PhD student

The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is part of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and thus of the ETH Domain. WSL focuses on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards. WSL employs approximately 600 people, of whom 180 work at SLF in Davos.

The Research Unit Snow and Atmosphere is concerned with the physical properties of the material snow, with snow – atmosphere interactions and the role of snow, ice, and permafrost in the climate system. The research group Snow Physics is looking for a PhD student - airborne snow metamorphism (f/m/d).

The PhD position is part of the project “Impact of newly discovered airborne snow metamorphism (ASM) on optical grain size and isotopic composition of polar snow” which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. You will be responsible for planning and carrying out wind tunnel experiments in the WSL/SLF cold laboratory to systematically study ASM under controlled air flow and atmospheric conditions. You will furthermore provide major contributions to the development and application of a custom field instrument setup for verifying ASM for Antarctica, and to quantify the real-world effect of ASM on the optical grain size and isotopic composition. You will analyse the lab and field data using state-of-the-art software tools, and you will support the development of a physical model describing ASM in close collaboration with a Post-Doc responsible for the model development. Finally, you will present your work at international conferences and publish the results in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

You have a master’s degree in physics, environmental- or engineering science (or comparable topic) and are interested in experimentally working in cold environments with snow. Good English skills are essential, German skills are beneficial, and you enjoy working in a team. We are an international team working on diverse research topics in close collaboration with researchers from ETH and international institutions. The position will be based at WSL/SLF in Davos, and you will be enrolled at EPFL Lausanne.

Please send your complete application to Clemens Güdel, Human Resources SLF, by uploading the requested documents through our webpage. Applications via email will not be considered. Benjamin Walter, phone +41 (0)81 4170 367, will be happy to answer any questions or offer further information. WSL is committed to diversity and inclusion as core values. We actively promote gender equality and foster an open, inclusive work environment.