Research Assistant

The Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture at the Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute, Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry, and Fisheries, in Braunschweig is looking for a **research assistant PostDoc** (f/m/d) in the field of Agricultural and environmental sciences, geography, geoecology or a comparable field to start on 01.11.2025, for a fixed term until 31.12.2028 in full-time (currently 39 hours/week) to work on the project “Bodenzustandserhebung Landwirtschaft” (BZE-LW).

Soil organic matter is of central importance for soil fertility and climate protection. Changes in soil organic carbon stocks must be recorded and reported as part of national greenhouse gas reporting. To this end, a grid of more than 3,000 sampling points on agricultural soils in Germany has been established and has already been sampled and analysed once. The Thünen Institute of Agricultural Climate Protection has been commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (BMLEH) to carry out a nationwide repeat inventory of these sampling points. The main focus of the position advertised here is the evaluation and interpretation of the measured trends in soil carbon stocks and other soil properties.
- The employment relationship is governed by the TVöD Bund (collective agreement for civil servants) and, if the collective agreement and personal requirements are met, remuneration is based on pay grade 13 TVöD Bund.

**Job-ID**:
J000000118

**Location**:
Braunschweig

**Start date**:
01.11.2025

**Organization**:
Institut für Agrarklimaschutz (AK)

**Job Category**:
Data-Science

**Working hours**:
Full-time / part-time possible

**Published**:
12.08.2025

**Your tasks**:

- Development and maintenance of evaluation routines (script-based) for laboratory, field and management data from the BZE-LW
- Identification and explanation of trends in soil carbon stocks and other soil properties using complex statistical models and machine learning
- Methodological developments in the field of soil monitoring
- Regionalisation of soil properties
- Publication and presentation of results in international journals and at conferences
- Contribution to the final project report and supervision of theses

**Your Profil**:

- completed university degree (M. Sc. or diploma) and PhD degree in agricultural or environmental sciences, geography, geoecology or a comparable field
- In-depth knowledge of organic soil matter and/or soil monitoring
- Extensive experience in script-based handling of large amounts of data (in R)
- Experience in machine learning and process models is desirable
- Proven ability to publish in scientific journals

**Our offer**:

- **Responsibility and a sense of purpose**: responsible work in a dedicated team, involvement in a dynamic, interdisciplinary research institute and proximity to current policy and practice-relevant topics
- **Flexibility and work-life balance**: flexible working time models, fundamental possibility of part-time employment as well as mobile working and teleworking, certified employer berufundfamilie audit with a wide range of offers for reconciling work and life phases
- **Prospects**: further training opportunities for the area of responsibility and individual development
- **Benefits**: collectively agreed,_ _employment relationship with attractive social benefits (e.g. company pension scheme, annual one-off payment, capital-forming benefits)
- **Health**: company health management and preventative healthcare programmes
- **Mobility**: JobTicket, public transport connections, free parking spaces and the option of using e-charging stations