PhD in Environmental Science on Marine Observation System Resilience Umeå University in Sweden

Umeå University is advertising a PhD position in Environmental Science with focus on Marine Observation System Resilience at the Department of Ecology, Environment and Geoscience / Umeå Marine Sciences Centre in Sweden.

The project sits within the Measuring What Matters consortium, a Formas-funded research programme focused on developing coordinated, adaptive, and science-based marine and coastal observation systems. The PhD research will examine how marine observation systems can become more resilient, scalable, and adaptive under accelerating environmental and climate change.

Research themes include marine science, environmental science, oceanography, geoinformatics, remote sensing, autonomous sensors, environmental monitoring technologies, data integration, and system-level analysis. The successful candidate will work on long-term reliability, responsiveness, and usability of marine ecosystem monitoring across spatial and temporal scales, with an emphasis on resilience, sustainability, and environmental systems thinking.

The position is based at Umeå Marine Sciences Centre and involves collaboration with Uppsala University – Campus Gotland, the University of Gothenburg, and the County Administrative Board of Gotland. The main supervisor is Dr Heidi Burdett, with co-supervision from Dr Léon Serre-Fredj and Dr Lina Mtwana Nordlund.

Eligibility highlights: applicants need a relevant second-cycle degree or equivalent, relevant coursework in marine/environmental fields, a second-cycle course in the planned specialization, and an independent degree project. Strong English skills are required. Experience with environmental data analysis, programming (Python/R/MATLAB), GIS, machine learning, modelling, sensor data, and remote sensing is considered meritorious.

Funding: the position is a full-time PhD employment with salary according to university PhD salary levels. The employment is intended to lead to a doctoral degree and may include up to 20% teaching/departmental work.

Application deadline: 2026-08-16. Apply via Umeå University’s Varbi recruitment system and include a cover letter, CV, thesis or thesis summary, transcripts, certificates, and referee contacts.