WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF The WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF is part of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL and thus of the ETH Domain. WSL focuses on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards. WSL employs approximately 600 people, of whom 180 work at SLF in Davos.
The Research Unit «Snow and Atmosphere» investigates snow and its interactions with the hydro- und atmosphere across different scales, with the aim to improve our understanding ofthe role of snow in the climate system. Within our Snow Physics group, we are looking for a
PhD student in "Observation & model representation of radiative transfer in firn" (f/m/d)
This position is part of the deFIRN project, and is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project is a collaboration between the WSL (Ruzica Dadic), University of Fribourg (Martina Barandun and Horst Machguth), and ETH Zurich (Evan Miles). The core team consists of the 4 PIs, 4 PhD students, and 4 Postdocs and aims to quantify the impact of disappearing firn on mountain glaciers. The project also features a broad network of partners in Europe and Central Asia.
The aim of this PhD position is to improve the model representation of albedo and radiative transfer of firn and glacier ice, with particular focus on the dry-to-wet firn transitions and newly exposed glacier ice, through existing and new field observations (Swiss Alps and Central Asia), laboratory experiments and process modelling. The 4-year position is based at the SLF in Davos, supervised by R. Dadic and co-supervised by M. Baradun and H. Machguth.
If you have a master’s degree in environmental science, geoscience, engineering, physics, or a related field, you are interested in the cryosphere, you have experience in computational data analysis or modelling, and you would like to move to the beautiful Swiss mountains, this may be the perfect position for you. If you are interested, please send your application, including a 1) motivation letter, 2) CV, and 3) educational transcripts to Clemens Güdel, Human Resources SLF, through our webpage. Applications via email will not be considered. The optimal starting date for the PhD candidate is 1 April 2026. Please contact if you have any questions. WSL is committed to diversity and inclusion as core values. We actively promote equality and foster an open, inclusive work environment.