Job Alert: PhD Position –“Pollution and food safety, United Nations University 08.09.2014

The United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) has announced a new PhD Position –“Pollution and food safety”(Doctoral Fellowship Award). The position is associated with the DeltAdapt project, a BMBF (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research) funded project aiming to explore the socio-ecological sustainability of coastal agro-ecosystems in the Mekong and Red River Delta, Vietnam and their adaptation options to increasing salinity intrusion. The main focus is on management shifts between paddy rice, rice-shrimp farming, and saline aquaculture and the consequences of these on-farm adaptation processes to salinity intrusion on soil quality, biodiversity, climate, and livelihoods. UNU-EHS leads work package 4 on “Pollution and food safety”. The work is based on the assumptions that salinity intrusion as well as directly or indirectly salinity-driven changes in land use and irrigation patterns will influence the application (amount, timing, and spatial distribution) of pesticides and antibiotics in the coastal areas. The different levels of salinity intrusion as well as the related land use may alter the soil properties, and consequently also modify the fate and bioaccumulation processes of these chemicals in the environment. Responsibilities: Under the authority of the Director of UNU-EHS and the Head of the Environmental Vulnerability and Ecosystem Services (EVES) section, the successful candidate will be entrusted with the following tasks: · Field research (e.g. questionnaires, interviews) to understand typical application rates of pesticides and antibiotics used in agriculture and aquaculture in coastal areas of both deltas and to determine recent changes in application rates in the context of increasing salinity intrusion and salinity driven land use changes. · Field research (sampling, laboratory analysis) to determine typical current pesticide and antibiotic concentrations in coastal soils and sediments of both deltas. · Research (Laboratory studies, analysis) to determine the effect of different salinity levels on the fate (dissipation, bioaccumulation) of selected, relevant pesticides and antibiotics. · Research about the effect of land use change on the release and bioaccumulation of these pollutants. Starting Date: as soon as possible, 1 November 2014 latest To learn more about the requirements and application process, please see the official vacancy announcement attached below. See Attached files here: 108.93KB ANNOUNCEMENT: PhD Position –“Pollution and food safety

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