Postdoctoral Researcher in Forest Model Scalability

The Forest Resources Management Group (FORM) at ETH aims to maximize forest utilities for humans today and in the future. With this vision in mind our research focuses on developing impact-driven methods to forecast forest resources and support evidence-based decision-making in integrated forest management.

Forests are managed at various spatial and administrative scales, requiring decisions that range from the level of individual trees to entire landscapes and regions. These decisions often involve both single and multiple stakeholders. Models of forest dynamics are essential for understanding how forests may develop under different environmental conditions and management strategies. They guide current decisions aimed at securing the products and services expected from future forests. However, most models are designed for specific spatial scales and are not always suitable for decision-making at other spatial levels. This raises critical questions regarding the appropriate representation of spatial scalability in forest dynamics models. For example: How do different process representations perform when applied at stand-, landscape-, or regional scale? Can indicators - such as those related to forest resilience or climate policy - retain their relevance across different spatial scales, and how can they be most effectively represented in models? How do stakeholder objectives and constraints evolve between local and regional contexts, and how can these shifts be effectively incorporated into model structures and the definition of decision-making units?

The Forest Studio software suite, developed by the FORM group, is designed with these challenges in mind. The next phase of development focuses on transforming it into a smart scalability tool - capable of aligning process models of varying complexity with appropriate spatial scales for decision making, while integrating relevant indicators and accommodating shifts in objectives and constraints across scales.

• A stimulating and collaborative research environment at ETH Zurich, consistently ranked among the top universities worldwide for science and technology.
• The opportunity to help shape a new area of research within the FORM group, with strong institutional support and scientific autonomy.
• Engagement in high-impact, interdisciplinary research addressing globally relevant challenges in forest management and sustainability.
• A personalized career development plan, including access to mentoring, training workshops, and opportunities for leadership and supervision experience.
• A supportive, inclusive, and dynamic team culture, fostering creativity, knowledge exchange, and mutual growth.
• Funding to attend international conferences, workshops, and research visits, supporting global visibility and network-building.
• Access to state-of-the-art computing infrastructure for complex modelling and simulation tasks.
• A competitive salary and benefits package, along with excellent work-life balance in Zurich, one of the most liveable cities in the world.

Terms of employment:

• The position will be available starting in Autumn 2025, with some flexibility for the right candidate.
• The initial appointment is for one year, with the possibility of extension for up to three years based on performance and project needs.
• The primary workplace will be ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
• For details on salary, benefits, and career support for postdoctoral researchers at ETH Zurich, please visit the ETH Zurich Postdoc Centre website with information on salary, benefits and career support to postdocs.