Let’s shape the future - University of Antwerp
The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape.
The Department of Biology in the Faculty of Science is looking for a full-time
doctoral scholarship holder in the field of Plant and Soil Ecology
Position
“Mechanistic understanding of below- and aboveground interactions in temperate trees in heavily acidified soils for restoration and carbon sequestration potential”
In highly urbanized European regions, decades of increased nitrogen deposition has led to high soil acidification in forest soil, with great damage to soil and trees. Recently, addition of basalt to forest soil has been proposed as a way to mitigate soil acidity and concurrently improve carbon sequestration via enhanced weathering. This PhD project will study these dynamics by investigating growth and phenology of aboveground (leaves and cambium) and belowground (symbionts, soil microbes, fine roots) components of deciduous trees and forests under natural-, acidified- and basalt amended soil. These objectives will be experimentally addressed with ecophysiological (e.g. phenological observation), microscopic (e.g. mycorrhizal hyphal root and soil colonization) and molecular (e.g. metabarcoding, metatranscriptomics) methods in growth chambers, common gardens and mature trees in forests. The project will reveal the complex relationship between above and belowground growth under different soil conditions and contribute to solve the two great environmental challenges of our society represented by the mitigation of soil acidification and climate change.
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The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.
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