Open PhD project in the ELMO group
Call for applications: The ERC Starting Grant ELMO group is looking for a doctoral researcher to start a PhD project in fall 2026. The deadline to submit your application is 1 June 2026. Please register at the IMPRS PhD online application system to start preparing your application.
PhD project description
The experimental planetology group investigates the formation and evolution of rocky planets by simulating high temperature planetary processes in the lab. We are using scanning thermal analysis and Knudsen cell experiments at temperatures up to 2000 °C.
The advertised PhD position is fully funded by an ERC Starting Grant ELMO “Experimental Laboratory Magma Ocean”. In the project we will investigate how volatile chemical elements behave on magma ocean worlds—the earliest, molten stages of rocky planets—both in the Solar System and beyond. The two fundamental questions addressed by the ELMO project are:
- “What were the compositions of primordial atmospheres of terrestrial solar system planets when they had magma oceans?”
- “How are the atmospheres of hot exoplanets compositionally linked to interior magma oceans?”
We are looking for a candidate interested in experimental petrological laboratory work with a background in mineralogy, petrology or geochemistry.
