The Doctoral School in Microbiology and Environmental Science of the University of Vienna offers PhD positions in diverse research areas ranging from molecular microbiology, ecology, and computational biology to environmental geosciences. Our focus is to provide young scientists with a stimulating environment that promotes the development and advancement of essential skills for a prosperous academic career.

Would you like to:

• Join a dynamic and international research environment?
• Have access to unique high-level infrastructure and instrumentation?
• Receive interdisciplinary training at the interface of microbiology, ecology, and environmental geosciences from internationally well recognized scientists?
• Benefit from career coaching and early international networking?
• Live in Vienna, a city that is continuously ranked among the top cities in the world for quality of life?

Regardless whether you are interested in studying molecular and biochemical mechanisms, single cells, microbial communities or ecosystems and biochemical processes, our faculty provides the ideal framework for your PhD project with the combined expertise of 20+ researchers at the assistant, associate and full professor level.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

Applications are open from Oct 6, 2025 until Nov 30, 2025. 

We are looking forward to receiving convincing applications of dedicated and enthusiastic students! All students with a master’s degree, or equivalent degree, in life sciences, environmental science, chemistry, geoscience, bioinformatics or any other area which is related to the research topics of our faculty members, are encouraged to apply. We offer internationally competitive salaries and full health benefits.

Please prepare the following documents for your application:

• Contact details of at least two referees
• Bachelor’s and master’s diploma and transcript of records
• Confirmation of English language skills (if not available, this will be assessed in the context of the interview)

Please note that C1 English skills are a requirement for all positions announced in our call. Further details on the positions, including application details for each position, can be found on our website.

Positions are available in the following fields:

Survival and resuscitation mechanisms of desert soil bacteria

Microorganisms in drylands have to endure long periods of drought, interrupted by unpredictable and very short periods of rain. Dormancy – an inactive state or a state of reduced metabolic activity – has long been regarded as a prerequisite for desert soil microorganisms to survive such drought periods. However, as dormancy cannot be sustained indefinitely, phases of resuscitation must also play an important role for long-term survival of desert soil microorganisms and thus for maintaining microbial diversity in one of the harshest environments on the planet.

In this project, we are investigating the survival strategies of desert soil microorganisms and the mechanisms of their resuscitation. This will be achieved by applying genome-resolved metatranscriptomics of desert soil microbial communities, building upon knowledge gained by our recent metagenomics investigations of biological soil crusts from the Negev Desert, Israel (Meier et al., 2021). In situ community transcription patterns will be linked with single-cell activity assays as described in Imminger & Meier et al., 2024, employing a recently developed heavy water-NanoSIMS assay to detect anabolically active cells, and combined with process measurements.

ADMISSION PROCEDURE

The admission procedure includes:

• evaluation of the written application by scholarly and scientific criteria by faculty members
• initial online interviews between selected applicants and faculty members (match-making step)
• invitation of selected applicants for (online) panel interviews

All applications must be handed in online through the University of Vienna’s PhD recruiting tool. Email applications will not be accepted.

For usage of the recruiting tool, account creation is required.
Complete application details can be found here.