The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is part of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and thus of the ETH Domain. WSL focuses on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards. WSL employs approximately 600 people, of whom 140 work at SLF in Davos.
The group Hydrology and Climate Impacts in Mountain Regions at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos and the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH Zurich predicts multivariate hydro-climatic extreme events in mountain regions and quantifies their future changes. The group has strong expertise in water resources, extreme value analyses, statistical modelling, and climate impact assessments and is looking, from January 2024, for a
Postdoc in statistical hydrology 80-100% (f/m/d)
You will work in the project “Consecutive drought-to-flood events in a warming world”, which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Hydrological extremes can have particularly severe impacts if they occur in close succession, e.g. when droughts are abruptly terminated by floods. To reduce the negative impacts of consecutive hydrologic extremes, we need to understand the hydro-climatic drivers of these events and estimates of their frequency of occurrence under current and future climate conditions. Within this project, you will describe the spatio-temporal variability in drought-to-flood transition occurrence, identify divers of rapid drought-to-flood transitions, and develop models for their prediction using statistical and machine learning approaches. You will publish your results in scientific journals and present them at international conferences. The work location will be at SLF in Davos with the possibility to collaborate closely with people at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich (https://iac.ethz.ch/).
You hold a PhD degree in hydrology, environmental sciences, climate sciences, or a closely related field. We seek candidates with strong skills in programming (e.g. R or Python), statistics, machine learning, and data science. A good publication record with respect to your career stage and research interests in statistical hydrology complete your profile. We encourage applications from enthusiastic and dedicated individuals who have very good oral and written communication skills in English. You are motivated to work in an interdisciplinary and international working environment, and you would enjoy working in a beautiful and varied mountain environment.
Please send your complete application to Jasmine Zollinger, Human Resources WSL/SLF, by uploading the requested documents (including a cover letter, CV, certificate & transcript of your highest degree earned, and an example of your own scientific writing in English) on our webpage. Applications via email will not be considered. Manuela Brunner (https://www.slf.ch/en/employees/brunnerm.html, phone +41 81 417 0342, e-mail manuela.brunner@slf.ch) will be happy to answer any questions or offer further information.. The WSL strives to increase the proportion of women in its employment, which is why qualified women are particularly called upon to apply for this position.
