PhD-position: Resilience of benthic communities to deep-sea mining

The Department of Ocean Systems (OCS) at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) is looking for a highly motivated PhD student with a background in marine ecology to join a research team exploring the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining). You will be a member of the “MiningImpact 3” project, working with Dr. Sabine Gollner (NIOZ), in collaboration with Prof. Willem Renema (Naturalis), on the topic “Resilience of benthic communities to deep-sea mining”. The PhD will be employed and based at NIOZ (Texel Island, the Netherlands), with frequent research stays at Naturalis (Leiden, the Netherlands).

ROYAL NIOZ

NWO-NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is the Dutch national oceanographic institute and principally performs academically excellent multidisciplinary, fundamental, and frontier applied marine research addressing important scientific and societal questions pertinent to the functioning of the ocean and seas. NIOZ includes the National Marine research Facilities (NMF) department that operates a fleet of research vessels and the national pool of large seagoing equipment, and supports excellence in multidisciplinary marine research, education, and policy development.

THE DEPARTMENT

The OCS Department studies the vital role of ocean systems in climate and biodiversity, from equator to pole, from the shelf to the deep ocean, and from present to past. The ocean serves as a critical regulator of global climate, being the largest reservoir of CO2 and heat, while also harboring the most extensive ecosystem on Earth. The OCS department uses in-situ, experimental, analytical, and modeling methods to enhance our fundamental understanding of the chemical, biological, and physical processes in our oceans.

NATURALIS BIODIVERSITY CENTER

Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden is the Dutch national research institute for biodiversity and systematics. With a collection of 42 million specimens, it houses one of the world's largest natural history collections, and it offers state-of-the-art research facilities for species identification, monitoring, and evolutionary research.

THE PROJECT

MiningImpact 3 is an international research project studying the environmental impacts of future deep-sea mining, focusing on polymetallic nodule fields in the Pacific Ocean and massive sulfides associated with deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Atlantic Ocean. The third phase examines changes in environmental variables, biodiversity, and ecosystem functions over space and time, including the long-term effects of test-mining conducted in 2021. Dutch researchers from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Naturalis, and TU Delft contribute by studying biodiversity, plume dispersal, food-web changes, restoration options, and governance frameworks. The findings will support regulations and management tools for deep-sea mining. Accessibility of the project’s scientific findings in the open literature, and public engagement through exhibitions and science-art collaborations ensures transparency on environmental risks and knowledge gaps.

THE ROLE

As PhD student you will perform a combination of sea-going research and laboratory analyses to study resilience of benthic fauna and protists to deep-sea mining. You will investigate biodiversity on natural polymetallic nodules and on artificial nodules that are part of an ongoing restoration experiment following test-mining in the Clarion Clipperton Fracture Zone. You will study biodiversity at inactive vents on the Arctic Mid Ocean Ridge and the connectedness to other benthic and pelagic habitats. You will use taxonomic, trait-based and molecular approaches. You will be part of a biodiversity team at NIOZ/Naturalis, with you working on benthic biodiversity, and another PhD working on pelagic biodiversity. As member of the International MiningImpact3 consortium, you will embrace an open and sharing team effort including the active exchange of data and results, regular team meetings, and integrative analyses. You will be supervised by a team of scientists from NIOZ and Naturalis. Training and courses during the PhD trajectory will be offered by NIOZ, and via the Utrecht University.

THE CANDIDATE

We seek an enthusiastic and independent candidate who has a keen interest in deep-sea biodiversity and in resilience of deep-sea communities to potential future deep-sea mining.

You are a team player, with:

• Affinity with biodiversity research

• A passion for small organisms from the deep sea

• Experience with working with stereomicroscopes, genetic methods (e.g. barcoding, metabarcoding), software such as primer or R, and/or having joined research expeditions at sea.

• An open, communicative, and collaborative attitude

• Strong communication skills in English

We want to be a transparent institute with a healthy working climate and an inclusive culture, where people from diverse backgrounds and gender bring their talents and further develop these talents. We aim for inclusive decision-making processes and expect our leadership to show visible commitment, awareness of bias, and cultural intelligence.

CONDITIONS

• Employment of this full-time position at Royal NIOZ is by NWO-I, for a total duration of 4 years. You start with an appointment for the duration of 1 year, that, after a positive evaluation in the 9th month (Go-No go), will be extended to the full period of 4 years.

• Salary compliant with scales for PhD candidate (OIOs) CAO-WVOI (Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Research Institutes). 

• An appointment at NIOZ as a PhD candidate means working and learning simultaneously conform the NIOZ PhD policy.  

• 338 annualized holiday hours for a full-time 40-hour work week.

• Pension scheme via ABP, 8% holiday allowance and a year-end bonus of 8.33%. 

• 2nd class public transportation travel is reimbursed 100%.

• Employment benefits plan to exchange a portion of your salary for days off or vice versa, or can be used to purchase a bicycle with tax benefits.

• We offer relocation expenses for employees coming from abroad and support with finding accommodation.

MORE INFORMATION

For specific additional information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Sabine Gollner. For additional information about the procedure, please send an e-mail to working@nioz.nl.

Closing date for applications:  27 April, 2025.

Information on selection for pre-interviews before 9 May 2025; online pre-interviews scheduled for 19 and 20 May 2025 (9 – 12 o’clock); selected candidates will be invited for a preferably in-person interview on 23 May or 10 June 2025. The start of the position is ideally by 1st July 2025. These dates are tentative.