Doctoral researcher (m/f/d/x) in geography – Assessing socio-economic impacts of climate extremes

The Institute for Geography at the Faculty of Physics and Earth System Sciences seeks to fill the following position:

Doctoral researcher (m/f/d/x) in geography – Assessing socio-economic impacts of climate extremes

Job vacancy from 12.11.2026 · Reference number 147/2026

Remuneration

Salary group 13 TV-L

Term

3 years, qualification-related

Volume

75 % of a full-time position, part-time employment possible

Start date

1 March 2027

Founded in 1409, Leipzig University is one of Germany’s largest universities and a leader in research and medical training. With around 30,000 students and more than 5000 members of staff across 14 faculties, it is at the heart of the vibrant and outward-looking city of Leipzig. Leipzig University offers an innovative and international working environment as well as an exciting range of career opportunities in research, teaching, knowledge and technology transfer, infrastructure and administration.

The PhD position is part of the project “CASCADE – Cascading impacts of climate extremes: new perspectives for interlinking Earth System Sciences in Leipzig” on compound and cascading impacts of climate extremes. CASCADE investigates how floods and droughts affect society and the environment, combining large-scale data analysis with a systems perspective on human–environment interactions.

Our knowledge of the impacts of climate extremes is only as good as the data that record them. The PhD project aims to uncover biases in climate impact databases and research and to provide a more comprehensive view of flood and drought impacts at the global scale. To this end, the doctoral researcher will link and harmonise existing databases (e.g. ROUGE, Wikimpacts, EM-DAT) into a common event, impact and spatial framework, and will contribute to developing a multilingual news-based impact dataset that helps to fill gaps in existing sources. Using independent global hazard and exposure data as a reference, the project will analyse where and for which impacts the sources agree, how reported magnitudes differ, and how the likelihood that an event is recorded at all depends on hazard severity, exposure, socioeconomic conditions, language and media presence.

The project benefits from close collaboration with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary team at the interface of geography, climate-risk research and data science.

The role

• Linking and harmonisation of text-based and established impact databases (e.g. ROUGE, Wikimpacts, news-based data, EM-DAT) into a common global event, impact and spatial framework
• Comparative analysis of where, when and for which impact types the datasets converge or diverge, using global hazard and exposure data as an independent reference
• Analysis of the geographical, socioeconomic and linguistic factors that shape the visibility of impacts in different data sources
• Development of a combined, bias-aware global view of flood and drought impacts
• Contribution to the development and validation of a multilingual news-based impact dataset using natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs)
• Publication of results in international peer-reviewed journals, presentation at scientific conferences and open publication of code and data

About you

• University degree (e.g. master’s) or equivalent in geography, computational social sciences, digital humanities, environmental or earth system sciences, disaster risk research or a closely related field
• Experience in data analysis, in particular in combining and harmonising heterogeneous datasets, e.g. demonstrated through the master’s thesis, research projects or work experience
• Excellent programming skills (e.g. Python, R)
• Experience in the analysis of spatial data, e.g. spatial statistics
• Interest in climate-risk, natural-hazard or disaster research, e.g. demonstrated through coursework or the master’s thesis
• Very good written and spoken English (at least language proficiency level B2)
• Experience with, or demonstrable interest in, natural language processing or large language models preferable, e.g. through coursework or projects

What we offer you

• a varied role with a high degree of responsibility in the dynamic environment of a major university
• Collaboration in a friendly, supportive and motivated team
• flexible working hours and mobile working to support work-life balance
• Goal-oriented staff development throughout your working life, with opportunities for continuing professional development
• a wide range of occupational health management services
• Remuneration in line with the collective bargaining agreement of the federal states (TV-L), including an annual special payment and occupational pension scheme
• excellent transport links and the option to purchase a discounted public transport ticket, such as the Deutschlandticket as a commuter pass
• a wide range of food options in the refectories and cafés operated by Studentenwerk Leipzig.

Leipzig University aims to increase the proportion of women in positions of responsibility and therefore expressly invites qualified women to apply. Severely disabled persons – or persons deemed legally equal to them under Book IX of the German Social Code – are encouraged to apply and will be given preference in the case of equal suitability. If you have any questions about accessibility or need assistance with this application process, please contact Leipzig University’s disability officers at:

schwerbehindertenvertretung@uni-leipzig.de

.

Have we sparked your interest?

Please submit your application addressed to Prof. Dr. Miguel Mahecha, Institute’s Director, by 23 November 2026 via our online application portal.

Your application should include:
Cover letter; CV; copies of degree certificates and transcripts; a research statement (max. 2 pages) outlining how the applicant would approach combining impact datasets and identifying their biases and blind spots; summary or excerpt from your master’s thesis or another writing sample; contact details of two referees

If you have any questions about the role, please contact Prof. Dr. Mariana Madruga de Brito, Professor, 0341 60252149.

https://uni-leipzig.b-ite.careers/jobposting/68a780049a96ddf8d6fa4bea19873171c42d4e1f