PhD (f/m/d)
Forest Vulnerability to Hotter Droughts (75% part-time)

Organizational unit

Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMKIFU)

Job description

Do you have a strong interest in forest ecosystems, climate extremes, and carbon cycling? Are you excited about linking physiological mechanisms to landscape-scale patterns to address pressing challenges related to forest dieback and climate mitigation? Are you motivated to work in an interdisciplinary and international research environment?

If so, we invite applications for a PhD position in the Plant Ecophysiology Lab as part of a multidisciplinary, international research training group with partners at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, the University of Melbourne (UoM), Australia and the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

C4LaNd is a new research training group in which doctoral researchers from a variety of disciplines approach the issue of sustainably using land for the benefit of both people and nature from a variety of angles. The group offers the opportunity to receive a dual PhD degree from KIT and UoM, as well as a one-year research stay in Melbourne, Australia. Further information on C4LaNd, and the Ph.D. positions advertised can be found at C4LaNd.earth

The PhD position, 'Forest Vulnerability to Hotter Droughts', is within the Plant Ecophysiology Lab (https://ecophys.imk-ifu.kit.edu) at the KIT-Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Project Background and Research Question:

Forests across Europe and beyond are increasingly threatened by hotter droughts, which are leading to rising tree mortality and may undermine forests' role as carbon sinks. However, forest vulnerability is not spatially uniform and varies strongly among species and environmental conditions. The overarching research question of this PhD project is: How do hotter droughts alter the physiological mechanisms and thresholds of tree mortality, and how can these processes be linked to landscape-scale patterns of forest vulnerability?

Your main tasks will be:

• investigate physiological mechanisms and mortality thresholds of trees under hotter droughts through experimental approaches
• identify spatial patterns and hotspots of forest vulnerability using remote sensing data and climatic information
• integrate experimental and landscape-scale observations to develop a mechanistic framework of heat-induced forest decline
• publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present findings at international conferences

Starting date

01.10.2026

Personal qualification

You have:

• M.Sc. degree in ecology, environmental sciences, forestry, biology, earth system science, climate science, or a related field
• experience in one or more of the following areas:
  • Remote sensing and geospatial data analysis
  • Plant ecophysiology
  • Forest ecology or biogeochemistry
• fluency in English, written and spoken
• willingness to travel between KIT-Campus Alpin (IMKIFU), Garmisch-Partenkirchen and KIT Campus in Karlsruhe/Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen for C4LaNd courses
• interest in interdisciplinary collaboration within an international graduate programme Willingness to spend a one-year research stay at University of Melbourne, Australia