Area of research:
Scientific / postdoctoral posts
Job description: PostDoc in "Sustaining the keystone: Rethinking Antarctic krill fishery management under climate change" (f/d/m) (HIPP26 #2)
Background
Antarctica is often called the world’s last great wilderness, surrounded by a so-called ‘pristine’ ocean that harbours a highly diverse fauna of invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals. This Southern Ocean covers nearly 10% of the world’s total ocean space. It is a habitat for over 10,000 known marine species. Politically, it is special in that the majority of the space represents Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ). This means that much of the Southern Ocean is, theoretically, open to all nations and has no national-level governance. The region is currently governed through the international Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), with the Southern Ocean under the remit of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Today, Antarctica and its surrounding waters are experiencing an increasing intensity of commercial, scientific, and political developments. The Southern Ocean is no longer a remote region (if it ever was). Scientists, fishers, and tourists travel to Antarctica and its surrounding waters to explore it, and also, in some cases, to exploit it.
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.
Project #2: Sustaining the keystone: Rethinking Antarctic krill fishery management under climate change
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a keystone species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, essential for the survival of many species’ that depend on it. This ecologically critical species is also the target species of the largest and fastest growing fishery in the Southern Ocean, regulated by CCAMLR. CCAMLR aims to manage this fishery sustainably, relying on ecosystem-based approaches incorporating data on predator population, ecosystem state, and krill biomass and distribution. The krill fishery is concentrated in the southwest Atlantic Sector of the Southern Ocean (CCAMLR Area 48), a krill hotspot that supports many krill-dependent air-breathing predators, including penguins, seals, and baleen whales. Simultaneously, this region is experiencing rapid warming and ecological shifts, including in krill biomass. In Subarea 48.1, at the Antarctic Peninsula, krill fishery catches have risen steadily, with the annual allowable catch limit reached 10 times in the past 13 years, intensifying fishing pressure in neighbouring Subareas, such as 48.2 (South Orkney Islands). A critical development occurred during the October 2024 CCAMLR meeting: the expiration of Conservation Measure (CM) 51-07, which previously mandated that the maximum annual allowable catch of 620.000 t be spatially distributed among Subareas 48.1 to 48.4. With no consensus among member states to renew this measure, the fishery now has unrestricted spatial allocation within area 48, heightening concerns over localised overexploitation.
Your Tasks
This project will investigate krill fishing activities before and after the expiration of conservation measure 51-07 in CCAMLR fishing area 48 in conjunction with existing conservation measures, including those implemented by the fishing industry voluntarily. In addition, the project requires addressing and answering key questions regarding krill fishery management, such as:
* Does the current management concept adequately address the emerging challenges posed by climate change and a fast-growing fishery?
* How can the management concept be improved, potentially by learning from management concepts of other global fishries?
* How can an improved management concept be effectively implemented in CCAMLR?
You’ll be working in the Southern Ocean Conservation and Governance Group. The post offers membership to the HIPP cohort and wider HIFMB postgraduate community and the candidate will become part of the Working Group Ecophysiology of Pelagic Key Species.
Further details:
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. The work of the cohort contributes to deliverables aimed at improving the projection capabilities of future marine biodiversity and its role in maintaining key ecosystem functions, such as productivity, and strategies for the sustainable management of selected marine ecosystems.
Your Profile
* A PhD in marine biology, conservation biology, fishery management & conservation, or related fields
* A strong background in handling large data sets, programming (preferably in R), statistical analysis, modelling, and mapping
* 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
Further Information
The AWI is characterized by
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.
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 organisation.
Company
The Helmholtz Association contributes to solving major challenges to assure the future of our society. With more than 47.500 people on staff in 18 national Research Centers and an annual budget of more than 6 billion euros, the Helmholtz Association is Germany’s largest scientific organization. The name Helmholtz stands for concerted research, in which networks form the key principle behind inquiring thought and action.
The profile of the Helmholtz Association
The Helmholtz Association performs cutting-edge research which contributes substantially to solving the grand challenges of science, society and industry. To succeed in meeting these responsibilities, Helmholtz concentrates its work in six research fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Information, Matter, as well as Aeronautics, Space and Transport. Within each of these fields, research programs are developed by our scientists and regularly evaluated by renowned international experts. Their evaluation forms the basis for the program-oriented funding that is allocated to Helmholtz research. Within the six research fields, Helmholtz scientists cooperate with each other and with external partners – working across disciplinary, organizational and national borders.
Moreover, Helmholtz specializes in large-scale research infrastructures – from accelerator facilities, earth observation satellites, research ships to supercomputers. They form the basis for scientific advances in tackling global societal challenges. Managing national research infrastructure is part of the Helmholtz Association's mission.
Promoting young academics
Helmholtz scientists, a high-performance infrastructure and modern and efficient research management are the ingredients to the Helmholtz Association‘s success and global impact.
Promoting young researchers is a major priority for the Helmholtz Association. Its qualification schemes for young researchers are geared mainly towards PhD students, postdocs and young managers. The Helmholtz Association has set high standards for its talent management. Its strategy begins with targeted recruitment of highly qualified staff at all levels, followed by comprehensive support aimed at further developing their potential. Ensuring equal opportunities is an essential element in all talent management activities undertaken by the Helmholtz Association.
The Helmholtz Graduate Schools and Research Schools at almost all Helmholtz Centers provide doctoral students with the general and specific skills and training they need, as well as ample opportunity to network. The period following a doctorate is decisive in determining the direction and success of a scientific career. For this reason, we established Career Development Centers for postdoctoral researchers in the Helmholtz Centers. This equips young researchers with the skills they need to go on to head a Helmholtz Investigator Group, for example. As an Investigator Group leader, junior scientists can independently set up their own group to conduct research in their specialist field and acquire management skills.
Within its talent management strategy, the Helmholtz Association pays special attention to the increased recruitment of talented female scientists both from Germany and abroad. To this end, there are currently two funding programs supporting this policy: and Helmholtz Distinguished Professorship – Funding for the recruitment of leading international female scientists (W3) .
The increasing complexity of the content, structures and framework conditions of scientific work today requires researchers to organize their projects, their employees and, of course, themselves in a highly professional and effective way. In response to these demands, we have set up the Helmholtz Leadership Academy to provide leaders in science with professional management training. Furthermore, the Helmholtz network provides a platform for the alumni of the Helmholtz Leadership Academy to come together and share their experiences of leadership, career development and lifelong learning.
All of this combined makes the 18 Research Centers of the Helmholtz Association a highly attractive environment for talented researchers from all over the world.
Company info
Telephone
0049-30-206329-0
Location
Anna-Louisa-Karsch-Str. 2
Berlin
Berlin
10178
Germany