Offer Description
Postdoc position in ISOTOPE GEOCHEMISTRY APPLIED TO ORGANIC POLLUTANTS.
Project “Advances in the fate, impact and remediation of pollutants for water sustainability /Advances in ISOtope TRACing of the fatE, impact and remediation of pollutants (Advance4Water-ISOTRACE)”, Codi: PID2022-139911OB-C41.
The project ADVANCE4WATER looks forward to increasing the knowledge on water resources pollution and to attain sustainability by improving our capability to reduce its environmental effects. The main objective of the project is to advance in the understanding of diffuse and point source water pollution at field scale including, but not limited to, nitrate, halogenated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and emerging contaminants (EC) such as pesticides and pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs, including antibiotics), and their environmental impact. A second objective is to test innovative induced attenuation strategies for agricultural, urban, and industrial groundwater pollution at laboratory and field scale for a range of contaminants (nitrate, chlorinated solvents, pesticides). The subproject ISOTRACE, led by UB, will contribute to the goals of the project in 1) methodological aspects: developing advanced isotopic techniques – with special focus in Compound Specific Isotopic Analyses (CSIA), to trace EC and VOCs fate, and setting up Fe isotope analyses; 2) field case studies: applying isotopic tools to trace the fate, impact and natural attenuation of a variety of EC and VOCs in the different hydrogeological settings; and 3) the validation at field scale (pilot tests) of induced remediation strategies to diminish nutrient, VOCs and EC (pesticides) pollution.
Besides a dynamic participation and providing support to all project activities, the selected postdoc researcher will focus on (1) the development and implementation of new methodologies for the CSIA of selected organic compounds, including the optimization of derivatization, injection and/or chromatographic methods, and (2) the development of extraction methods and passive samplers for the selected organic compounds, and the validation of these methods at both lab and field scale, including the designing, setting-up and monitoring of laboratory tests, the sampling of groundwater, soil or sediment samples from the field, and the isotopic analysis of the samples with the methodologies developed in the project.
The postdoc researcher scientist will also oversee undergraduate, MSc, and/or PhD students and laboratory technicians, and will work closely with PhD students and other postdocs, within an interdisciplinary research team.
On a voluntary basis, the researcher can participate in teaching collaboration tasks in official studies for a maximum of 60 hours per year or its proportion depending on the duration of the contract, without this collaboration implying full responsibility for the subject. All the assigned teaching activities will be carried out under the guidance of the teacher responsible for the subject and the supervision of the main researcher of the research project to which the researcher belongs.
Where to apply
Website: http://www.ub.edu/caiac/solBeca?idConvocatoria=50315
Skills/Qualifications
Degree on Chemistry or Environmental Sciences.
PhD degree in Chemistry or Environmental Sciences.
Postdoctoral experience of minimum 5 years on geochemistry (geochemistry of organic compounds and isotope geochemistry highly desirable).
Proven experience in analytical chemistry, laboratory activities related to water chemistry (experiments, samples treatment, chemical and isotopic analyses, etc.).
High motivation, good organisational skills, interest to work in an interdisciplinary team and be open-minded. A strong academic background and a track record of international journal publication, commensurate with career stage, will be valued.
Specific Requirements
Experience in experimental development of analytical methods for organic compounds is highly desirable.
Catalan appreciated: basic level.
Additional Information
Benefits
A full-time work contract (37,5 hrs/week).
Gross salary per year: 30.000,00 EUR (12 monthly payments)
Eligibility criteria
A specific committee will evaluate the applications using the following criteria:
- Adequacy of the CV (maximum 40)
- Postdoctoral experience (maximum 20)
- Letter of motivation (maximum 10)
- Experience in analytical chemistry and methods development (maximum 15)
- Experience in isotope geochemistry and organic chemistry (maximum 15)
Minimum punctuation: 50
Selection process
The specific committee will agree upon an award proposal and draw up a prioritized shortlist of candidates who have achieved a minimum of 50 points or declare the call for applications null and void if none of the applicants reach the minimum score.
The award proposal will be published in the UB’s electronic office and must include the total scores of the candidates that have received a total of at least 50 points.
Application Process:
According to the specific requirements and selection criteria, the candidates are expected to provide at least the following documents:
- Full CV
- Motivation letter
Additional comments
The candidate proposed for hiring must accept the job offer within 3 working days from the date of notification of the selection.
Be aware that the starting date sets in this offer is an estimate date. The official starting date will depend on the time necessary for administration to prepare the contract and present the necessary documents for the selected candidate to be hired.
Priority will be given to people with disabilities (Law 89/2015 of June 2, reserve of quota 2% in favour of people with disabilities in companies of 50 or more people).
Duration of the contract of employment: 12 months with possibility of extension, subject to the execution period of the project and the existence of an economic endowment
Details of Postdoc Position:
https://seu.ub.edu/ofertaPublicaCategoriaPublic/listPublicacionsAmbCategoria?categoria.id=800854
