The Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) is a member of the Helmholtz Association (HGF) and funded by federal and state government. AWI focuses on polar and marine research in a variety of disciplines such as biology, oceanography, geology, geochemistry and geophysics thus allowing multidisciplinary approaches to scientific goals.
Background The „Tonne E3” dumping area in the German Bight, approx.15 km southeast of Helgoland, has served as a transfer point for dredged sediments from the river Elbe (Hamburg) since 2005. Within the framework of the Helmholtz innovation pool project P-LEACH „Impacts on ecosystem functions and human health by environmental plastics and associated chemicals” (
www.ufz.de/p-leach), one of the tasks is to generate new knowledge and enhance our mechanistic understanding of the sources, transport, and occurrence of small microplastics. Two comprehensive sediment sampling campaigns were conducted in the „Tonne E3” dumping area in 2023, forming the basis of the research.
Where: Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Division "Biosciences", Section Shelf Seas Systems Ecology on
Helgoland. Tasks In the framework of the Master thesis, efficient methods for the extraction of environmental microplastics from sediment will be developed during the study to finally process a large number of samples. Samples will be extracted & purified and finally analysed by ATR-FTIR-or micro FTIR microscopy.
Requirements We are looking for Master students in chemistry or environmental sciences.
Further Information The place of employment will be
Helgoland. Start: October/November 2023
You are interested?
Then please send us your application with Cover letter and CV (with all documents merged into one PDF file) by e-mail to: Dr. Gunnar Gerdts ( Gunnar.Gerdts@awi.de) or Dr. Sebastian Primpke (sebastian.primpke@awi.de) or Dr. Yaqing Duan ( yaqing.duan@awi.de)
For further information please contact Dr. Gunnar Gerdts (Gunnar.Gerdts@awi.de), +49(4725)819-3245).