Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Organisation/Company Universitat de Barcelona Department Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences Research Field Environmental science Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 6 Oct 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Madrid) Country Spain Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Hours Per Week 37,5 Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2026 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No
Offer Description
We are seeking a predoctoral researcher in training to carry out research studies within the framework of the project RESTART – “Unraveling the role of source water-related ecophysiological processes in the spatial-temporal patterns of tree-ring water isotope series”.
Forests regulate the water cycle through transpiration, and understanding which water sources trees use is crucial in the context of climate change.



Stable water isotopes (δ18O and δ2H) enable the tracing of water fluxes and, when applied to tree rings, provide long‑term records of environmental and hydrological conditions. The RESTART project aims to reconstruct climatic and water‑source patterns from these isotopic signals, identifying their origin and variability in order to improve past climate reconstructions and refine our understanding of the role of forests in the water cycle.
Objectives of the research:

Study temporal patterns of climate and water‑source related processes using stable water isotope chronologies from tree rings.
Analyze the isotopic pathway from precipitation to tree‑ring formation.
Calibrate process‑based models to achieve more reliable climate reconstructions.

Doctoral research tasks will include:

Bi‑weekly sampling at the Vallcebre experimental site (Berguedà, Catalonia) to collect samples of xylogenesis and different tree c

📌 PhD candidate in Ecophysiology/Dendrochronology “Unraveling the role of source water-related ec[...] (España)
🏢 Universitat De Barcelona
📍 España