Postdoc position: “Novel physical and biological measurements at the North Sea”

The Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems research of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is looking for an enthusiastic post-doc to study performing physical and biological measurements with novel equipment in the North Sea, with emphasis on offshore wind farms.

THE INSTITUTE

NIOZ is the national oceanographic institute of the Netherlands. Its principal mission is to perform academically excellent, multidisciplinary, fundamental and frontier-applied marine research and education addressing important scientific and societal questions pertaining to the functioning of oceans, seas and deltas. NIOZ advances fundamental understanding of marine systems, the way they change, the role they play in climate and biodiversity, and how they may provide sustainable solutions to society in the future. NIOZ serves as national marine research facilitator for the scientific community in the Netherlands. In addition to its research and education, NIOZ supports marine-policy development within the national and international context.

THE DEPARTMENT

The department of Estuarine and Delta Systems (EDS) of NIOZ is based in Yerseke. We study how the interplay between biota, hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics and biochemistry shapes the estuarine, deltaic and coastal environments within the context of natural and human-induced environmental changes. Our department has a multidisciplinary approach that combines state-of-the-art biophysical, biochemical, ecological and physiological measurements and experiments with remote sensing and numerical modelling to create in-depth understanding of the processes that control estuarine and delta systems. One important focus for the department is how our research can create value for society.

THE PROJECT

This post-doc position is for the two projects NO-REGRETS and DEM@VISE.

NO-REGRETS (North Sea Renewable Energy: Gaining the Required Ecological Knowledge for the Transition) is a six-year (2025-2031) project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO-NWA ORC) and examines the ecological and economic trade-offs of upscaling Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs) in the context of climate change and the ongoing food and nature transitions in the North Sea. The project has an interdisciplinary consortium of world-class expertise from eight Dutch Universities, five Research Institutes and relevant societal stakeholders that play a major role in research and management of the North Sea. The six-year program (2025-2031) advances knowledge on potential impacts of OWFs on ocean currents, suspended sediments, microscopic plankton, various life stages of fishes, seabed composition, seafloor organisms, marine mammals, and sea birds. The post-doc position will study particle and plankton distributions in and around OWFs in the Dutch North Sea.

DEM@VISE (Digitizing Ecological Monitoring @ Vertical profiling, Imaging and Smart maintenance Exploration) will further develop monitoring tools that currently have a TRL (technology readiness level) that is too low to allow for inclusion in the standard monitoring operations by Rijkswaterstaat. The technologies that DEM has identified that need further development are: 1. Smart maintenance; technologies that allow for longer maintenance intervals in areas that are prone to fouling, 2. plankton imaging; automated and (semi)-continuous monitoring of the zooplankton community using imaging techniques and 3. vertical profiling; methods for continuous vertical profiling of the water column. In this project, we will purchase and test (first inshore and later offshore at the North Sea) instruments for these three subprojects. These techniques seem to be an excellent fit to the questions asked in NO-REGRETS so we aim for deployment in and around OWFs.

THE CANDIDATES

We are looking for an enthusiastic candidate with:

• an PhD degree in marine ecology, oceanography,

• extensive knowledge on North Sea zooplankton

• extensive knowledge on zooplankton imaging techniques

• ability to program and train machine learning models for automated image classification

• experience with shipborne campaigns and ready to join multi-week cruises

• an open, communicative and collaborative attitude

• good English oral and writing skills

The selected candidate will be based at NIOZ in Yerseke, and will work with other institutes within the project.

We are 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 duration of 4 years.

• Salary compliant with CAO-WVOI  (Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Research Institutes) scale 10 or 11 depending on relevant experience.

• The freedom to fulfill your role and space and opportunities for your personal (talent) development with the help of the NIOZ Academy.

• 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 additional information about this vacancy, please contact Dr. Dick van Oevelen. For additional information about the procedure, please send an e-mail to working@nioz.nl

Closing date for this vacancy is 31-March-2026.