HDR Scholarship: Artificial aquatic ecosystems – sources or sinks of nitrous oxide?

We are seeking a highly motivated PhD candidate to contribute to an ARC (Australia Research Council) DECRA (Discovery Early Career Researcher Award) project, “Artificial aquatic ecosystems – sources or sinks of nitrous oxide?” under the supervision of DECRA Fellow, Dr Jackie Webb.

In this project you will contribute to research that generates knowledge of the characteristics that mitigate N2O emissions and enhance N storage in artificial aquatic ecosystems. This project is structured around four themes, and as such there will be multiple avenues for contributions that can be collaboratively designed to suit the interests of the candidate and project objectives. The themes will address knowledge gaps and improve quantitative estimations of:

1. How much artificial aquatic ecosystems contribute to anthropogenic N2O emissions.

2. What the environmental conditions are that balance N2O production and uptake in artificial aquatic ecosystems.

3. Spatial and temporal uncertainties associated with aquatic N2O emissions and how this is affected by human disturbance, climate, and landscape factors.
4. The ecosystem service or disservice offered by sediment N storage, N2O emission mitigation, and carbon burial.

The project will involve periods of intensive field measurements, laboratory work, and data processing. Field studies will be mainly carried out in south-east Queensland and south-west New South Wales. The project includes collaborations with researchers from different disciplines (groundwater hydrologists, aquatic biogeochemists, microbial ecologist, environmental geochemists, bioengineering) within Australia and across the globe, as well as with industry professionals in the water and agricultural sector. You will have access to and training on state-of-the-art field and laboratory monitoring instrumentation for greenhouse gas, hydrological, geochemical, and microbial measurements. As a PhD student you will be supported in the publication of your research in leading journals and presentations at national and international conferences.

The PhD stipend is $39,000 per year (tax free), and funding for field work and conferences will be covered. Maximum period of tenure of an award is 3 years.
The start date is flexible but ideally sometime between September and December 2026.

To be eligible applicants must:
• have completed an Honours Degree with a First Class Honours, or a Master’s degree with a significant research component;
• not be receiving equivalent support providing a benefit greater than 75% of the student’s stipend rate;
• be eligible to commence a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in late 2026;
• be a domestic student or permanent resident.

We are looking for candidates with creativity, power of initiative, independence and a strong personal commitment to research integrity. Requirements of the position are:

• an academic background in earth science, limnology, environmental engineering, data science, microbial ecology, geochemistry, hydrology or from similar fields;
• experience with large datasets, spatial and environmental analysis, and field work will be viewed favourably;
• proficiency in R or similar scripting languages for data cleaning, analysis and visualisation;
• have a driver licence for travelling to field sites;
• be able to express yourself very well in English, both orally and in writing.

Interested applicants should send in a single PDF: 1) a letter of intent describing yourself, your research interests and motivation of why you want to do a PhD, and why you are suitable for the position (max 1 page); 2) your CV; 3) a copy of academic transcripts and a copy of your master/honours thesis; 4) the names and contact information to at least two referee’s (e-mail address and phone no.).

Review of applications will begin 17th April 2026 and will continue until the position is filled.

Ongoing until the position is filled.

For further information about the position please contact Dr Jackie Webb via jackie.webb@unisq.edu.au.