Junior Research Groups

The Alfred Wegener Institute and its partner universities seeks Expressions of Interest from outstanding talents to apply for their own Investigator Group (HGF call for application)

The two-step process will start with an internal selection process of up to three candidates in the thematic or open track as specified below. The final selection of candidates will be carried out by an external expert panel advising the president of the Helmholtz Association. Helmholtz Investigator Groups (HIGs) of successful applicants will be hosted at the AWI. Funding is on the order of €350,000 per year for a period of five years, with potential access to further substantial research infrastructure depending in internal negotiation within AWI. The position is limited to five years and offers access to a tenure track procedure.

Eligibility:

You will be eligible to apply if you have between two and six years of postdoctoral experience (academic age), with up to 6 month at the center you are applying to. For maternity / parental leave, the track record is adjusted according to the rules of HGF (HGF call for application). Further requirements are international research experience as demonstrated by continuous research stay abroad for at least 6 months during the doctoral or postdoctoral studies and, of course, an exceptionally strong CV and draft proposal addressing one of the following topics for which we seek outstanding experts to strengthen our research program.

Thematic track

In the first step, up to two candidates will be selected applying to the following themes:

1) Marine polar climate reconstruction from microfossils - mass spectrometry-based element and isotopic analytics on foraminifera

The HIG shall conduct research in the field of marine polar climate reconstructions with the help of calcareous microfossils as carriers of proxy information on past ocean and climate conditions. The aim is to reconstruct ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere interactions, quantify their effects on atmospheric CO₂ levels and decipher the high-latitude oceans’ role in the global carbon cycle. The physical and biogeochemical processes in the ocean from surface to depth are essential to understand these interactions. Key parameters in this complex system comprise oceanic pH, carbonate ion chemistry, as well as heat exchange and stratification driven by temperature and salinity. These variables shall be assessed through a combination of isotopic and elemental proxy analyses (δ¹⁸O, Mg/Ca, B/Ca, δ¹¹B). Successful applicants should have expert knowledge in mass spectrometry-based analytics of foraminifera, scientific achievements in line with their career stage that provide evidence for future leadership in their discipline, high-quality publications, excellent scientific literacy and outstanding scientific vision.

Information on relevant research at AWI can be found here. If you are interested in submitting an application on this topic, please contact Prof. Ralf Tiedemann and Dr. Lester Lembke-Jene of AWI and from the University of Bremen Prof. Simone Kasemann.

2) Polar boundary layer

The HIG conducts research in the field of measurements of polar boundary layer processes with a focus on turbulence and/or clouds. The project should target small-scale processes in high-latitude boundary layers in a way that contributes to answering big questions on the past, present and future of our climate system. Possible aims include understanding turbulent surface fluxes over polar land, sea-ice or oceans, stable boundary layers, cloud-turbulence interactions or understanding cloud feedbacks to Arctic and Antarctic warming and sea-ice retreat. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to use and further develop our unique observational tools, particularly the polar aircraft equipped with meteorological instrumentation The HIG would be part of AWI’s polar meteorology group, whose common ambition is to push the limits of our understanding of small-scale atmospheric processes to improve our knowledge and modelling capabilities of the climate system. The HIG contributes to research in the Section Atmospheric Physics of AWI. This opens particular opportunities for collaboration within the German DFG Collaborative project AC3 on Arctic amplification and/or the international Antarctic research initiative Antarctica InSync. The applicant should be a curious and creative researcher with experience in boundary-layer processes, ideally also in airborne observations and/or measurements of turbulence.

Information on relevant research at AWI, including contact persons from the AWI scientific section, can be found here. If you are interested in submitting an application on this topic, please contact Dr. Felix Pithan.

Before applying for one of these topics at the AWI, please contact the respective persons named!

Open track

Up to one candidate will be selected in the open track in the first step:

You can also apply in any field of research in which you have recently excelled if generally related to the AWI's research program. This can be demonstrated by a grand idea supported by a first own publication and a CV fit for an ERC application. 

If you are interested in submitting an application in the open track, you should identify and contact a potential mentor for realizing your idea from the AWI and a potentiel partner university. If you need help, please contact corinna.kanzog@awi.de.

Helmholtz Investigator Group leaders collaborate closely with a German partner university. This cooperation allows group leaders to experience the benefits of a collaborative culture based on the division of labor when striving to achieve a common goal. At the same time, they have the opportunity to gain teaching and supervision experience and qualify for a professorship. A potential partner university with indication of a contact person at the university should be specified in the application.

Selection criteria and process

The initial selection of candidates by the AWI in cooperation with a German university will be based on the following selection criteria:

1. Outstanding scientific achievements and research experience of the candidate (CV, publications, citation index, awards, etc.)

2. Quality of the planned research project (innovation capacity, relevance, structure, coherence, feasibility)

3. Leadership qualities and the ability to supervise inter(national) and diverse doctoral researchers

4. Compatibility with AWI´s research program and scientific topics listed above (for the thematic track)

5. Strategic importance for the AWI

6. Synergy effects resulting from the cooperation between AWI and the partner university

Draft application should include a project summary with information on

• Motivation for the research project
• General significance of the proposed project
• Scientific objectives
• Strategic relevance for the research program “Changing Earth - Sustaining our Future”
• Project plan
• Planned group composition and required infrastructure
• Information of the planned cooperation with a German partner university and their experts

A template is available for the draft proposal. Using this template is a formal prerequisite for application submission. Please provide in addition a full curriculum vitae and publication list.

Curriculum vitae template

Helmholtz IG_application template AWI

Questions about the call for applications and the internal selection procedure answered corinna.kanzog@awi.de.

Deadline for submission of draft applications (corinna.kanzog@awi.de) is 20 January 2025. Short-listed applicants will be invited to present their projects to the AWI Scientific Council in March 2025. Successful candidates will be informed after the final decision by the AWI Board of Directors; and they will be asked to provide a full proposal until 30 April 2025.

With the Helmholtz Junior Research Groups, the Helmholtz Association supports the early independence of young scientists and offers them a reliable career perspective. This programme is designed to provide outstanding working conditions in a research-oriented environment for the best foreign and domestic junior researchers. It is aimed at junior employees who have completed their doctorates within the past two to six years.

Further information can be found here.

The Emmy Noether Programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) offers outstandingly qualified young researchers the opportunity to qualify for a university professorship by independently leading a junior research group over a period of six years. Postdocs and temporary junior professors in an early phase of their academic career (usually up to 4 years after the doctorate) can apply. Holders of a junior professorship who have been positively evaluated in the interim are no longer part of the programme's target group.

Further information can be found here.

ERC Starting Grants support aspiring research group leaders who want to establish a well-equipped research team and conduct independent research in Europe. The programme is aimed at promising researchers with proven potential to become independent leaders of a new and excellent research team. It is aimed at junior employees who have completed their doctorates within the past two to seven years.

Further information can be found here.