Doctoral Student in Glaciology and Glacial Hazards

About the role

ETH Zurich's Professorship of Glaciology, part of the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) and affiliated with the WSL, is looking for a doctoral student for a four-year fixed-term position in Zurich. The student joins the project ICEFAL, a Swiss-French consortium studying how rising ice temperatures affect the stability of cold hanging glaciers and their potential to trigger large ice avalanches. The project aims to build a data-driven hazard index combining geometry and thermal conditions.

Key responsibilities

• Create an inventory of hanging glaciers using manual mapping and possibly machine-learning aided approaches
• Perform field measurements at high-elevation sites in Switzerland, collecting ice temperatures, mass balance, firn cores and long-term avalanche monitoring data
• Use field and meteorological data to run a thermo-mechanical model (Elmer/Ice) and study past and future glacier temperature evolution and stability implications
• Predict basal temperatures and combine them with stability criteria to derive a hazard index for the study region

Required profile

• Master's degree in geophysics, physics, environmental or earth science, environmental engineering or a related field
• Excellent English, spoken and written (C1 to C2)
• Desired: interest in high-mountain hazards, a solid foundation in math and physics, glaciologic training, willingness to do fieldwork in high mountains, outdoor or mountaineering experience, and knowledge of German and/or French
• Candidates with non-traditional academic backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply

Required skills

• Desired: geospatial analysis (e.g. QGIS), hazard and risk management concepts, physics-based numerical modeling, scripting languages such as Python or Matlab, teamwork experience

Applications are submitted online through the university's application portal, with a letter of motivation, CV, copies of diplomas and transcripts, a completed summary form and two references. The review starts on 15 November 2026; the optimal start date is 1 March 2027.