Postdoc position: Navigating uncertainty: Planning marine protected areas in a changing Southern Ocean (HIPP26 #3) – Deadline 24 August 2025

At the same time, the Southern Ocean, which plays a key role in regulating our climate through ocean currents, sea ice, and its ability to absorb heat and CO₂ from the atmosphere, is undergoing climate-related changes. It is not beyond the reach of human-induced changes to our planet. In recent decades, environmental changes such as rising atmospheric and oceanic temperatures, reduced sea ice extent, ice shelf thinning, glacier retreat, and increasing ocean acidification have been observed. Record values have been reported, such as in February 2023, when the lowest sea ice extent since satellite observations began in 1979 was recorded at just 2.01 million km. These environmental changes are having profound biological effects, including changes in primary production, community composition, and poleward shifts of species. Species that are endemic to the high southern latitudes and specially adapted to cold conditions are particularly vulnerable, as their habitats with optimal environmental conditions become increasingly scarce. All in all, these ongoing changes highlight the urgent need to rethink the management of this unique region, ensuring that it remains resilient in the face of both human pressures and climate change.

We invite applications for four positions, under the umbrella topic “The dilemma of the Southern Ocean: Ecosystems, sustainability and competing interests at the edge of the world” covering natural and social science perspectives, that will cohere around the ‘dilemma’ facing the Southern Ocean: how competing interests impact its governance, but also drive the need for greater science to understand its changes.

Postdocs in the cohort will undertake independent projects in collaboration with a Principal Investigator (PI) and relevant staff, while also meeting as a unit to work together on joint goals related to the overarching research topic. The Southern Ocean focus is well supported by a recent Antarctic Strategy at the Alfred Wegener Institute and its long-term investment in polar science, as well as its engagement in providing the best available science to policymakers in CCAMLR.

The HIPP (HIFMB Integrative Postdoc Pool) is also designed to allow networking between (marine) institutions. We therefore offer the possibility for candidates to foster external relationships, or in consultation, to bring in additional advisors from institutions outside of HIFMB. HIFMB continues to strive for transformation and to bridge the science-policy interface. Therefore, experience or interest in transfer activities is a plus.

More than 70 nations have committed to the 30×30 initiative under the Global Ocean Alliance, an ambitious effort to protect 30% of the world’s oceans through designated protected areas by 2030. This goal, recently incorporated into the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity, underscores the urgent need for enhanced ocean conservation. Aligned with these global efforts, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has a long-standing commitment to conserving Antarctic marine life by establishing a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) around Antarctica. To date, CCAMLR has successfully designated two MPAs: one near the South Orkney Islands and another in the Ross Sea. However, consensus on four additional proposed MPAs has remained elusive, primarily due to (geo)political disagreements among member states, particularly concerning the balance between conservation priorities and economic interests. In this challenging context, the scientific community must continue to generate robust data and disseminate reliable results. Science-based decision-making is key to overcoming political obstacles and advancing MPA proposals that will secure the long-term protection of the Southern Ocean in a rapidly changing world.

This project requires addressing and answering key research questions regarding the current status of the Southern Ocean, expected ecosystem changes, and their implications for systematic conservation planning. The following pressing research topics provide examples of what could be explored, though other topics may also be considered:

• Climate-smart conservation planning: How can MPAs be designed and managed with climate change in mind, ensuring they remain effective refuges and contribute to ecosystem resilience under changing environmental conditions?
• Ecosystem services: How might climate-induced changes in the Southern Ocean ecosystems affect the provision of ecosystem services, and how can these insights be integrated into systematic conservation planning?
• Optimising connectivity in MPA networks: How can systematic conservation planning approaches be used to enhance the structural and functional connectivity of MPAs in the Southern Ocean, ensuring greater ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change?

You’ll be working in the Southern Ocean Conservation and Governance Group, as well as the Transfer Office of HIFMB, in connection with the Environmental Policy at AWI. The post offers membership to the HIPP cohort and wider HIFMB postgraduate community, and the candidate will liaise between the Working Groups relevant to the position, for example, Weddell Sea MPA and/or Marine Governance.

As a Helmholtz Institute, the HIFMB contributes to one of the Helmholtz Research Programs (currently ‘Changing Earth – Sustaining our Future’) as part of a particular topic (6, Marine and Polar Life). The cohort work will directly contribute to the scope and challenges of topic 6 by researching how marine ecosystems will adapt and respond to human impacts (e.g., fishing, tourism), and by assessing options to remedy and mitigate human impacts.
Within topic 6, this cohort work attends especially to subtopic 6.1, which is central to the HIFMB mission on “Future Ecosystem Functionality,” and subtopic 6.4, “Use and Misuse of the Ocean.” Within subtopic 6.1, it aims to work towards the central goal of understanding biodiversity change and its human impacts and effects, while investigating new and evaluating existing concepts for marine conservation and marine governance. Additionally, the emission of anthropogenic noise places significant additional pressure on the Antarctic ecosystem. Work of the cohort contributes towards deliverables aimed at improved projection capabilities of future marine biodiversity and its role in maintaining key ecosystem functions such as productivity and strategies for sustainable management of selected marine ecosystems.

• A PhD in conservation biology, geoinformatics, spatial ecology, or a related field
• A strong background in statistics and the ability to apply quantitative analysis to ecological data
• A strong background in programming (preferably in R), including data manipulation, statistical analysis, and spatial modelling and mapping
• Experience in spatial prioritisation software (Marxan, Prioritizr) and geospatial tools (QGIS, ArcGIS Pro) is a plus
• Highly motivated and eager to work in an interdisciplinary marine research context
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across disciplines
• Very good English knowledge (approximately equivalent to CEFR level C1)
• A background in Antarctic research is a plus, though not required

For any questions you may have, you are very welcome to get in touch with Dr  Katharina Teschke (katharina.teschke@hifmb.de; +49(471)4831-1731). If you have any questions about the application procedure, please feel free to contact Ruth Krause (ruth.krause@hifmb.de).

This is a full-time position, limited to 3 years. It is also suitable for part-time employment. The salary will be paid in accordance with the Collective Agreement for the Public Service of the Federation (Tarifvertrag des öffentlichen Dienstes, TVöD Bund), up to salary level 13. The place of employment will be Oldenburg.

All postdocs will register with AWI’s postdoc office PROCEED and thus gain access to a set of tailor-made career development tools.

The AWI is characterized by

• our scientific success – excellent research
• collaboration and cooperation – intra-institute, national and international, interdisciplinary
• opportunities to develop – on the job and towards other positions
• an international environment – everyday contact with people from all over the world
• flexible working hours
• health promotion and company fitness
• support services and a culture of reconciling work and family
• occupational pension provision (VBL)

AWI values diversity and actively promotes gender parity, as well as an open, inclusive environment that provides equal opportunities. We are convinced that diverse teams and a variety of perspectives enrich our work and our daily collaboration. In a continuous process of learning and reflection, we aim to ensure that all our employees can be themselves and feel a sense of belonging. We welcome applications from qualified people regardless of binary and non-binary genders, race and nationality, ethnic and social background, religion, age, physical abilities, neurodivergence, sexual orientation, and other identities.

Applicants with disabilities will be given preference when equal qualifications are present.

AWI fosters work-family compatibility in various ways and has received several awards as a result of this commitment. And as a new international member of our team, you can be sure that we will help you settle in. Our Family Office and International Office will be glad to support you, even before you start at AWI.

We look forward to your application!
Please submit your application by August 24th, 2025 exclusively online.
Interviews are planned for the mid until end of September, 2025, in Oldenburg or online.

Employment for this post is subject to the provisions of the German Act on Fixed-Term Employment Contracts in Academia (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz – WissZeitVG). According to WissZeitVG § 2.1, researchers may in general be employed in Germany on fixed-term contracts for a maximum of twelve years before and after their doctorate. Previous academic fixed-term employment in Germany counts, in principle, towards this maximum limit, while academic positions abroad usually do not.

Applicants are required to submit an extended cover letter (max. 2 pages) describing their fit to the position and criteria, and complete the template CV provided (please do not submit a CV not in this format).

If you are applying from abroad and are interested in academic positions in Germany, it may generally be helpful to check and possibly have your degrees recognized in advance via the ANABIN database (https://anabin.kmk.org/cms/public/startseite).

Reference number: 25/65/G/HIPP-b