PhD in Plant Microbiome of Cereals, Wheat Microbiome, and Microbial Ecology Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research in Germany

Doctoral Scientist (PhD) in Plant Microbiome of Cereals at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Germany.

This doctoral project, MicroResponS, is a DFG-funded study on the resilience of the wheat microbiome under water stress and the modulatory effects of fungicides. The work is carried out in the research group Microbial Biogeochemistry at ZALF in collaboration with the Faculty of Life Sciences at Humboldt University of Berlin and partners at the University of Applied Sciences Coburg.

The research topic is strongly oriented toward plant microbiome research, wheat, cereals, microbial ecology, metabarcoding, metagenomics, bioinformatics, ecological statistics, and AI. The advertised tasks include designing and conducting plant pot experiments with wheat and related species, developing and applying meta-omics-based detection of plant growth-promoting microbial traits, publishing results in peer-reviewed journals, presenting at conferences, and collaborating with project partners.

Eligibility highlights include a very good Master's degree, preferably in plant microbiomes or plant-microbe interactions, plus knowledge of metagenomics or microbial ecology in plant hosts. Strong English skills are required, and experience or study background in bioinformatics and ecological statistics (including R) is preferred. The position is a 65% doctoral role for 36 months, with salary according to TV-L up to E13 65% including special annual payment.

The application deadline is 31 May 2026. Applicants should apply online through the ZALF job portal and submit all documents in one PDF file, or use the email application option with the required documents and reference number 23-2026.