PhD Position

Job advertisement

Vacancy ID: 315/2025

Closing date:

The Friedrich Schiller University Jena is a dynamic and innovation-driven university centrally located in Germany. With a broad range of disciplines, it shapes the future through excellent research and teaching. Its scientific excellence is reflected in the profile areas Light – Life – Liberty, which provide pioneering insights and sustainable solutions for the society of tomorrow. Through close collaborations with leading research institutions, innovative companies, and renowned cultural organizations, it advances interdisciplinary developments. With around 17,000 students and approximately 10,000 employees, it defines Jena as a vibrant, internationally connected city of science and innovation.

Originating in the ELLIS Unit Jena, the research project "AI Generalizability in Non-stationary Environmental Regimes: The Case of Hydro-climatic Extremes (GENAI-X)", funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, addresses a fundamental AI challenge: achieving robust model generalizability in non-stationary environmental systems. Focusing on hydro-climatic extremes and their impacts, a multi-disciplinary team from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, the Jena University Hospital, and the Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function (SIP) Jena jointly develops AI models that function reliably under constantly changing conditions.

Within the framework of the GENAI-X project D3 PHENOLOGICAL SHIFT: Impacts of Extreme Events on Phenological Shifts and Ecosystem Functioning, the Plant Biodiversity Group of the Institute of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biological Sciences, FSU Jena, seeks to fill a

PhD Position (65%) Combining field observations with remote sensing data in plant phenology research

commencing on 01 April 2026. We offer a fixed-term position until 31 March 2030.

With this project we aim to harness the fast-growing phenology data from various sources, such as field observations, in-situ intervention experiments, and remote sensing, to curate a comprehensive data collection for causal modeling and as a basis for integration in climate models. The focus will be on data fusion, curation and in-depth analyses of a versatile multi-stream data source, including detailed species-level data for phenology-trait-environment relationships from elevational studies, experimental settings, semi-natural grasslands, phenological networks, PhenoCams, remote-sensing estimates, and meteorological features. This multi-scale, multi-species data source supports causal modeling of phenology representations across different plant species and communities.

Your responsibilities:

• Apply remote-sensing techniques, including terrestrial laser scanning techniques
• Merge and curate phenological data from ground-based observations from individual plants and plant communities
• Collect field data on plant phenology to complement existing data sets
• Collect plant trait information including frost-resistance measurements in the lab
• Apply advanced statistics and AI methods to analyse phenological data from different data streams and across different spatial (and temporal) scales
• Supervise student research assistants and thesis students supporting your field and computational research
• Contribute to sharing your knowledge through publications, conference presentations, outreach activities and contributions to teaching
• Work towards the completion of a PhD based in the project's research area

Your profile:

• Master's degree in ecology, geography or environmental science with expertise in remote sensing and plant ecology or a related field with an interest in analysing phenological changes across scales
• Very good knowledge of remote sensing techniques, statistical analyses (in R), analyses of large sets (Big Data), and/or plant or vegetation
• Independent and self-motivated personality with excellent problem-solving skills
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills suitable for an interdisciplinary and intercultural work environment
• Excellent English language skills

Are you hesitating because you don't meet one or some of our requirements? Please do not hesitate to apply and give us a chance to get to know you.

We offer:

• Integration into vibrant community in biodiversity science in Jena, including the Senckenberg Institute for Plant Form and Function (SIP) Jena, the integrative centre for integrative Biodiversity Science (iDiv), as well as the ELLIS unit
• Close cooperation with the MPI-bgc (Alexander Winkler group) and another GENAI-X PhD student working on equation discovery and AI-powered phenology representations in the Max Planck Earth system model under the hybrid modeling paradigm
• Comprehensive support for doctoral researchers through the Graduate Academy of the university and iDiv (yDiv) as well as our local and international network
• An exciting and varied scope of activities with field-based as well computational components and creative freedom
• University health promotion, a wide range of university sports activities and a family-friendly working environment with a variety of offers for families
• Remuneration based on the provisions of the Collective Agreement for the Public Sector of the Federal States (TV-L) at salary scale TV-L E-13, including a special annual payment in accordance with the collective agreement as well as additional fringe benefits and 30 days of paid vacation per year plus two days off on December 24 and 31

The position is offered as a fixed-term position for a maximum of four years. This is a part-time position with 65% (26 hours per week) of the working hours of a full-time employee.

Candidates with severe disabilities will be given preference in the case of equal qualifications and suitability.

Are you eager to work for us? Then apply by using our online form.

For further information for applicants and the information on the collection of personal data, please refer to

Data privacy and information for applicants