application must include:

CV, certificates and diplomas
transcripts and diplomas (original and Englis translation) for bachelor’s and master’s degrees. If you have not completed the master’s degree, you must submit a confirmation that the master’s thesis has been submitted.
A copy of the master’s thesis. If you recently have submitted your master’s thesis, you can attach a draft of the thesis. Documentation of a completed master’s degree must be presented before taking up the position.
In addition to the cover letter, a document outlining your motivation for the position and how you meet the required/preferred criteria for the position. We very much appreciate links to open-source repositories highlighting previous work.
Name and address of three referees
If you have publications or other relevant research work

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor’s and master’s education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from NOKUT, please attach this as well.

Joint works will be considered. If it is difficult to identify your contribution to joint works, you must attach a brief description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates.

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA.

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 29 March 2022. More information.

Ocean Acidification