The Department of Geography, University of Turku, has two 3-year PhD positions available in flood research arising from two sister projects:

• The Future of Floods in Finland (TULeVAT) (funded by the Academy of Finland), and
• Minimising Flood Damages: Flood Scenarios, Damage Assessment and Risk Maps (EXTREFLOOD II) (funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and Ministry of the Environment)

The main objective of the research projects is to improve understanding of flooding and flood-related hazards under the changing environmental conditions, including

• scenario building in a century time frame of future flow conditions and flooding as a function of climate and the physical characteristics of the studied drainage basins (e.g., sediment erosion-transport-accumulation and channel gradient change) using sophisticated GIS techniques and hydraulic modelling
• projections of flood-related damages; their evaluation and assessment, plus implications to mitigation and adaptation e.g., land use planning, flood defence and flood rescue measures
• cartographic visualisation and database development of flood hazards and flood risk indices using GIS techniques.

Requirements for both posts include a Master’s Degree in an appropriate field, and a good written and oral knowledge of English, plus additionally, as listed below:

PhD project on physical aspects of flood research

• Background in physical geography or equivalent, preferably with an emphasis on hydrogeography
• Knowledge in remote sensing / geoinformatics
• Demonstrated computing skills

PhD project on human aspects of flood research

• Background in geography or equivalent, preferably with emphasis on planning and cartography
• Knowledge in geoinformatics
• Experience in quantitative/qualitative research methods

Salary will be based on the new payroll system of the Finnish universities on demand levels 2– 3, equalling EUR 1619–1785 per month, plus a component based on personal work performance (max 46% of the baseline salary).

Applications in English language should consist of a cover letter including a short explanation of candidate’s interest in conducting a PhD in flood research, a CV and a verified copy of the Master’s Degree certificate, plus names and contact information of two persons who can be contacted as a reference.

Application should be sent to the address below to arrive no later than Mon 20 November 2006.

Working environment, see http://www.utu.fi/en/

For further information, contact Jukka Käyhkö +358-2-333 5593, jukka.kayhko@utu.fi