04 Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stockholm University, Sweden

According to the Randolph Glacier Inventory, Sweden has currently 269 glaciers, of which some are threated by extinction. The first modern swedish glacier change inventory, derived from satellite imagery, shows that since 2017, Swedish glaciers have lost ca 11% of their area, though volume losses cannot be quantified with certainty. Volume loss quantification requires knowledge of the ice-bed interface, which is not available for the majority of the Swedish glaciers. For a few glaciers in the Kebnekaise massif, subglacial topography was acquired from 1970s-2000s, but these have limited use as input to modern numerical glacier dynamics models, because many were acquired with analogue radar systems, pre-GNSS positioning, and data are not openly available.

Under “business as usual” emission scenarios, 4 out of 5 glaciers in Sweden are predicted to have retreated considerably, or vanished, by 2100. Notably, this already initiated glacier retreat is accompanied by other substantial changes. For example, glacier thermal and hydrological processes, such as thinning of the cold surface layer in polythermal glaciers like Storglaciären, and the potential impact on surface-to-bed meltwater transport processes due to recent increases in moulin occurrence.

Geophysical methods such as radio-echo sounding (RES) allow for both mapping of subglacial topography, and for studying englacial architecture and dynamics. Within a pilot project in collaboration with Prof. Neil Ross/Newcastle University/UK conducted during spring 2024 (here referred to as TRS-RES), TRS has acquired RES data at Storglaciären, Moarhhmáglaciäern, and Rivgojiehkki, three of Sweden’s four reference glaciers for which reports are sent annually to the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Data was acquired from the ground as well as from airborne (helicopter) systems, and will be extended to Rabots Glacier (the fouth Swedish reference glacier) and several others in the near future. RES missions have so far been carried out to establish modern reference ice thicknesses and subglacial topography, but the next step in the project will focus on englacial architecture and glaciological processes and dynamics.

The Department of Physics offers a postdoc position available for a highly motivated and enthusiastic candidate for studies in the area of biomolecular physics. The applicant is expected to play a key role in exploring the physics of biomolecular condensates which are linked to the emergence of life by concentrating key chemicals that facilitated the formation of the earliest stable cells. This is a highly interdisciplinary project in the crossroads of biophysics, data science and physical chemistry.

The current project aims to development of advanced microdroplet reactor setups which offer precise control over biomolecular condensation and are designed for experiments at large-scale facilities, such as X-ray storage rings and X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs).

The position will be associated with the projects: “Carbon Loss In Plants, Soils and Oceans” (CALIPSO) and “Soil microbial responses to land use and climatic changes in the light of evolution” (SMILE). Both projects investigate how soil processes and biota drive the cycles of carbon and nutrients, aiming to develop and test models based on optimality theories. Collaborations with several partners across Europe are envisioned, providing a unique opportunity for networking.

The Department of Mathematics at Stockholm University has 38 faculty staff members, divided into three divisions: Mathematics, Mathematical statistics and Computational Mathematics. The Division of Mathematics carries out research in a wide range of topics in pure mathematics, including algebra, representation theory, analysis, combinatorics, algebraic geometry, logic and topology. In particular the department has a large and active research group in arithmetic geometry, algebraic geometry, representation theory and topology, working in a variety of fields such as the Langlands Program, Shimura varieties, moduli spaces and stable homotopy theory.