The Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience at Umeå University is offering a postdoctoral scholarship within the Climate Impact Research Centre (CIRC). The scholarship is full-time for two years with access (start) 16 January 2026 or by agreement, and is based in Umeå. Last application date is 2 November, 2025. We welcome your application!
Who are we? CIRC aims to develop, facilitate and coordinate research at Umeå University (UmU) on the effects of a changing climate in Arctic ecosystems. We offer a working environment with world-leading excellence on a broad range of disciplines, strongly connected to a global network of arctic research.
Project description Holistic understanding of the interactions between climate, productivity, and organic matter decay, will be key for better climate predictions. This project focuses on a long term (~10 yr) fertilization experiment and a long-term litter decomposition experiment in two contrasting climates. The postdoc will have the opportunity to investigate 1) the long-term effects of climate and nutrient availability on productivity, decomposition and respiration, and 2) the effects of year-to-year variation in climate on decomposition. Next to already collected data, the project can include field experiments.
Qualifications To qualify as a postdoctoral scholarship holder, the postdoctoral fellow is required to have completed a doctoral degree or a foreign degree deemed equivalent to a doctoral degree. This qualification requirement must be fulfilled no later than at the time of the decision about scholarship recipient.
Priority should be given to candidates who completed their doctoral degree, according to what is stipulated in the paragraph above, no later than three years prior. If there are special reasons, candidates who completed their doctoral degree before that may also be eligible. Special reasons include absence due to illness, parental leave, appointments of trust in trade union organisations, military service or similar circumstances, as well as clinical practice or other forms of appointment/assignment relevant to the subject area.
Doctoral degree should be within plant ecology or arctic ecology or equivalent
The applicant should have a strong background in decomposition and very good analytical skills and competence in handling large, complex datasets. We are looking for candidates with good communicative skills that thrives in international and cross-disciplinary settings. Therefore, good skills in written and spoken English are required. In addition, demonstrated competence in conducting fieldwork under remote and demanding Arctic conditions is required. Previous experience with plant-soil feedbacks is meriting.
Application procedure The application should be written in English or Swedish, and attached documents should be in Word or PDF format. The application should be registered via Umeå University’s e-recruitment system Varbi and submitted latest on 2 November 2025.
A full application should include:
Cover letter of maximally three pages in which you shortly describe how your past research fits with the project, and describe your research plan that fits one of the main questions.
Curriculum vitae (CV) with publication list. In the publication list, provide a co-author contribution for a selection of maximally five publications.
Copies of doctoral degree certificate or verified documentation that clarifies when the degree of doctor is expected to be obtained.
Copies of other relevant diplomas, list of completed academic courses and grades,
Copy of doctoral thesis (when printed).
Other documents that the applicant wishes to claim.
Contact information to two persons willing to act as references.
About the scholarship The scholarship is paid directly to the stipend holder, tax free, from the Kempe Foundation. The scholarship is on 720,000 SEK for two years which is 30,000 SEK/month.
Contact Judith Sarneel, Department of Ecology Environment and Geoscience. Umeå University, Judith.sarneel@umu.se
Maja Sundqvist, Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Maja.sundqvist@slu.se
