Bewerbende mit Behinderungen erwünscht 👨‍🦽👨‍🦯🦻 15 positions as Research Associates (Doctoral Candidates) (f/m/d)

The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF) and funded by federal and state government. AWI focuses on polar and marine research in a variety of disciplines such as biology, oceanography, geology, geochemistry and geophysics thus allowing multidisciplinary approaches to scientific goals.

15 positions as Research Associates (Doctoral Candidates) (f/m/d)

Background
The University of Bremen at MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences within the Cluster of Excellence “The Ocean Floor - Earth's Uncharted Interface” is seeking to fill - subject to the approval of funds – starting on January 1, 2026 at the earliest, up to 15 positions as Research Associates (Doctoral Candidates) (f/m/d)

• German Salary Scale 13 TV-L /TVöD (depending on the project partner)
• at 75% of the regular weekly working hours (29.4 working hours / week) for a fixed-term period of 4 years, until at most December 31, 2029 (according to § 2 WissZeitVG) with the aim of obtaining a doctorate.
• International applications are expressly encouraged. We aim to increase the proportion of women and strongly encourage female applicants to apply.

Your Tasks
The Cluster of Excellence is a joint project of the Universities of Bremen and Oldenburg and a consortium of five partner institutions: Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Constructor University and the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg - Institute for Advanced Study.

Funded by the German Excellence Strategy, the cluster quantifies exchange processes at the ocean floor and investigates their role in the Earth system. The cluster's research portfolio consists of projects that (i) decipher the processes that control the transport of biogenic particles to the ocean floor under changing climate conditions, (ii) balance the transfer of carbon and other elements between the ocean floor and seawater, (iii) investigate how ecosystems on the ocean floor react to environmental changes and (iv) develop scenarios for a “warmer world” from climate archives on the ocean floor with the help of climate models.

Further information about the Cluster of Excellence can be found at .

Along these central research topics, the Cluster offers a structured training for doctoral students in an interdisciplinary framework of marine biogeochemistry, marine geosciences, marine (micro)biology and (paleo)climatology.
The cluster offers a versatile qualification program in which doctoral researchers can strengthen their professional competence and develop their personal skills. The program offers rich opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration across different disciplines of marine sciences, including research stays at partner institutions. Further details on the training program can be found at .

In this context, the partner institutions of the cluster invite applications for:
Doctoral researcher positions in the areas:

• EXC1-01 Carbon Sequestration at the Molecular Level
  
• EXC1-02 The role of iron cycling in sequestration and remobilization of organic matter
  
• EXC1-03 Molecular Gatekeepers of Carbon Sequestration
  
• EXC1-04 The role of lateral transport in enhancing carbon fluxes to the ocean floor
  
• EXC1-05 Unraveling the spatio-temporal development of cold-water coral ecosystems
  
• EXC1-06 Anthropogenic particulate carbon from source to sink
  
• EXC1-07 Lighting the Way: Metabolic Tracing of Plankton Sugars in Marine Sediments
  
• EXC1-08 From surface to seafloor: process-oriented modelling of particulate organic carbon
  
• EXC1-09 Metal-microbe interactions in hydrothermal plumes
  
• EXC1-10 Deconstructing Arctic hydrothermal systems
  
• EXC1-11 Nanoscale Interactions of Vent-Derived Particles
  
• EXC1-12 Deep-sea natural petroleum seeps and hydrothermal systems
  
• EXC1-13 Forecasting changes in pelagic ecosystem functions in a warmer ocean
  
• EXC1-14 Determining the pre-anthropogenic baseline of pelagic biodiversity change
  
• EXC1-15 Decoding feedbacks and thresholds
  

Follow the links for detailed project descriptions and application requirements. It is recommended to contact the cluster spokesperson Prof. Heiko Pälike ( [email protected] ) or the responsible researchers of the individual projects for further information.

Place of employment and remuneration (TV-L or TVöD) depend on the partner institutions where the project is located. Further information can be found in the project descriptions.

We offer you

• A secure salary and statutory health and social insurance
• In the Cluster of Excellence, doctoral researchers are mentored by a team of experienced scientists and benefit from a large international network of doctoral researchers
• We offer flexible working hours and the opportunity to work remotely. In addition, 30 days of vacation are standard with us
• Our health management offers you, e.g., discounted company fitness programs, as well as internal health-promoting offers (e.g. health courses)
• Easy access to your workplace by public transport or bicycle

All partner institutions in the cluster pursue a strategy of diversity. We therefore welcome all applications regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion/belief, disability, age, sexual orientation and identity.
Disabled persons with essentially equal professional and personal qualifications will be given priority when applying.

You can apply for up to three projects, stating a prioritization. The application must include a letter of motivation, your CV with certificates, a list of publications (if applicable) and the contact details of two references.

You are interested?
Please send your application with your complete and informative documents, quoting the reference number A179-25, by 25.07.2025as a PDF file (max. 5 MB) by unencrypted electronic mail to: [email protected]
or by mail to:

MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
University of Bremen
Prof. Dr. Heiko Pälike
Leobener Street 8
28359 Bremen
Bremen, Germany

Please note that no photos are to be attached to the application documents.

We ask you to submit only copies (no portfolios), as we cannot return them. Once the selection process has been completed, your application documents will be stored in accordance with the legal requirements and then destroyed.
Any costs for the application procedure cannot be reimbursed.