The Department of River Ecology and Conservation at Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut in Gelnhausen is looking to fill two Ecology Postdoctoral Positions.

The research center

For over 200 years, the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (SGN) has investigated nature and its diversity. Currently, scientists from more than 40 countries conduct research in the fields of biodiversity, Earth system analysis and climate change.

Following its mission to “analyze and document biodiversity in Earth system dynamics – to serve science and society” Senckenberg stands for curiosity-driven and application-oriented collections-based research.

They are looking for enthusiastic ecologists (m/f/d) with a background in community ecology, macroecology, metacommunities, and/or analysis of ecological time series. The applicant should have a strong track record of scientific publications.

Over the past years, they have compiled one of the most comprehensive marine and freshwater biodiversity time series across Europe including macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, algae, fish and plankton from approximately 30,000 sampling locations and 25 European countries. They also host a large data set of > 30,000 terrestrial insect species, based on DNA metabarcoding. Additionally, they have access to accompanying environmental data. These data sets provide a unique opportunity to address a broad variety of fundamental and applied ecological questions in fields like metacommunity theory, time series analyses, multiple stressors responses, invasive species, ecological communities or conservation depending on candidate interests (see 10.1038/s41586-023-06400-1 for an example). They encourage applications from ecologists with backgrounds in freshwater, marine or terrestrial ecosystems.

The position

The Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1439 „Multilevel response to stressor increase and release in stream ecosystems (RESIST)“ and the EU-funded project Biodiversity Meets Data (BMD) partly embed the positions.

The CRC RESIST position will focus on investigating how stressors individually and in combination affect the biodiversity and functions of streams and rivers, and how previously stressed ecosystems recover. The relevant subproject within Resist will focus on macroinvertebrate metacommunity structure and larger scale trends in macroinvertebrates, fish and diatoms.

The BMD position aims to provide a toolbox with Virtual Research Environments (VREs). Stakeholders will co-design these VREs to deliver biodiversity assessments, biodiversity trend analyses, identification of drivers of change, and projections for future climatic and land cover scenarios at local, regional, national, and European scales across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms. For this, a suite of thematic VREs will be developed that allow an easy-to-use application of models on available and harmonized biodiversity and environmental data. Both projects provide access to a wide range of spatial and temporal biodiversity and environmental data and a fantastic opportunity to become part of European networks of established researchers, postdocs, and graduate students working with monitoring data.

Your potential tasks

• Analyzing spatial and temporal biodiversity data, and accompanied environmental data, to elucidate spatial patterns and temporal trends in taxonomic and functional diversity and drivers thereof
• Contribute to the research of the CRC Resist or BMD projects and conduct research on global change impacts on biodiversity within the framework of other projects in the department (i.e. restoration ecology, multiple stressor analyses, long-term ecological research)
• Development of VREs (BMD position)
• Data analysis, preparation of manuscripts and reports
• Mentoring graduate students

Your profile

• PhD in Ecology or a related field
• Solid background in (macro-) ecology and biodiversity research. Solid background in
• zoology preferred but not essential.
• Advanced skills in statistical analyses, preferably using R
• Strong track record of international publications
• Excellent written and oral communication and project presentation skills in English

They offer

Salary and benefits are according to a public service position in Germany (TV-H E13). The contract is full-time or part-time (at least 75 %). It should ideally begin as soon as possible and will initially be limited to 2 years with a possible extension.

Senckenberg is committed to diversity. They benefit from the different expertise, perspectives and personalities of our staff and welcome every application from qualified candidates, irrespective of age, gender, ethnic or cultural origin, religion and ideology, sexual orientation and identity or disability. Women are particularly encouraged to apply, as they are underrepresented in the field of this position; in the case of equal qualifications and suitability they will be given preference. Applicants with a severe disability will be given special consideration in case of equal suitability. Senckenberg actively supports the compatibility of work and family and places great emphasis on an equal and inclusive work culture.

Application details

Please send your application by May, 9th 2025, preferably by e-mail (attachment in a single pdf document), mentioning the reference of this position (Ref. #04-25006) and include:

• a letter outlining your suitability for the post,
• a detailed CV,
• contact details of 2 references,
• a list of publications and acquired funding to:

Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung
Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt
E-Mail: recruiting@senckenberg.de

You can also submit your application via their online application tool: https://www.senckenberg.de/de/karriere/bewerbung/
For scientific enquiries please get in contact with Prof. Dr. Peter Haase.
E-Mail: peter.haase@senckenberg.de