The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU) is one of the largest and most renowned universities in Germany. The Chair in Human Geography at the Department of Geography offers a junior researcher position (doctoral student) to support the research activities as parts of the Horizon European project COAST-SCAPES led by Dr. Liang Emlyn Yang. This is a 4-year research project with a consortium of 31 international partners who jointly aim to develop innovative strategies for enhancing coastal resilience across Europe and beyond. https://www.geo.lmu.de/geographie/de/aktuelles/newsuebersicht/news/coast-scapes-project-secures-eu-funding-a-new-opportunity-for-coastal-resilience-research.html

What is offered:
A junior researcher position of three years at LMU Munich. The starting time is expected to be as early as possible from October 2025 but is flexible upon specific situations. The position is suitable and required for doing a doctoral thesis. Remuneration will be according to the German TV-L scheme at the E13 level upon contracted working time. Further career development will be supported.

Tasks and responsibilities:
The junior researcher shall study and research with focus on the comparison, assessment and modeling of coastal resilience pathways in primarily the selected case areas in Europe and Asia coasts. Global scale coastal resilience analysis is desired to establish a database or case-base of coastal resilience. This includes the implementation of data collections from various sources, methodological development, model construction and coding. Contribution to project management and research activities in COAST-SCAPES is a part of the tasks, likely to include field investigations, surveys and expert interviews, local or international conferences, project reports, communication and coordination with the project partners, etc.

The researcher will take a leading role in the development of scientific publications, organizing and supporting various activities of the project, and cooperation with members in the project team. Upon interest, the researcher could also contribute to developing new research proposals in the broader field of climate resilience studies.

Required qualifications and experiences:
• Education background in geography or related discipline in spatial planning, hydrological modeling, geo-informatics sciences, machine learning, big-data or artificial intelligence, with interests in modeling human-environment systems.
• Proven skills in qualitative as well as quantitative social science research are preferred. Experience in project management, workshop moderation and organization are advantages.
• Technic skills and experience would be helpful in terms of developing agent-based models, social network analysis, spatial analysis and mapping tools, related AI utilization and computing expertise.
• Excellent English language skill (written and oral) is prerequisite.
• Willingness to travel for work (field investigations, project meetings, workshops etc.) in Europe countries, as well as in China, Vietnam, Thailand, and other Asian coastal areas is necessary.

Additional assets of interest:
• Expertise in mathematics, statistics, modelling and/or computer programming (e.g. R, Netlogo, Matlab, Python)
• Curiosity and interests in the environmental history, anthropology and culture at global coast regions and particularly in Southeast Asia
• Experience in outreach and communication work at the science-policy-interface
• Language skills (written and oral) in German, Chinese, and/or that in Southeast Asia countries


Application:
The position is negotiable regarding part working time. We seek to increase the share of women in scientific positions and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. People with disabilities who are equally qualified will receive preferential treatment.

Applications shall be submitted by filling the online form and uploading one merged PDF document, which shall include a motivation letter, detailed CV, list of publications, a brief research proposal (2-3 pages), any relevant certificates and other supportive documents, and contact details of at least two potential references (letter of recommendation is not required). Link to the application form:  https://survey.ifkw.lmu.de/Coastalresilience/

Applications will be considered if submitted by Sunday, 24 August 2025 at Central Europe Time. We encourage early submissions, which would help disperse our workload of evaluations. An online interview is expected in middle September 2025.

Contact:
Questions can be drawn to Dr. Liang Emlyn Yang by email (emlyn.yang@lmu.de). Relevant information is available on the introduction page of the COAST-SCAPES project at LMU Munich. https://www.geo.lmu.de/geographie/de/aktuelles/newsuebersicht/news/coast-scapes-project-secures-eu-funding-a-new-opportunity-for-coastal-resilience-research.html