PhD fellowship in atmospheric science with focus on machine learning at Aarhus University

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Environmental Science programme. The position is available from 1 October 2026 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title
Describing atmospheric concentrations of P. infestans, using Poleno Jupiter, atmospheric transport models and machine learning

Research area and project description
The Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus University, Denmark, is offering a PhD position in atmospheric science, starting 1 October 2026 or earliest possible thereafter.

The overarching aim of this PhD project is to reveal atmospheric concentrations of the plant pathogen Phytopthora infestans in Denmark and how long-range transport may augment atmospheric concentrations originating from Danish potato fields. This is part of 4-year project funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundations call “Exploratory Research Instrumentation”. The project, called EARLY-BLIGHT, extends the usage of existing Poleno Jupiter instruments on airborne pollen for monitoring airborne fungal spores and P. infestans in Denmark.

The role of the PhD student in this project will be particularly focused on the following objectives: 1) Developing machine learning models to be applied on raw data from Poleno Jupiter 2) Creating training data to be used by Poleno Jupiter and machine learning models, 3) Analysing raw data from Poleno Jupiter with machine learning models to understand atmospheric concentrations of fungal spores in Denmark and comparing the observed results with available data such as infestation level and DNA based concentrations of airborne fungal spores. 4) Analysing atmospheric transport of fungal spores using transport model like WRF-Chem and HYSPLIT.

The PhD student will closely collaborate with postdocs working on atmospheric sampling of bioaerosols and analysing the concentrations with DNA techniques such as digital PCR and sequencing. Furthermore, the PhD project is tightly connected with the 7-year RECRUIT project termed High resolution detection and modelling of pollen and spores, also funded by Novo Nordisk Foundation. The objective is to build a research group focusing on developing new detection and modelling techniques for bioaerosols in Denmark and within this, to build the infrastructure needed for Poleno Jupiters. The PhD student is expected to actively collaborate with the AUTOPOLLEN community and have an international stay of at least 3 months.

• Project description (½-4 pages). This document should describe your ideas and research plans for this specific project. If you wish to, you can indicate an URL where further information can be found.

Qualifications and specific competences
We are searching for a highly motivated candidate who has an M.Sc. degree in microbiology, environmental sciences, physical or chemical sciences, or closely related fields.

Demonstrated oral and written communication skills in English are required. The applicant is expected to present results at international conferences and publish them in international peer-reviewed journals. The applicant should be interested in working in an international and interdisciplinary academic environment. The candidate will work a lot with Linux High Performance Computers and GEFION. GEFION is one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers for big data and machine learning. A candidate will therefore have to articulate that GEFION access will, in time, be granted.

Furthermore, there is an experimental element, in particular the collection and generation of training data for Poleno Jupiter and in field work involving Poleno Jupiters. We would prefer candidates with the following qualifications:

• Experience in machine learning and big data using Python and Tensorflow. Experience with Linux and HPC computing
• Good skills in laboratory work and field work
• Experience with atmospheric science and in particular aerobiology is desirable.
• An ability to communicate effectively in English and contribute to dissemination and reporting research outcome in high-impact scientific journals.
• Collaborative and interpersonal skills and will to contribute positively to the working environment.
  

Place of employment and place of work
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399 4000 Roskilde, Denmark.

Contacts
Applicants seeking further information regarding the PhD position are invited to contact:

• Professor Carsten Ambelas Skjøth, c.skjoth@envs.au.dk (main supervisor)
  

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide. If answers cannot be found there, please contact:

• admission.gradschool.tech@au.dk
  

How to apply
Please follow this link to submit your application. Application deadline is 2 September 2026 23:59 CEST.

Preferred starting date is 1 October 2026.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

 

INFORMATIONER OM STILLINGEN:

- Arbejdspladsen ligger i:

Roskilde Kommune

-Virksomheden tilbyder:

-Arbejdsgiver:

Technical Sciences - Institut for Miljøvidenskab, Frederiksborgvej, 4000 Roskilde

-Ansøgning:

Ansøgningsfrist: 02-09-2026;

Se mere her: https://job.jobnet.dk/find-job/a5e4fb8d-717b-4bb3-93a6-f3d435c04111