Postdoctoral position – Monitoring, Mapping and Modelling Air Quality for Sustainable Cities in Zürich

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position in the  (Prof. Dr. J. Wang). The successful candidate will be hosted by the Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich.

Position starting from April 2024 or upon agreement.

The rapid population growth and urbanization worldwide poses serious challenges for cities and communities. Among them, air pollution is a critical threat for the human health and well-being, leading to seven million annual premature deaths as estimated by WHO in 2021. This project will contribute to the MASSEV (Monitoring, Mapping and Modelling Air Quality for Sustainable Environments in Cities and Communities) consortium in the frame work of Global Research Council - Sustainable Development Goals Program. Our consortium aims at developing air quality sensor platforms, models with high spatiotemporal resolution, and effective toolboxes for data dissemination to address the challenging air quality issues in growing and populous cities. The research will also include studies on the impact of wildfires on urban air quality.  

The project will develop toolboxes for data gathering and analyses of urban air quality from local sensor networks and governmental platforms. Data of air pollutants will be used in the urban air quality model. The involved tasks include

• modeling regional and community-scale air pollution transport
• developing models to map urban air quality to single meter scale, integrating sensor data, governmental monitoring output, and satellite retrievals
• visualizing air quality data on sensor platforms and citizen apps
• estimating citizen exposure to air pollutants and analyzing impacts on human health and economics

The candidate is expected to further develop the research in the group and supervise students.

We are looking for suitable candidates with a doctoral degree in environmental science, environmental engineering, data science or related fields with excellent academic records. Interested candidates should have strong research backgrounds and solid independent research ability. Experiences with numerical model programing, air quality simulation, big data analyses are desired. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English are required.

ETH Zurich is a family-friendly employer with excellent working conditions. You can look forward to an exciting working environment, cultural diversity and attractive offers and benefits.