Vacancy for a PhD student in Hydrology
Starting date: as soon as possible (summer/early fall 2025)
Zürich, April 2025
We have an open position for a PhD student in the CrowdWater project
Value of crowd-based observations for hydrological forecasts
at the University of Zurich, Department of Geography, Unit Hydrology & Climate (http://www.geo.uzh.ch/h2k/).
The CrowdWater project (www.crowdwater.ch) aims to evaluate different citizen science approaches for hydrological data collection and assess the value of these data for advancing hydrology and water resources management. We are looking for a PhD student who will test the real-time use of the water level data collected with the CrowdWater app to improve runoff models and forecasting. The ultimate goal is to be able to use the citizen science data for drought and flood warnings. The basic idea is that the hydrological model is updated after the submission of each new observation, and an updated prediction of the water level for the coming days based on the weather forecast is directly provided to the users. In the long term, this should contribute to improving the prediction of extreme events, especially for locations where little or no data are otherwise available. The project will also address aspects related to communication and motivations of citizen scientists and answer questions such as how the direct feedback affects the motivations of the participants to contribute to the CrowdWater project.
We encourage applications from enthusiastic, dedicated individuals with good oral and written communication skills who enjoy working in a team. Applicants should have a Diploma or MSc degree in hydrology, earth sciences, environmental sciences, or closely related fields. The project requires an interest in hydrological modelling and (web-based) programming. Thus, experience in programming, data processing or modelling, and general numerical skills are essential. We expect the PhD student to actively participate in data quality review and outreach activities for the CrowdWater project, including contact with the citizen scientists and NGOs. Good English language skills are, therefore, a prerequisite. We consider knowledge of the German language a plus and expect the PhD student to learn some basic German during the PhD.
The Department of Geography offers an interdisciplinary, international work environment and a formal PhD program (http://www.geo.uzh.ch/en/graduate-school/). The Unit Hydrology & Climate has strong expertise in hydrological modelling and in experimental hydrology. The salary is competitive and according to the salary scale of the Swiss National Science Foundation1.
Please submit your application, including a cover letter, CV, relevant diploma, an example of your own scientific writing (if available) and the names and contact details of two to three potential references in one pdf file on https://apply.mnf.uzh.ch/position/39878659.
Review of applications will begin on May 8, 2025 and continue until the position is filled.
For questions, please get in touch with Prof. Jan Seibert (jan.seibert@geo.uzh.ch) or Dr. Ilja van Meerveld (ilja.vanmeerveld@geo.uzh.ch).
