VDS MES CALL Spring 2025

The Doctoral School in Microbiology and Environmental Science of the University of Vienna offers 3 PhD positions in diverse research areas ranging from molecular microbiology, ecology, and computational biology to environmental geosciences. Our focus is to provide young scientists with a stimulating environment that promotes the development and advancement of essential skills for a prosperous academic career.

Would you like to:

• Join a dynamic and international research environment?
• Have access to unique high-level infrastructure and instrumentation?
• Receive interdisciplinary training at the interface of microbiology, ecology, and environmental geosciences from internationally well recognized scientists?
• Benefit from career coaching and early international networking?
• Live in Vienna, a city that is continuously ranked among the top cities in the world for quality of life?

Regardless whether you are interested in studying molecular and biochemical mechanisms, single cells, microbial communities or ecosystems and biochemical processes, our faculty provides the ideal framework for your PhD project with the combined expertise of 20+ researchers at the assistant, associate and full professor level.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Applications are open until positions are filled. 

We are looking forward to receiving convincing applications of dedicated and enthusiastic students! All students with a master’s degree, or equivalent degree, in life sciences, environmental science, chemistry, geoscience, bioinformatics or any other area which is related to the research topics of our faculty members, are encouraged to apply. We offer internationally competitive salaries and full health benefits.

Please prepare the following documents in one single PDF file for your application:

• Personal motivation letter outlining your interest in the topic and how you fit to the position
• Scientific CV with the contact details of at least two referees (including publications as well as presentations at international conferences)

Please note that C1 English skills are a requirement for all positions announced in our call. Further details on the positions, including application details for each position, can be found on our website.

Positions are available in the following fields:

Polymer Biodegradation by Wastewater Microbiomes 

Water-soluble polymers (WSPs) are essential for numerous applications, and, after use, they enter wastewater systems. This project addresses the critical need for sustainable end-of-life solutions for WSPs. Specifically, the planned research will focus on elucidating how polymer- and wastewater-related factors govern WSP biodegradation. You will employ respirometrybased laboratory tests to quantify biodegradation rates and extents – complemented with microbiome analyses to characterize key microbial players. This research aims to reveal the interplay between factors and will have significant impact – also through collaboration with leading chemical industry partners.

Polymer Biodegradation & Extracellular Enzymes in Aquatic Environments 

Water-soluble polymers (WSPs) are essential for numerous applications, and, after use, they enter wastewater and freshwater systems. To enable sustainable end-of-life solutions for WSPs, a fundamental understanding of the extracellular enzymes in these systems is needed. This project aims to link WSP biodegradation with the activity and identity of extracellular enzymes. Specifically, you will employ a multi-faceted approach based on enzyme inhibition, activity assays based on substrates relevant to WSPs, and enzyme isolation and identification to reveal key enzymes and provide a molecular-level understanding of WSP biodegradation in wastewater and freshwater systems.

Ecophysiology of Stress Response

Stressed out? So are soil microbes! Soils are habitats with unpredictable conditions for microorganisms, confronting them with suboptimal conditions, also regarding the available O2 concentration. As such, up to 80% of microorganisms in soils are assumed to be in a state of low metabolic activity or dormancy. Yet some aerobic heterotrophs have developed a strategy to deal with these varying O2 concentrations. Contrary to the established notion, we found that Acidobacteriota can respire nanomolar O2 concentrations using low-affinity instead of high-affinity terminal oxidases. This refutes the standing hypothesis that the capability to respire O2 in microoxic conditions is exclusively based on the presence and activity of high-affinity terminal oxidases.

This project expands upon this finding to ascertain if this observation extends beyond members of the Acidobacteriota using a combination of respiratory kinetics, genomics, gene expression, knock-out mutants and growth-based experiments, together with our international collaboration partners. This project will have broad-reaching implications to the fields of microbiology, physiology and genomics and ultimately uncover microbial strategies for dealing with environmental stressors.  

Human Exposure and Toxicological Effects of Tire Additives

Tire wear particles (TWPs) are emerging environmental contaminants with growing concern for human health. TWPs contain various chemical additives, such as antioxidants, plasticizers, and vulcanization agents, that are used in the tire manufacturing process to enhance tire performance and durability. Despite their widespread presence in urban air and dust, the extent of human exposure and the associated toxicological effects of these additives remain poorly understood. This PhD project aims to investigate both the human exposure and health impacts of tire-derived chemicals, focusing on exposure scenarios through inhalation.

The successful candidate will work at the interface of environmental chemistry and toxicology to: (1) develop and apply analytical methods for processing and quantifying TWPs and their leachates, (2) assess human exposure through airborne sampling and simulated lung fluids, and (3) evaluate toxicological effects of tire additives using in vitro assays to assess oxidative stress and cytotoxicity on human lung cells. The project combines laboratory-based experiments with fieldwork and will contribute essential data for improving chemical risk assessments of non-exhaust traffic emissions.

Alternative lifestyles of chlamydiae

Chlamydiae are well-known human pathogens, with Chlamydia trachomatis being one of the leading causes of preventable blindness and sexually transmitted diseases. However, chlamydiae are also widely distributed in the environment, where they live primarily in protists such as amoebae. The obligate intracellular lifestyle of chlamydiae is ancient and can be traced back hundreds of millions of years. Recently, metagenomic studies have identified members of the Chlamydiota phylum in anaerobic environments and in phototrophic protists (algae). The aim of this work is to shed light on these unexpected chlamydial lifestyles. The project will involve protist cultivation and infection experiments, advanced fluorescence microscopy methods, genomics and transcriptomics approaches, and bioinformatics analyses. It will contribute to our understanding of the environmental lifestyle of chlamydiae and the emergence of their unique host-associated lifestyle.

ADMISSION PROCEDURE

The admission procedure includes:

• evaluation of the written application by scholarly and scientific criteria by faculty members
• initial online interviews between selected applicants and faculty members (match-making step)
• invitation of selected applicants for (online) panel interviews

For any further questions about the application procedure, please contact vds-mes.cemess@univie.ac.at.

FUNDING

Research projects of successful applicants are funded for a period of up to four years, according to the Austrian Science Fund standard salary for PhD students (€ 2,786.10 gross salary per month in 2023).