Norwegian Institute for Water Research

The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) is Norway’s leading institute for basic and applied research on marine and freshwaters. The institute’s research comprises a wide array of environmental, climatic and resource-related fields. NIVA’s world-class expertise is multidisciplinary with a broad scientific scope. We combine research, monitoring, evaluation, problem-solving and advisory services at international, national and local levels.

The NIVA group has approximately 340 employees. NIVA´s head office is in Oslo with regional offices in Bergen, Grimstad, Hamar, Copenhagen and China, a research station at Drøbak (Oslofjord), as well as subsidiaries in Tromsø and Chile.

ECORISK2050: a European training network for assessing environmental risks of emerging chemicals in a changing world. A MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE ACTIONS Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded under H2020-MSCA-ITN_2018

These two PhD positions are part of the project ECORISK2050 led by Wageningen University. ECORISK2050 brings together a world-leading and interdisciplinary consortium of universities, research institutes, industry and regulatory and governmental authorities in order to deliver a cohort of 13 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) who are able to apply novel approaches and innovative thinking to tackle the challenge of assessing environmental risks of emerging chemicals in a changing world. This will be achieved through an integrated programme of research exploring the implications of a range of global changes (including climate change, increase in population, land use change, chemical use and urbanisation, and the associated decrease in biological diversity) on chemical risk. The research programme will be complemented by world class training in the fields of global change and environmental risk assessment of chemicals and in a wide range of complementary skills such as problem solving, systems analysis and project leadership.

The duration of the PhD contracts is 3 years. The selected candidate will be offered a full-time temporal employment contract (40 hours/week) at NIVA. The expected recruitment date is in the period March - May 2019.

Early Stage Researcher 11: Novel tools for forecasting chemical risks in agricultural systems in the futureSupervisors: Dr. Jannicke Moe (NIVA), Dr. Merete Grung (NIVA and University of Oslo, NO), Dr. Marianne Stenrød (NIBIO), Dr. Knut Erik Tollefsen (NIVA)

The objective is to develop and apply a modelling tool for assessing the risk of agricultural chemicals under future scenarios. A possible approach is to assess the risk of exceeding PNEC (Predicted No Effect Concentration) values and ecological quality standards defined by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), by using the NIVA risk assessment database supplemented by new data from the ECORISK2050 network on exposure and effects. ESR11 will develop a generic Bayesian network (BN) model in collaboration with ESR12, to link the risk assessment to outcomes from other ECORISK2050 projects on future climate and land-use scenarios, chemical exposures and biological effects. The BN model can later be adapted to specific case study regions and updated with results from the other ESRs, to assess risk to aquatic organisms under the various climate and land-use scenarios.

Two secondments of 3-month duration is planned for ESR11:(1) with Dr. Paul van den Brink, Wageningen University (Netherlands), to gain experience on risk assessment for Central and Southern European case study regions(2) with Dr. Marianne Stenrød, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, to gain experience on risk assessment for Northern European case study region

Early Stage Researcher 12: Assessing the combined toxicity, cumulative hazard, and cumulative risk of PPCP in wastewaters in the futureSupervisors: Dr. Merete Grung (NIVA and University of Oslo, NO), Dr. Jannicke Moe (NIVA), Dr. Knut Erik Tollefsen (NIVA), Dr. Karina Petersen (NIVA)The objective of ESR12 is to characterize the risk and cumulative hazard of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCP) in waste water systems and prioritising compounds for mitigation measures.A possible approach is to use combined toxicity models developed within the ECORISK2050 network to assess the potential effects of PPCP in wastewater systems. This ESR can use measured concentrations to validate concentrations modelled by other ESRs. The cumulative hazard and risk of ecologically relevant compounds can be predicted by component-based hazard and risk quotients using the NIVA risk assessment database. This will enable an identification of compounds contributing most to the cumulative risk (risk drivers) and identify susceptible species and biological targets as a basis for prioritisation of mitigation measures. ESR12 will develop a Baysian Network model in collaboration with ESR11, to link the risk assessment of the PPCP compounds to global change scenarios, exposure and effects.

Two secondments of 3-month duration is planned for ESR12:(1) with Dr. Alistair Boxall, University of York (UK), to gain experience with exposure of PPCP in Central and Southern European case study regions and compare this with the Northern regions(2) with Dr. Marianne Stenrød, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, to gain experience on mixture toxicity and cumulative hazard assessments.

Eligibility Criteria for ESR positions:

• Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity in Norway for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to their recruitment.
• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree in ecology, ecotoxicology, environmental modelling, or a related discipline, and be highly motivated to work in an international team including secondments with the ECORISK2050 beneficiaries and partner organisations.
• Applicants must not have been awarded a doctoral degree and must not have more than 4 years (full time equivalent) research experience at the date of their recruitment. This is counted from the date they obtain the degree that would let them start work on a doctorate.
• Experience with statistics and modelling are also required.
• Applicants must have excellent written and spoken English skills.

The student will be enrolled as a PhD candidate at the University of Oslo, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Department of Biosciences, and linked to the Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology

Normative grade requirements for the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences:

• the average grade point for courses included in the Bachelor’s degree must be C or better in the Norwegian educational system
• the average grade point for courses included in the Master’s degree must be B or better in the Norwegian educational system
• the Master’s thesis must have the grade B or better in the Norwegian educational system

For more details on the regulations at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences for the Degree of PhD, see

https://www.mn.uio.no/english/research/phd/regulations/regulations.html

Application detailsThe application should contain a cover letter that states your motivation, a CV and supporting documents aboutyour education and professional experience, and two references.

If you are applying for more than one ECORISK2050 position, please rank your preferred ESR projects. Start date: earliest March 2019, latest May 2019.

Ref. nr.: 3980331366

Apply for position

Contact info:

• Jannicke Moe (Senior Researcher), jmo@niva.no
• Merete Grung (Senior Researcher), mgr@niva.no