WSL-SLF: PhD student in Hydrologic Extremes

You will work in the project «Riverine heatwaves under climate change», which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Anomalously high river water temperatures introduce thermal stress to fish and other aquatic species and reduce the thermal cooling efficiency of power plants, in particular if they persist over time. Despite the potentially severe impacts of riverine heatwaves, there exists limited understanding of their occurrence, drivers, future changes, and risks. Within this PhD project, you will provide an overview of where and when riverine heatwaves are most severe and frequent in Europe using statistical and machine learning approaches. You will publish your results in scientific journals and present them at international conferences. The work location will be at SLF in Davos and you will obtain a PhD degree at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich.

You hold a MSc degree in hydrology, environmental sciences or engineering, climate sciences, statistics, or a closely related field. Experience with machine learning and large datasets are desired and we seek candidates that have previous experience with programming (e.g. in Python, R). We encourage applications from enthusiastic and dedicated individuals who have very good oral and written communication skills in English. You are motivated to work in an interdisciplinary and international working environment and you would enjoy living in a beautiful and diverse mountain environment.