>30 Postdoctoral Research Associates, >16 PhD Students and >10 Technicians in Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health

The recently established FWF “Cluster of Excellence: Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health” is looking for >30 postdoctoral research associates, >16 PhD students and >10 technicians to join our interdisciplinary research team at 8 institutions across Austria. We are looking for excellent, curious, and open-minded scientists to develop their potential in one of 17 work packages, spanning environmental (green), human (red) and methodological (blue) topics. More information here.
Application starts on July 15, 2023 and continues until positions are filled. The first selection round is projected to start on August 15, 2023.

“Life would not long remain possible in the absence of microbes” (Louis Pasteur)

If all microbial life disappeared from Earth, our world would change dramatically. Microorganisms are essential for nutrient recycling, decomposing organic matter and maintaining the balance of all ecosystems. They have symbiotic relationships with plants and animals, play a crucial role in food chains and disease control, and contribute to atmospheric composition.

Planetary Health, the health of human civilisation and the natural systems in which it is embedded, is the highest attainable standard of global health and well-being. The goal of Planetary Health aims for the best possible global health and well-being by recognizing the relationships between people, their surroundings, and all living things. It is a comprehensive approach that focuses on how our health is connected to the health of the Earth and everything that lives on it.

Earth‘s microbiomes are the foundation of planetary health, as they underpin almost all ecosystem services that humans depend on. Humans, animals, and plants are inextricably linked with their associated microbiomes. Microbiomes are an essential component of global element cycling, the recycling and purification of water and air, and the productivity of all ecosystems. Their activities have massive consequences for food production, carbon sequestration and climate regulation, and many other processes of global dimension and importance. Our understanding of the links between microbiomes and planetary health is fragmentary, however, because microbes, despite carrying out many similar functions, and despite their ubiquity, are most often studied in discrete hosts or ecosystems.

The Cluster of Excellence “Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health” unites microbiome research in Austria, which already possesses strengths in many highly relevant areas of microbiome research, from the human microbiome to global change microbiology. Our goal is to understand how microbes underpin planetary health and to unlock their potential to improve it.

This program is funded by the FWF Exzellenzinitiative excellent=austria. The first, 5-year period of funding for “Microbiomes drive Planetary Health” begins in October 2023.