PhD fellowship on Hyporheic zone mixing, University of Rennes, France, Department of Geosciences

Closing date: 30 April, 2018

Project Description: The project focuses on the dynamics of the hyporheic zone (HZ) - the sedimentary interface between a river and the subsurface – to uncover its role in biogeochemical cycles (nitrogen, carbon among others) as well as contaminants release in rivers (arsenic, emerging contaminants …). The PhD student will explore the effect of hydro-sedimentary transient forcing, such as flood, sediment transport and water table fluctuations in driving reactive hot spots and hot moments of HZ processes. She/he will combine innovative experimental techniques – allowing for a 3D spatio-temporal measure of fluxes and transfers across the interface --, with recent theoretical breakthroughs on the physics of mixing in porous media that constitute HZ sediments. Applications of expected results are broad: from modelling critical zone biogeochemical processes to managing HZs regarding water quality, agriculture practices, climate change and dam/flood management.

Detailed description: https://reactivefronts-erc.univ-rennes1.fr/phd-fellowships/

Eligibility: To be eligible, the candidate should be non-French and have not resided in France for more than three months. She/he should have a strong educational background in fluid/soil mechanics, hydrology or environmental sciences. She/he should show excellent skills in physical methods applied to earth science systems and should display sound practical sense regarding experimental and laboratory work.

Funding: The project will be co-funded by European Research Council (ERC) project ReactiveFronts (on-going reactivefronts-erc.univ-rennes1.fr) and the program “Make our planet great again” launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron (https://www.campusfrance.org/en/co-financing-of-3-year-doctoral-contracts funding decision based on PhD applicants).

Location: The PhD student will be based at the Geoscience Rennes lab, a leading scientific institution in the field of hydrogeology. He will thus benefit from an outstanding interdisciplinary environment, state-of-the-art experimental facilities and numerous international collaborations. He will join the recently formed team of PhD students and postdocs of the ERC project ReactiveFronts (reactivefronts-erc.univ-rennes1.fr).

Supervisors: Joris Heyman, postdoctoral fellow, University of Rennes, France (joris.heyman@univ-rennes1.fr), Tanguy Le Borgne, professor, University of Rennes, France (tanguy.Le-Borgne@univ-rennes1.fr)