The Faculty for Mathematics and Natural Sciences of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Geography Department, has an open position for a

W1 Professorship in Human Geography and Global Transitions (with tenure track to W3)

to be filled as soon as possible.

The Geography Department seeks to fill the position of a Juniorprofessorship (W1, 100 %) with a tenure track to a permanent professorship (W3 level, 100 %). In order to verify whether the individual performance meets the requirements of a permanent employment, an evaluation process will be opened not later than after four years. Tenure track professors at HU Berlin are expected to carry out research and teaching, as well as be active on various university committees, in the promotion of young scientists and acquire leadership and management skills. The concrete requirements from the framework catalogue [https://hu.berlin/tenuretrack_katalog] will be specified during the appointment process.

We seek a candidate with an outstanding record on Global Transitions and Changes (research, third-party funding, Awards). The candidate should have a PhD in Geography or a social science discipline. The candidate should explore global socioeconomic changes within either economic geography, development geography, or demographic changes. A strong expertise in quantitative research methods is a must. We seek individuals with the vision and ability to build an innovative internationally recognized and interdisciplinary research program. We expect active collaboration with other research groups at the department, at HU Berlin, and beyond. A commitment to innovative teaching and to an inclusive institutional culture is required.

We offer a tenure track position in an interdisciplinary, international, young and vibrant department with an excellent scientific and education track record. The successful candidate will join a department focused on globalization, climate change, land use change, sustainability science, urban studies and human-environment relations. The salary will be according to W1 level and, after successful tenure evaluation, W3 level. Employment at HU Berlin offers all benefits of the German public service system, including health insurance, an attractive pension plan, and social benefits. Standard professorial duties include research (incl. advising PhD and postdoc researchers), teaching (incl. examinations and thesis supervision), and administration (incl. management and leadership). During the first six years, the professorship will have a reduced teaching load and fewer administrative tasks. The professorship will participate to the same extent as all other professorships in the common pool of staff and department infrastructure. Berlin is Germany’s largest city with an inspiring metropolitan flair, a vibrant cultural scene, large green spaces, and a family-friendly environment.

HU Berlin aims to increase the proportion of women in teaching and research and strongly encourages qualified female academics to apply. We aim to internationalize our department and particularly encourage people from abroad with different cultural backgrounds to apply. People with an immigration history are specifically encouraged to apply. The severely disabled applicants with equivalent qualifications will be given preferential consideration. Applicants must meet the legal requirements for professorial appointments in conjunction with § 102c combined with § 102a of the ‘Berliner Hochschulgesetz’

This is a 75% position that includes the completion of a doctoral thesis at the Faculty of Social Sciences (with a focus on “Environment and Sustainable Development” or “Urban and Regional Planning”), as well as teaching assistant duties within the ISE.

Doctoral research should focus on the sustainable development of mountain regions, on a local, regional or transnational scale, in the Global North, the Global South or with a comparative approach.

Themes that may lend themselves to doctoral research include:

• Actors and instruments of cross-border governance ;
• Regional development ;
• Sustainability policies ;
• Social, cultural and identity-related issues linked to the notion of sustainability in mountain regions ;
• Adaptation to climate change ;
• Risk management governance ;
• Landscape management and planning governance and policies ;
• Protection and management of natural and cultural heritage.

Necessary skills and requirements

• Master’s degree in social sciences, humanities or environmental sciences
• French : good command of written English (minimum B2)

Start date

1st August 2025 (or to be agreed)

Contact

The application, including a cover letter, a statement of intent of approximately 500 words describing how the candidate plans to develop the research project, a curriculum vitae, names and contact information ot two references, copies of Master’s degree, copy of Master’s thesis (text) and any other scientific publications deemed relevant for the position. All documents are to be submitted exclusively online at the official website.

For additional information, please contact via email: Prof. Bernard Debarbieux bernard.debarbieux@unige.ch

Additional information

The doctoral student is appointed for an initial period of 2 years; the appointment is renewable for two successive periods, respectively of 2 years and 1 year. The Position is funded by the Department of Public Instruction (DIP) and will include a teaching load of approximately 40%.

The first year serves as a probationary period during which the employment relationship can be terminated with a notice period of 3 months at the end of a month.

Application deadline is 31 March 2025.

Click the “Read more” button below to see the full job description and apply on the official website.

Please note that only candidates nominated by a Government or organization will be considered.

The IPBES Fellowship Programme

The IPBES fellowship programme provides an opportunity for outstanding early-career individuals from all backgrounds and disciplines working on biodiversity and ecosystem services to participate in IPBES assessments. The fellows gain first-hand experience in participating in major multidisciplinary scientific assessments while working with, and being mentored by, leading experts. The programme is an integral part of IPBES’ work on capacity-building, and aims to develop the capacities of fellows in undertaking assessments, thus creating a pool of experts suited for contributing to future assessments and promoting the work of IPBES in their home countries and institutions.

Benefits of being an IPBES fellow

Fellows selected to take part in the programme will participate in the production of one of the chapters of their assessment, taking part in author and chapter meetings alongside other experts undertaking the assessment. Fellows will also be invited to participate in capacity-building workshops bringing together fellows across all ongoing assessments to share experiences and learn about key cross-cutting and assessment specific topics.

Being an IPBES fellow means being part of a multidisciplinary and multicultural group of outstanding early-career individuals that share the ambition to contribute to improving the science-policy interface of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Through the programme, fellows:

• Get hands-on experience in working in multidisciplinary teams to produce major scientific assessments
• Work with, learn from, and get to know internationally leading experts from all over the world
• Learn about the interface between science and policy on biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Receive training and mentoring
• Connect with other outstanding early-career experts  
• Expand their social and professional network
• Get the opportunity to participate in joint projects and publications

What is the role and responsibility of fellows within an assessment?

• Fellows are an integral part of the IPBES assessment chapters and they collaborate with the coordinating lead authors (CLAs) and lead authors (LAs) in developing sections or parts of the chapters
• Fellows receive training to gain in-depth understanding of the IPBES assessment process
• Fellows will be paired up with a mentor for the assessment period
• Fellows are expected to participate in the author meetings and training workshops

Mentorship

As part of the programme, fellows are paired up with a senior expert in their assessment that will act as a mentor for the fellow for the duration of their fellowship. There are no limits on the content of the collaboration between mentors and fellows, and there are a number of examples of fellows and mentors working together on joint projects, publications, and funding applications beyond the scope of their collaboration under the IPBES assessment.

Benefits of hosting an IPBES fellow

The fellowship programme is a great opportunity for organisations to contribute to the work of IPBES. Institutions hosting IPBES fellows directly support the implementation of the IPBES work programme by allowing the fellows to spend up to 15% of their working time on IPBES. The programme also offers an excellent opportunity for organisations seeking to strengthen the capacities of their early-career experts/researchers in working on international biodiversity assessments and contributing to intergovernmental policy processes.

Institutions and organisations that are interested in supporting the fellowship programme can do so by:  

• Nominating their outstanding early-career experts/researchers to participate in IPBES as fellows in response to calls made by the secretariat
• Supporting fellows’ participation in meetings and workshops; and
• Arranging or supporting activities, in collaboration or dialogue with the capacity-building task force, for fellows or alumni

IPBES Fellowship Alumni Network

The IPBES Fellowship Alumni are an important resource for IPBES, both as a pool of experts for upcoming assessments, mentors, and resource persons for new cohorts of fellows, and as ambassadors for IPBES in their local institutions and countries.

Represented in all UN regions, the IPBES Fellowship Alumni represent a community of practice, working together to mobilize resources and expertise to develop cross-cultural collaborations and support IPBES’s mission to strengthen knowledge foundations for better policy through science for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being, and sustainable development.

Support

The fellowship programme is an unpaid scheme in which selected fellows are expected to work pro bono, as all other IPBES experts. Expenses for attending selected meetings will be covered for fellows from developing countries and countries with economies in transition in accordance with UN rules. Fellows from developed countries are expected to cover their own expenses and are encouraged to seek support from their home institutions.

Nomination and selection process

You can read about the process for nomination and selection of IPBES fellows in this document.

Deadline is 28 March 2025. 

The doctoral project will investigate the extent and chronology of the Central European Uplands. Glacial geomorphology will be mapped in remotely-sensed data and will be complemented by geophysical surveying in the field. Quantitative geochronology will include terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides and optically stimulated luminescence, in collaboration with foreign colleagues.

The PhD student will also investigate the processes leading to the asymmetry of glacial modification on different aspects of mountain ranges in central Europe and will participate in numerical glacier modelling. The project will be supervised by Martin Margold at Charles University. Knowledge of glacial geomorphology mapping, quantitative dating methods and field experience are an advantage, as well as maths fluency, coding skills, GIS expertise, and lab experience.

The successful applicants must be able to demonstrate their interest in the research topic, have excellent communication and team-working skills, and they must be naturally self-motivated. They will join an active and diverse international research group in which the working language is English, and principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are part of everyday practice. The position will offer competitive remuneration, allowing for a good standard of living in Prague.

Deadline for applications: 25 March 2025. Start date: 1 October 2025.

Candidates should send their applications, consisting of a motivation letter and CV, to: margold (@) natur.cuni.cz

Informal inquiries are also welcome.

The Department of Ecology at University of Innsbruck seeks a highly motivated candidate with expertise in the field of mountain ecology and ecological modelling. The position is funded within the 3-year Biodiversa+ project EVESNAT (Nature-based Solutions to meet EU Nature Restoration Targets: Evaluating synergies and trade-offs across Ecosystem Services for biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, and resilience and autonomy improvement) starting in 2025. The candidate will be employed at the University of Innsbruck working at the Department of Ecology, Sternwartestrasse 15 in Innsbruck (Austria). The position is available for a flexible starting date as soon as possible after 1st April, 2025.

Tasks:

• Conduct research on nature-based solutions, ecosystem services, and biodiversity in mountain social-ecological systems
• Biophysical quantification of ecosystem service of Alpine ecosystems by mapping and modelling
• Apply statistical methods to assess trade-offs and synergies across ecosystem services under different scenarios of nature-based solutions
• Contribute to the development of spatially explicit scenarios of nature-based solutions, organizing workshops and interacting with local stakeholders
• Collaborate with an interdisciplinary team of researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders to identify and implement nature-based solutions
• Participate in knowledge exchange activities, including publishing research papers, presenting at conferences, and engaging with policy communities

Requirements:

• PhD in a relevant field such as environmental sciences, landscape ecology, or geography, or equivalent
• Proven experience in individual-based process models (e.g., forest gap model, landscape-scale forest ecosystem dynamics, land-use/land-cover change modelling) and programming language (e.g., R, Python, Matlab) with the strong willingness to acquire missing competence
• Strong understanding of mountain ecology, ecosystem services, biodiversity, including impacts, mitigation, and adaptation measures
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, German is an advantage, including the ability to effectively communicate complex scientific concepts to a diverse audience and to draft scientific articles
• Good interpersonal and collaborative/organizational skills to integrate into an international working group and to interact with associated researchers from different institutions and countries, and with European and local stakeholders

Our offer:

With us, you can expect exciting tasks, flexible working hours, a family-friendly working environment, attractive training and development opportunities, a paid lunch break, a meal allowance and much more! https://www.uibk.ac.at/en/career/additional-benefits/ The gross salary for this position is € 4,752 / month (14 times a year.)

Click the “Read more” button below to see the job description on the official university website and apply.