Visiting Research Fellowship in Soil Microbiome Analysis and Soil Biodiversity Monitoring

The Junior Research Group SoilRob at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) in Germany offers a scholarship for a 6-month Visiting Research Fellowship in the field of soil microbiology, bioinformatics, and digital soil health assessment. The fellowship offers an opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary and international research environment at the interface of soil ecology, digital agriculture and soil health monitoring.

Research Context

SoilRob investigates how diversified cropping systems managed with lightweight autonomous field robots affect soil functions, productivity and overall soil health. Within this framework, the selected fellow will contribute to the analysis of extensive soil microbiome datasets generated from 4 experimental field trials in Germany conducted during 2025-2026. In each experiment, DNA was individually extracted from three mixed bulk soil samples in 0-5 cm depth per plot. Samples were taken before any robot activity as an initial reference and shortly after robot activities were finished. A total of 152 samples was analyzed from 2025 (4 trials), and minimum 108 samples are extracted for 2026 (3 trials).

This fellowship focuses on the integration of microbial community analyses using 16S/ITS amplicon sequencing, qPCR and metagenomics on selected samples with a comprehensive set of soil biological, chemical, and physical parameters combined with management information from field trials managed with autonomous mechanical weeding robots.

The overall goal is to develop and evaluate soil biodiversity indicators and soil health indices linking microbial community composition with soil multifunctionality under robotic crop management to improve our understanding of soil ecosystem functioning under emerging agricultural technologies and diversification strategies.

Expected Tasks

The fellow is expected to:

• conduct bioinformatic and ecological statistical analyses of soil metabarcoding datasets of Bacteria and fungi, and further of functional metagenomic datasets from selected samples, and eventually integrate these soil microbiota datasets with environmental and management data,
• analyze relationships between microbial community composition and soil health parameters,
• support the development of soil biodiversity and multifunctionality indices for SoilRob,
• contribute to data visualization and interpretation,
• actively participate in scientific exchange within the SoilRob team,
• and prepare a first-authored scientific manuscript draft by the end of the fellowship.

Depending on expertise and interest, the fellowship may also include participation in field activities, interdisciplinary workshops, and collaborative publications.

The fellowship includes:

• reimbursement of travel or flight costs up to 1,500 €,
• accommodation in the ZALF guest house for 6 months (equivalent to approximately 2,700 €),
• and a monthly allowance of 1,300 € to support living expenses and health insurance.

Fellowship Period

• Preferred start: between May and July 2027
• Duration: 6 months

Candidate Profile

We are looking for highly motivated researchers with expertise in soil microbiology, microbial ecology, bioinformatics, metagenomics, or related disciplines. Experience with microbial community analysis pipelines, multivariate statistics, Linux-based workflows, or programming environments such as R or Python is highly desirable. Good written and spoken English skills are required.

Applicants should:

• currently be in the late phase of their PhD or in an early postdoctoral stage,
• hold an ongoing affiliation or work contract with a university or research institution during the fellowship,
• have experience with biological data analysis and scientific writing,
• and be eligible for legal entry into Germany.
  (Please note that visa-related costs cannot be covered by the fellowship.)

Research Environment

The successful fellow will join an interdisciplinary team working on autonomous field robotics, soil health monitoring, digital agriculture, proximal and remote sensing, and climate-smart diversified cropping systems. The fellow will be provided with a shared workspace at ZALF and integrated into the scientific activities of the SoilRob research group in Research Area 2, including seminars, workshops, and interdisciplinary exchange formats. In addition, the fellow will work closely with the Microbial Biogeochemistry Working Group in Research Area 1, which will provide methodological expertise in soil microbial analyses, as well as support with data interpretation and laboratory infrastructure and logistics. Access to existing datasets, analytical infrastructure, and computational resources required for the project will be provided throughout the fellowship period.

ZALF is committed to diversity and equal opportunities and therefore welcomes applications regardless of gender, nationality, ethnic and social origin, religion, disability, age, or sexual orientation.

Application Documents

Applicants are requested to submit:

1. a short motivation letter (max. 1 page),
2. a CV including the publication list,
3. a brief description of current and previous research activities which also describe his/her current position and responsibilities (max. 1 page),
4. MSc certificate (&transcript of records) and/or PhD certificate
5. and contact details of one academic reference.

Please note that the fellowship does not constitute an employment relationship under German labor law. The fellowship requires physical presence at ZALF for most of the fellowship duration.

Contact and Submission

Please upload your application documents until 31.10.2026 as a single PDF file to the Online Portal of ZALF.

For any questions please contact:

Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF),

Eberswalder Straße 84, 15374 Müncheberg, Germany

Contact of Human resource management: