Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences, Department of Earth Sciences

Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences studies the Earth: from the Earth’s core to its surface, including man’s spatial and material utilisation of the Earth – always with a focus on sustainability and innovation. With a population of 3,400 students (BSc and MSc) and 720 staff, the Faculty is a strong and challenging organisation. The Faculty is organised in four Departments: Earth Sciences, Physical Geography, Sustainable Development, and Human Geography & Spatial Planning.

The Department of Earth Sciences conducts teaching and research across the full range of the solid Earth and environmental Earth sciences, with activities in almost all areas of geology, geochemistry, geophysics, biogeology and hydrogeology. The department hosts a highly international tenured staff of over 50 scientists and more than 110 PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. We house or have access to a wide variety of world-class laboratories, among which are UU’s Electron Microscopy Centre, the Geolab, and the Earth Simulation Lab. We also have excellent High- Performance Computing facilities and organise a warm welcome for every new member.

About Utrecht
Utrecht is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands with a population of nearly 360,000 and forms a hub in the middle of the country. Its historical city centre and its modern central station can easily be reached from our campus in Utrecht Science Park by public transport or by a 15-minute bicycle ride. Utrecht boasts beautiful canals with extraordinary wharf cellars housing cafés and terraces by the water, as well as a broad variety of shops and boutiques.

Homepage: https://www.uu.nl/geo/aw

The Department of Earth Sciences is looking for a highly motivated candidate for a PhD position at its Experimental Rock Deformation group and Tectonics group.

Green hydrogen will play a key role in our future energy supply, necessitating large-scale underground hydrogen storage in porous geological formations. Depleted offshore and neighbouring onshore gas fields are considered promising candidates for hydrogen storage in the Netherlands.

While considerable experience has been gained in geological carbon storage, large-scale hydrogen storage presents unique challenges. Hydrogen’s properties, such as low density, low viscosity, and high diffusion coefficient, make it highly mobile and prone to escaping from geological structures. Additionally, the cyclic nature of hydrogen injection and extraction complicates the flow process, influencing geomechanical behaviour and geochemical reactions. The interaction between these different physical processes impacts the caprock integrity, fault leakage, and fluid-rock interactions. The success of large-scale hydrogen storage in porous geological formations depends on both identifying suitable geological sites and strategically managing hydrogen injection-extraction cycles. This PhD project will focus on identifying optimal hydrogen storage sites in the Netherlands, and developing effective operational strategies for storage in porous geological formations.

Within this PhD project, you will interpret subsurface geological structures, identify potential reservoirs, and assess caprock integrity to determine their suitability for hydrogen storage. You will also develop numerical models to simulate hydrogen flow dynamics within the reservoirs, and examine their impact on hydrogen containment, reactive transport, and geomechanical behaviour. You will contribute to the development of best practices for the exploration and operation of large-scale hydrogen storage in porous geological formations. Throughout the project, you will collaborate with the two vibrant research groups, offering diverse expertise in resource exploration, geological modelling, high pressure and temperature experimentation, and coupled multiphysics modelling.

A personalised training programme will be set up, reflecting your training needs and career objectives. About 20% of your time will be dedicated to this training component, which includes following courses/workshops as well as training on the job in assisting in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes of the department at Utrecht University.

Qualifications
You have completed your MSc degree in Geomechanics, Geophysics, Hydrogeology, Geological engineering, Reservoir Engineering, or a related discipline by the time the position starts.

Preferably, you also have:

• experience or strong interest in reservoir and/or geomechanical modelling using continuum-based numerical methods (e.g., finite element method, finite difference method);
• experience or strong interest in using reflection seismics for subsurface exploration;
• strong quantitative and programming skills;
• the ability to work independently and as part of a team in a multidisciplinary research environment;
• enthusiasm for geo-energy and applications relevant to the sustainable use of the subsurface;
  and
• excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Due to the international character of our research, good command of spoken and written English is essential. We highly encourage applicants from all members of our community and of diverse backgrounds to join us.

Terms of employment
You will be offered a full-time PhD position, initially for one year with extension to four years in total upon a successful assessment in the first year, and with the specific intent that it results in a doctorate within this period. The gross monthly salary starts with € 2,901 in the first year and increases to € 3,707 in the fourth year of employment with a full-time appointment. Salaries are supplemented with a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8,3% per year. A pension scheme, partially paid parental leave, and flexible employment conditions are based on the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities.

In addition to the collective employment conditions, Utrecht University has a number of its own arrangements. These include agreements on professional development, leave arrangements, sports and cultural schemes, and you get discounts on software and other IT products. We also give you the opportunity to expand your terms of employment through the Employment Conditions Selection Model. This is how we encourage you to grow. For more information, please visit Working at Utrecht University.

For informal questions (not for application), contact the project leader Dr Wenzhuo Cao via w.cao2@uu.nl.

To apply, please follow the link tot the corresponding advertisement on our own website and follow the guidelines mentioned there. The application deadline is April 6th, 2025. The preferred starting date is Summer 2025 and no later than October 1st, 2025.

Note that international candidates that need a visa/work permit for the Netherlands require at least four months processing time after selection and acceptance. This will be arranged with help of the International Service Desk of our university. Finding appropriate housing in or near Utrecht is your own responsibility and, unfortunately, we must warn that it is a tight market at the moment. In case of general questions about working and living in The Netherlands, please consult the Dutch Mobility Portal.

Online screening may be part of the selection. Commercial response to this ad is not appreciated.