Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Ecoscience programme. The position is available from 01 September 2026 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title:
PhD position in Environmental effects on Arctic marine organisms from spills of green fuels 

Research area and project description:
Replacing fossil fuels in the shipping industry with alternatives fuels such as ammonia, methanol, or biodiesel fuels produced by renewable energy sources has several direct and derived climate benefits. However, the possible environmental risks to the marine environment associated with a large-scale use of alternative fuels in ships are less well-understood. 

The primary focus on the PhD project is to improve the knowledge on the toxicity of accidental large spills of ammonia, methanol and biofuel on arctic marine organisms and arctic ecosystems. A major part of the PhD project will be to design, construct and complete a range of mesocosm experimental studies in Greenland, to investigate the toxic effects of spills from alternative fuels on selected arctic marine organisms. The large-scale studies should also provide information to understand the fate of fuel spills in the arctic marine environment. The results from the experimental work should be used in an overall environmental assessment of the effects of spills in the arctic marine environment. 

Finally, an important part of the PhD project is to prepare teaching material for bachelor students in Greenland related to environmental effects from new fuels on Arctic marine organisms.

Project description: For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences:
The position requires:

• A bachelor's degree (180 ECTS) and a master’s degree (120 ECTS) in Biology, Environmental engineering, Ecotoxicology or similar.
• Fluency in English.

It is considered an advantage if you have:

• Experience with experimental aquatic ecotoxicology, mesocosmos experiments, data processing and analysis
• about marine fuels and their environmental effects.
• Experience with Arctic field work
• A partially established research network
• Publications and/or reports
• Working knowledge of Danish or another Scandinavian language

We will also emphasize motivation and personal suitability for the position. We are looking for candidates who:

• Have good collaboration skills
• Have good communication and interaction with colleagues and students
• Wants to contribute to a good working environment

Your application shall include: 

• Cover letter explaining your motivation, research interests, skills you bring to the position (1 page)
• Project description as described above including your ideas for the development of this PhD project (1 page)
   

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

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

• Janne Fritt-Rasmussen, jfr@ecos.au.dk (main supervisor)
• Kim Gustavson, kig@ecos.au.dk (co-supervisor)
• Hans Jakobsen, hhja@ecos.au.dk (co-supervisor)
• Lasse Nyholm Jessen, lnje@natur.gl (co-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 25 May 2026 at 23:59 CEST

Preferred starting date is 01 September 2026.

Please note: 

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be considered.
• 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.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.