PhD position (f_m_x) - Surface-groundwater interactions and groundwater resilience
GFZ is Germany's national centre for solid Earth research. We advance the understanding of dynamic processes to address global challenges, from mitigating the impacts of natural hazards and sustaining our habitat amid global change to responsibly managing georesources. We are part of the Helmholtz Association, the largest German scientific organisation. With around 1,200 employees as well as ca. 500 guest researchers, we contribute to the Helmholtz Research Field Earth and Environment, aligning cutting-edge research with societal relevance and international collaboration. Our work integrates multidisciplinary studies across Earth's system components, leveraging advanced technologies and infrastructure to research solutions and to transfer our knowledge to society. We are doing this according to our vision: “Taking the pulse of our Earth to safeguard a habitable planet”.
Reference Number 10932
SOLVE sub-project HYDROCONNECT
This position is part of the project “Securing Terrestrial Water Cycles: the Helmholtz SOlution Lab Elbe RiVEr Basin (SOLVE)”, funded by the Helmholtz Association. SOLVE brings together expertise from seven Helmholtz Centres and 10 stakeholder institutions to develop a science-based decision framework for the Elbe River catchment. The overarching goal is to identify and optimise water management practices that preserve or restore hydrological and biological connectivity.
We are looking for a candidate working on investigating the hydrological/hydrogeological connectivity in the Elbe River basin to assess groundwater resilience under climatic and water management scenarios. Activities will rely on coupled hydrological and groundwater modelling combined with machine learning techniques to quantify groundwater recharge and resilience to climate variability, predict possible developments under future climate change and thus providing guidance for its sustainable management. The student will closely interact with other partners in SOLVE, and in particular in the sub-project HYDROCONNECT, where soil moisture connectivity and its relationship with streamflow will be quantified using satellite data, and gravity-based terrestrial water storage observations will be integrated with isotopic tracer methods and geophysical monitoring.
Your responsibilities:
- Develop a hybrid framework to approximate groundwater recharge from distributed hydrologic model and translate it into groundwater table fluctuations (WTF) for its direct use in groundwater modelling
- Employ xAI to uncover the key climatic, land surface, and hydrogeological drivers underpinning the recharge–WTF dynamics and to reduce uncertainty in recharge estimation
- Introduce groundwater resilience analysis by linking recharge dynamics with aquifer response under stress scenarios
- 3D groundwater modelling assisted with XAI to test how resilient the aquifer is under different recharge–demand scenarios and to highlight controlling factors (climate variability, land cover ...) influencing resilience
- Interpretation and publication of results in peer-reviewed journals
Your qualifications:
- A Master's degree or a diploma in Physics, Mathematics or Geosciences is mandatory
- Knowledge of thermal-hydraulic physical processes
- Knowledge in 3D hydrological and hydrogeological modelling and numerical methods
- Programming skills are an advantage
- Strong social and excellent communication skills
- Very good English language skills
Start date: Available from 1st February 2026
Fixed-term: 36 months
Salary: The position is classed as salary group 13 according to “TVöD Bund (Tarifgebiet West)”. The salary group is determined on the basis of the Collective Wage Agreement and the respective personal qualifications.
Working hours: Part-time 75% (currently 29.25 h/week)
Place of work: Potsdam
What we offer:
- Ambitious and varied tasks in a dynamic and international research environment
- State-of-the-art equipment
- Public service benefits
- Extensive training opportunities
- Professional career advice offered by our in-house Career-Centre
- Flexible working hours and conditions
- Support with finding a good work-life balance offered by benefit@work
- Institute day-care centre on site
- Working at the Albert Einstein Science Park on the Telegrafenberg in Potsdam
- Workplace within walking distance of Potsdam main train station, or just a short ride on the shuttle bus
Have we piqued your interest?
Requirements for the application:
- CV (with scientific publication list, if applicable)
- Letter of motivation on research interests and motivation
- References: names and contact information of two referees
- Certificates/grades: Transcripts and diplomas for a master's degree; if not available, a confirmation from your institution on the completed degree by the application deadline
The GFZ actively promotes diversity and explicitly welcomes applications from all qualified individuals, regardless of ethnic and social origin, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and identity, religion/belief, age and physical characteristics. We also promote an inclusive working environment in which everyone can fully develop their own talents. Anyone who has been recognised as severely disabled, will be given preferential consideration in the event of equal suitability and qualification in accordance with the provisions of the German Social Code IX. In case of further queries regarding gender equality, please do not hesitate to contact our Equal Opportunities Officer.
“Diversity in perspectives” is one of GFZ's core values. As an integral part of supporting diversity at our centre, we actively promote women in science and in leadership positions. We among others do this through our gender equality plan and the cascade model measures which we actively implement to enable sustainable equal opportunities in academic career paths. The GFZ thus committedly strives for gender equality in science, including in leadership positions, and strongly encourages women to apply.
Your personal data will be processed for the purpose of conducting the selection procedure on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 b, Art. 88 GDPR in conjunction with Art. 26 of the Data Protection Act for the State of Brandenburg. After completion of the procedure, application documents will be deleted in compliance with data protection regulations.
In case of any further queries relating to the field of activity, please contact Dr. Mauro Cacace via email. If you have any general questions about the application process, please contact our recruiting team at our phone number +49 (0) 331-6264-28787.