CREAF is seeking to appoint one predoctoral researcher or research technician to work on the SEACURE project (Innovative solutions to prevent, reduce and remediate nutrient pollution along the land-river-sea system in the Mediterranean basin); with reference GAP-101157327, financed by the European Union through the Horizon Europe program. The successful candidate will join the Global Ecology Unit, an active research group with many other predoctoral and postdoctoral researchers.
SEACURE is funded by the European Commission (EC) under the HORIZON-MISS-2023-OCEAN-SOIL-01-01 call (Joint demonstration of approaches and solutions to address nutrient pollution in the landscape-river-sea system in the Mediterranean Sea Basin). The project seeks to address the problem of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin, and the results will contribute to two of the EC key missions: (1) Mission Ocean and Waters, and (2) Mission A Soil Deal for Europe.
PROJECT SUMMARY: The overwhelming scientific evidence provided by the academic corpus indicates that to tackle the origin and negative impacts of nutrient pollution on water, soil and biodiversity, a wide landscape-river-sea system approach needs to be used. This should work on sustainable land management practices (especially agricultural ones), improved wastewater treatment, and feasible nature restoration strategies. The project SEACURE will aim at demonstrating, scaling up and replicating effective innovations for the systemic prevention and reduction of nutrient pollution in the Mediterranean Sea basin, in line with the innovation ecosystem framework provided by the ongoing Mediterranean Lighthouse projects (as BlueMissionMed) and in close cooperation with related activities implemented by regional soil health living labs in the area.
The project is dedicating resources to: i) reduce soil pollution and enhance its restoration; ii) reduce fertilizers use and nutrient losses; and iii) prevent, minimize and remediate nutrient pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems, in six territorial units (Mar Menor and Central Catalunya in Spain, Po delta and Esino River in Italy, and Axios River delta and Thessaly Plain in Greece). Moreover, partners will act on innovation levers: policy uptake, societal awareness, capacity building and funding availability.
A full-time contract is offered (37,5h per week), and likely to start at the beginning of September 2025 or soon thereafter. It will last at least 36 months, with the possibility of extending it if required and if the budget allows. The offered salary is between €18,180.41 gross per year (corresponding to category I5) and 23,574.85 (corresponding to category T4B).
Location: The daily work will be carried out at CREAF (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra), but there will be frequent exchanges with the UB (Universitat de Barcelona) and the UPM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid), where co-supervisor Luis Lassaletta is based. There will also be numerous opportunities to attend meetings and/or carry out research stays with some of SEACURE’s European partners.
Main research fields: global change, biogeochemistry, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, food security, planetary boundaries, river basins, freshwaters, marine waters, nature-based solutions, Mediterranean region.
Principal Investigator contact: Estela Romero (estela.romero@creaf.uab.es; +34 93 5814851)
MAIN FUNCTIONS:
- Search and review environmental data from international public databases (e.g. EUROSTAT, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, Copernicus Marine Service).
- Compile big datasets with terrestrial and aquatic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows.
- Calculate N and P budgets at the basin scale for several European regions.
- Assess the impact of N and P inputs in coastal waters and derive eutrophication indices, such as the ICEP and b-ICEP (Garnier et al. 2010) proposed by the UN to monitor the advancement of SDG14 (Life below Water).
- Lead the writing of the scientific articles originating from the results.
- Present the results at scientific meetings.
- Contribute to the main objectives of the research team, including field work, reports, meetings and conferences, and projects of other members.
REQUIREMENTS:
- BSc and MSc (or equivalent) in Environmental Sciences, Earth Sciences, or related disciplines (Marine Science, Geoscience, Biology, etc.), or Data Science.
- Meet the requirements to be accepted for a PhD training program at the Universitat de Barcelona.
- Excellent analytical skills (e.g., working with datasets and performing advanced statistical analyses).
- Experience and interest in biogeochemistry and/or aquatic sciences (e.g., BSc or MSc theses, work experience).
- Proficiency in English, both spoken and written. Spanish is highly recommended as well.
- Good skills or willingness to learn how to use computer tools and programming languages (R, QGIS, …).
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Willingness to collaborate on projects with other team members.
ASSESSABLE CONDITIONS:
- Experience with databases (generation, analysis and management) and open-source repositories.
- Advanced knowledge of statistics and programming in R.
- Advanced knowledge of QGIS or Spatial Data Visualisation modules in R.
- Previous experience in extracting environmental data from European or global database collections (e.g., EUROSTAT and FAOSTAT, WHO/UNICEF, Copernicus Era5 Reanalysis data, Copernicus Marine Service, EMODnet).
- Participation in scientific publications (first author will be strongly valued).
- Knowledge of Spanish.
- Willingness to apply for pre-doctoral fellowships offered by both public research organisations and private foundations in Spain.
- Mean BSc and MSc scores above 8 (out of 10). If you are a non-Spanish student, please calculate your equivalent grades following the information on this web page (some documents only in available Spanish, sorry): https://universidades.sede.gob.es/pagina/index/directorio/Equivalencia_notas_medias/language/en
- Candidates who have a recognized disability will be considered and accredited equal to or greater than 33% will be prioritized, as long as the disability is compatible with the proper performance of the job.
SELECTION PROCESS AND CRITERIA:
- Admission of candidates: Applicants must apply for the offer and attach the requested documentation, a curriculum vitae in English, (2) a cover letter (maximum 500 words, also in English), (3) academic transcripts of bachelor’s and master’s degrees (in Spanish or English), and (3) the name and contact details (email) of two professional references, until June 30th, 2025. Applications submitted to any portal other than the CREAF job board and the instructions included therein will not be accepted.
- Pre-selection: determination of compliance with the minimum requirements of the offer.
- Selection: preselected candidates will be scored based on objective criteria. The candidates presenting the highest scores will be invited to a physical or remote interview (depending on country of residence).
- Final decision: the decision will be communicated to the candidate with subsequent publication in the CREAF job openings section.
Job offer in PDF
