Offer Description
European riverine and coastal floodplains are highly managed systems, where different human actions can both increase or decrease flood risk. For instance, the “levee effect” could reduce the effectiveness of structural flood protection by encouraging exposure growth and lack of individual precaution, increasing impacts when a severe flood eventually overwhelms the dikes. On the other hand, frequent flooding has been shown to reduce vulnerability through adoption of local precautionary measures (“adaptation effect”). Current European projections of future flood risk under climate change do not consider these types of effects and other dynamic interactions in floodplains. Though such feedbacks could be captured by socio-hydrological models, those have been so far limited to small case studies due to lack of data. The aim of this project is to develop a European Socio-Hydrological Model (EuroSoHo) to quantify past and future flood risk dynamics across the continent. This probabilistic, system dynamics model will be calibrated on historical (1950–2025) data on flood occurrence, their impacts (fatalities, population affected, economic loss), floodplain exposure changes, and large-scale flood prevention schemes across more than 1400 regions in 42 European countries. The model will incorporate multiple socio-hydrological parameters (e.g. awareness, preparedness, reactiveness or risk aversion), quantifying the historical baseline of the society’s reaction to floods. EuroSoHo will then be able to project the future evolution (2026–2100) of the human-water system in Europe under the expected changes of both hydroclimatic and socioeconomic forcing. The system-wide positive and negative effects of improving dikes, extending individual preparedness, restrictions on exposure growth, and relocation will be quantified with EuroSoHo. The results will indicate which combination of adaptation strategies would be most effective in each region given their local-scale costs and benefits. https://eurosoho.eu
Where to apply
E-mail: olga.terefenko@usz.edu.pl
Skills/Qualifications
1. Master’s (or equivalent) degree in Geography, Economics, Sociology, Hydrology, Environmental Sciences, Spatial Planning, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics, or a closely related discipline, obtained before the starting date.
2. Strong background in at least two of the following: hydrology/hydraulic engineering, macroeconomics or demography, natural hazards, GIS and geospatial analysis, statistics/data science.
3. Proficiency in spoken and written English.
4. Experience in handling large datasets.
5. High motivation to work and continuously develop scientific and personal skills.
6. Good communication and problem-solving skills. 7. Ability to participate in work-related travel domestically and abroad.
Specific Requirements
1. CV with the information about participation in research projects, list of publications and/or conferences plus technical skills.
2. Cover letter describing your academic interests and understanding of the project’s topic.
3. Copy of master’s degree diploma or a certificate of student status in the last year of Master’s studies
4. Consent to the processing of personal data. PDF format with a scanned original signature confirming of reading the information.
Additional Information
Benefits
· Work in dynamic and expanding scientific group with excellent research environment and international cooperation promoting publications in high impact journals.
· Fixed-term contract for 36 months with base salary of 7300-7700 PLN gross per month with full benefits of an academic employee including 36 annual leave days and supplementary payments in accordance to applicable laws.
· Financial support for short scientific missions and conference attendance.
· Support in obtaining a PhD degree.
· Support in preparing own grant applications and engaging in scientific and personal development.
Website for additional job details: http://dso.usz.edu.pl/druki/
