Postdoctoral Researcher (m/f/d) in the field of “Reactive Nitrogen, Food Security and Sustaina...

About the role

The announced position is embedded in the newly funded international research platform AgNUE. The platform is based on a network of twelve intensively monitored field sites across Europe and the United States and represents the first large-scale assessment of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) across major EU and US cropping systems. To support the development of more sustainable nitrogen management in agricultural systems, full nitrogen balances will be determined by means of field measurements using state-of-the-art technologies for gas flux monitoring, isotope measurements, and environmental sensing. These comprehensive data sets will allow the identification of pertinent nitrogen management strategies and will be further used to improve process and AI-based simulation models of nitrogen cycling, emissions, and crop uptake.

Responsibilities

• Conduct 15N isotope tracing experiments to quantify the fate of fertilizer-derived nitrogen across the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum.
• Quantify total soil denitrification losses (N2 + N2O) through 15N gas flux measurements in the field and controlled He/O2 incubation experiments in the laboratory.
• Identify and quantify pathways of N2O production and consumption using isotopic tracers and N2O isotopomer analysis.
• Assess NO emissions, NO:N2O partitioning, their environmental drivers, and mitigation options across key agricultural systems.
• Lead scientific publications and collaborate with an international network of researchers.

About the organization

This research center is part of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers. With more than 42,000 employees and an annual budget of over €5 billion, the Helmholtz Association is Germany's largest scientific organization.

Starting date: 22 July 2026