Job Description

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL
The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL is part of the ETH Domain. Approximately 600 people work on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards.

The research group Dynamic Macroecology of Prof. Dr. Niklaus E. Zimmermann studies questions related to spatial ecology, macroecology, macroevolution and biodiversity conservation. Within the Advanced Grant SNFS Project "Biome.cc", we seek to fill by

August 1st, 2025

(or later), for a duration of

6 months

, a

Tempory Employee in Macroecology and AI 80-100% (f/m/d)

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Within the Advanced Grant project "Biome.cc", we develop a series of AI models trained to detect plant traits from photographs. This supports our goal to characterize global biomes by means of plant traits and to map these biomes globally. This position will develop suitable sets of pictures from online sources such as gbif.org to train and test these AI-models. Further, you will support WSL scientists in training such AI models and to test them. In addition, you will support WSL scientists in downloading large quantities of images with the goal of applying the trained and tested models and to extract plant trait information from them. At WSL, you will work in close collaboration with Prof Zimmermann's group on global biomes. Your main place of work will be the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL in Birmensdorf.
You hold an MSc degree and you have a good knowledge of plant ecology. In addition, you have good experience in coding, preferably in python and/or R. Experience with the processing of large datasets is an asset. The capability to develop new ideas independently is necessary, as are very good English skills (both written and oral). You are a curious, self-reliant person who is also an excellent team worker valuing cooperation.

Please send your complete application to Prof. Dr. Niklaus E. Zimmermann, Group Leader Dynamic Macroecology, by uploading the requested documents through our webpage. Applications via email will not be considered. Prof. Dr. Niklaus E. Zimmermann, email: niklaus.zimmermann@wsl.ch, will be happy to answer any questions or offer further information. WSL is committed to diversity and inclusion as core values. We actively promote gender equality and foster an open, inclusive work environment.
Zurcherstrasse 111, CH-8903 Birmensdorf