PhD student for the diversity of deep sea zooplankton

About us
Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden is the Dutch national research institute for biodiversity and systematics. With our collection of 42 million specimens, one of the world's largest natural history collections, and our state-of-the-art research facilities we offer the (inter)national research infrastructure for species, identification and monitoring (for example in the ARISE and DiSSCo projects). We closely collaborate with many Dutch universities, research institutes, industry, and government. We host over 120 researchers including 15 academia embedded professors and 40 PhD students. We present the history of our planet, and the diversity of life on Earth, through permanent and temporary museum exhibitions, educational programmes, and online presence, with more than 400,000 visitors per year. All in all, a unique combination of science and culture in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world!

The research department is organised in 9 research groups comprising researchers and their postdocs and PhD-students. The current position will be in the research group Marine Evolution & Ecology. Naturalis has a completely new lab building, including state-of-the-art molecular facilities, microCT scanners and electron microscopy (SEM and TEM).

Position
As a PhD student you will combine sea-going research and laboratory analysis to study the diversity, abundance and community composition of planktonic animals from the surface ocean to the seabed. Zooplankton abundance and biodiversity in different size classes will be characterised using depth-stratified net tows, water column profiling with an underwater particle and plankton imaging system (UVP6), and a combination of morphological and molecular techniques (DNA metabarcoding). Focus areas are the polymetallic nodule fields in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean and hydrothermal vent fields and associated seafloor massive sulfides in the Arctic Mid Atlantic Ridge. You will be part of a “biodiversity” team at Naturalis/NIOZ/UU, and you will work closely with another PhD student focussing on benthic biodiversity. As a member of the International MiningImpact3 consortium, you will embrace an open and sharing team effort including the active exchange of data and results, regular team meetings, and integrative analyses. You will be supervised by a team of scientists from Naturalis and NIOZ. Training and courses during the PhD trajectory will be offered by Naturalis, and via the University of Amsterdam.

ROYAL NIOZ
NWO-NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is the Dutch national oceanographic institute and principally performs academically excellent multidisciplinary, fundamental, and frontier applied marine research addressing important scientific and societal questions pertinent to the functioning of the ocean and seas. NIOZ includes the National Marine research Facilities (NMF) department that operates a fleet of research vessels and the national pool of large seagoing equipment, and supports excellence in multidisciplinary marine research, education, and policy development.

General requirements and skills
The ideal candidate is highly motivated, ambitious, creative and has a keen interest in deep-sea biodiversity. You will have the following required qualifications:

• an MSc degree with specialisation in ecology, evolution, biological oceanography or a closely related discipline;
• experience with genetic methods (DNA barcoding, metabarcoding) and/or sampling on oceanographic expeditions;
• excellent command of the English language;
• excellent communication and presentation skills (writing and speaking);
• some knowledge of statistics and computer languages, like R;
• the ability to work independently as well as in a team.

We offer
A contract (36 hours per week) for a period of one year, to be extended with three more years after a successful first year evaluation, and a monthly starting salary of € 3,463.00 gross (when starting on or after July 1st). Additionally, the PhD candidate gets an allowance for travel expenses, holiday allowance (8%) and year-end bonus (3.4%). The successful candidate will be employed by Naturalis in Leiden. Naturalis Biodiversity Center offers an inspiring working atmosphere with effective and efficient supervision of our PhD candidates. Our Research Coordination Office also provides ample support to our scientific staff.

Our institute promotes gender equality and wants to enhance the diversity of staff members. Feel free to contact Katja Peijnenburg with questions about the position: Katja.Peijnenburg@naturalis.nl . For procedural questions related to the application please contact HR: sollicitaties@naturalis.nl .

Procedure
Applicants are invited to submit their application in one pdf, including a cover/motivation letter (max. 2 pages) and CV (max. 3 pages) and the names and contact details of two referees. Please use the application form no later than 27 April 2025.

Information on selection for pre-interviews will be available by 9 May 2025, online pre-interviews scheduled for 19 and 20 may 2025; selected candidates will be invited for a preferably in-person interview on 23 or 28 May 2025. The start of the position is ideally by 1st July 2025.

Naturalis endorses the Diversity & Inclusion Code. In the case of equal suitability, preference is given to the candidate who reinforces diversity within the team.

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