PhD Student - Air quality source apportionment in Europe (R1)

• Run model experiments on the BSC supercomputers
• Compile air quality observations for model evaluation
• Evaluate model experiments with observations
• Develop analysis strategies
• Participate in collaborative projects with partner institutions
• Present results at meetings
• Contribute to the intellectual life of the AC group, including meetings and collaborations
• Other duties include contributing to the development of common analysis tools; writing project reports; contributing to scientific papers; assisting in grant applications; and other duties as assigned., * A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process

The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

• Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
• Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.

In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.

The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact recruitment [at] bsc [dot] es. For more information, please follow this link.

• Having a MSc in Environmental engineering or related discipline

• Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

• Knowledge in atmospheric chemistry and air quality fundamentals (3-5 years)
• Knowledge in high-level computer languages (FORTRAN is required)
• Experience in data analysis (0-2 years)
• Experience with UNIX/LINUX environments and with scripting languages (such as bash) (0-2 years)

• Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

• Previous experience on air quality modeling will be highly valued
• Experience with atmospheric science data formats (NetCDF) and with scientific software and tools (CDO, NCO, Python or R)

• Competences

• Very good interpersonal skills
• Fluency in English
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to take initiative, prioritize and work under set deadlines
• Ability to work both independently and within a team

• The position will be located at BSC within the Earth Sciences Department
• We offer a full-time contract (35h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
• Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
• Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
• Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
• Starting date: September 2026

The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries. Look at the BSC experience: BSC-CNS YouTube Channel Let's stay connected with BSC Folks! We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured. We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences. If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team. Context And Mission We are looking for a junior researcher to join the Atmospheric Composition (AC) group within the Earth Sciences department at the BSC-CNS. The AC group aims at better understanding and predicting the spatiotemporal variations of atmospheric pollutants along with their effects upon air quality, weather and climate. This is addressed through the continuous development and application of numerical models over multiple scales, from weather to climate and from global to urban scales. The position will be directly linked to the research field of tropospheric ozone and particulate matter (PM) formation and source apportionment. Ozone and PM are key componentes in the tropospheric chemistry and can produce adverse effects on human health and plants when present at concentrations above natural. European countries are particularly exposed to high concentrations of secondary pollutants, particularly southern Europe, due to meteorological conditions that favor photochemical formation at surface. Although several actions have been implemented, exceedances of tropospheric ozone and PM concentration are regularly observed in different European regions during summertime. Quantifying the contribution of emission sources is a fundamental step in designing effective abatement plans. For that, air quality numerical models are the main tools to estimate the apportionment of the contribution of any source to ozone or particulate matter concentrations. The AC group develops and maintains the CALIOPE air quality system ("CALIdad del aire Operacional Para España"), which provides high-resolution air quality forecasts over Europe and Spain using the in-house emission model HERMES. CALIOPE is based on the chemical transport model CMAQ that includes the Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM). CALIOPE-CMAQ-ISAM has been successfully applied to quantify the contribution of emissions by region and sector in the tropospheric ozone formation over Europe and Spain. The successful applicant will support the modeling activities designed to quantify the role of ozone and particulate matter precursors, emitted from anthropogenic and natural sources, on the tropospheric ozone formation in Europe with particular attention over Spain. The candidate will contribute to 1) numerical model experiments using the CALIOPE-CMAQ-ISAM system, 2) the compilation of relevant observations for model evaluation, 3) source apportionment experiments using CMAQ-ISAM and 4) quantify the contribution of ozone and PM precursors by region and emission sector over Europe. The source apportionment results will be further exploited in health impact assessment studies in collaboration with partner institutions.