PhD Position

Closing date: June 2023

Biogeochemical modelling of soil organic and inorganic carbon

We are looking for highly qualified and motivated students to join our environmental engineering research group in the School of Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney for a full-time research project leading to a PhD degree. The project is a collaboration with the Sydney Institute of Agriculture (SIA).

The project is broadly covering the biogeochemistry of soil carbon, but emphasizes the interactions between the organic and inorganic components under environmental constraints. The aim of the project is to develop and use computational tools to model organic and inorganic soil carbon compounds, water and heat flow, and understand the mechanisms of their interactions. The project may cover various cross-disciplinary topics, including environmental engineering, agricultural sciences, hydrological processes, and land and soil management. The project can have wide applications including in soil carbon dynamics, nutrient cycles, soil physics, biogeochemistry, sustainability, and climate change.

The PhD candidate must hold a Bachelor degree (Honours or Honours Class 1 equivalent) or a Master degree. The ideal candidate has good proficiency in programming languages and computational skills. Additional non-prerequite skills may include a background in theoretical or computational biogeochemistry, eco/hydrology, or soil physics, and be willing to learn mathematical concepts needed to develop advanced computational tools including biology, chemistry, and chemical kinetics. The applicant must be willing to undertake occasional high workload to meet milestones and project deadline commitments. International applicants are welcome.

General information about the scholarship is available at

https://www.sydney.edu.au/scholarships/b/faculty-of-engineering-research-support-scholarship.html

If successful, the scholarship will cover both tuition fees and living expenses (allowance). This allowance is valued at $37,207 per annum (tax exempt and indexed annually) for up to three years with a possibility of one semester's extension for PhD students, subject to satisfactory progress.

Applicants must submit in one single PDF file: (1) one-page cover letter expressing the interest in undertaking this project, (2) the curriculum vitae, and (3) transcripts. The PDF file must be named as: YOURFIRSTNAME_YOURFAMILYNAME_SOC_2023.pdf, and email subject must be ‘SOC 2023’. Applications that do not follow this format may not be considered without further notice.

Application must be sent to: federico.maggi@sydney.edu.au