Whenever there are any new positions available at the ICOS or related communities we will announce it on this page.
If you have information about related open vacancies, please email ICOS Communications at icos-comms (at) icos-ri.eu
Open positions in the ICOS field
Postdoctoral fellow in earth observation, Lund University, Sweden (deadline 17th November 2025)
Wildfire frequency and severity is expected to increase in the future due to anthropogenic climate change. With the combined effects of climate change, an increasing human population and the associated land use changes, it is fundamental to understand the patterns, drivers and effects of vegetation fires in order to prevent fires and reduce harm to ecosystems and societies. Collecting data on fire, biodiversity and socio-economic variables is therefore imperative to better understand the feedbacks, tipping points and regime shifts related to the Anthropocene.
Land abandonment describes the discontinuing of agricultural activities, which often leads to subsequent recovery of natural vegetation and sometimes increased fire risk. The causes behind land abandonment are complex and include biophysical as well as political and socio-economic drivers, such as unsuitable climate conditions, drought, small field sizes, government policies, and migration. Understanding these drivers along with land abandonment effects on ecosystems and societies is important for sustainable land use.
This project aims to 1) classify and study patterns and trends in vegetation fires, 2) map landscape fires and burn scars at a detailed level and 3) study overall patterns in land abandonment and recultivation, to allow for both general and detailed studies of the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation fires and land abandonment, their drivers and their impacts on the surrounding environment. The project is partly funded through to the Strategic Research Area Biodiversity and Ecosystems in a Changing Climate (BECC) at Lund University.
Work duties
The main duties involved in a post-doctoral position is to conduct research. Teaching may also be included, but up to no more than 20% of working hours. The position includes the opportunity for three weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning.
These tasks will be performed:
- Analysis of time series of active fire and burned area data together with ancillary datasets (e.g. biomass, land cover, population)
- Classification of burned area and active fires using medium resolution data from the Landsat and Sentinel programs
- Spatiotemporal analyses of fire behaviour in different contexts
- Analysis of land cover time series
- Conceptualisation of land abandonment
- Detailed classification of medium- and high-resolution satellite image
- Publication of high-quality research papers in international journal
- Communication of research results at conferences and workshops
- Actively seeking external research funding
- Communication and outreach outside of academic circles
- Administration related to the work duties listed above
Deadline for applications is 17th November 2025.
Postdoctoral and Doctoral Researcher, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), University of Helsinki, Finland (deadline 31st October 2025)
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR) is a multi- and interdisciplinary research unit based in physics, chemistry, meteorology, forest sciences, environmental sciences and social sciences in the University of Helsinki. INAR aims to strengthen the internationally leading, integrated multidisciplinary research and education environment for atmospheric and Earth system science and to feed in scientific results for the national and international environment and climate policy. It performs multiscale research from molecular to global scale and focuses on climate change, air quality, biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem processes. INAR has INAR Finland Network partners in Finnish Meteorological Institute, University of Eastern 31Finland and Tampere University of Technology.
Faculty of Science invites applications for POST-DOCTORAL AND DOCTORAL RESEARCHERS TO THE RESTART PROJECT starting earliest November 2025 for a full-time fixed-term contract of two to four years depending on the position.
The hired researchers will work as part of the computational aerosol physics and urban meteorology groups at INAR. The computational aerosol physics group uses computational and theoretical methods to understand cluster and particle formation for atmospherically relevant molecules. The urban meteorology group studies urban atmosphere, air quality and greenhouse gas cycle using a wide range of theoretical and experimental methods.
RESTART project studies the future urban chemical cocktail by combining state-of-the-art molecular-level simulations on recently discovered aerosol-forming organic compounds, automated reaction mechanism generators, and high-resolution local scale air quality modelling. The project is funded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. Research tasks include
- Developing future emission scenarios for various urban environments;
- Updating and applying reaction mechanism generators describing urban air chemistry;
- Developing volatility estimates relevant for urban chemistry;
- Developing quantum chemistry-based approaches for organic new-particle formation;
- Evaluating and advancing modelling capabilities of the PALM-SALSA model system in simulating urban air quality;
- Mapping changes urban air quality in selected cities.
The applicant should
- Hold a doctoral or master degree in relevant field such as chemistry, physics or meteorology;
- Have good programming skills and interested in code development;
- Have excellent skills in spoken and written English;
Deadline for applications is 31st October 2025.
PhD opportunities: AI, Land-Atmosphere interactions, Wildfire/Hydroclimatic risk, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA (deadline 10th November 2025)
The Land Intelligence (LI) lab at The University of Texas at Austin is seeking three fully-funded PhD students (tuition and stipend), starting in the Fall of 2026.
Our lab examines how terrestrial ecosystems interact with human activities and hydroclimatic hazards, with a particular focus on wildfires and land-atmosphere interactions of carbon, water, and energy. We aim to better monitor, predict, and reduce hydroclimatic risks to people and ecosystems by leveraging advances in Artificial Intelligence (e.g., machine learning), Earth observations (e.g., satellite remote sensing, field measurements), and Earth system models. Please see our website for more information.
Students interested in one of the following topics with strong quantitative and programming skills, are encouraged to apply:
- AI: Machine learning, causality inference, foundation models
- Data science: Remote sensing/GIS, geospatial/environmental data science
- Environmental/Earth system science: wildfire or hydroclimatic hazard/impact/risk modeling, terrestrial ecosystem modeling, carbon-water-energy cycles, human-environment interactions, land-atmosphere interaction.
We encourage research directions beyond those listed, but within the lab’s overall research umbrella.
Applicants must meet the UT Austin Graduate school’s admission requirements. Successful candidates have opportunities to work with collaborators at Stanford University, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and other leading research institutions.
Deadline for applications is 10th November 2025.