Postdoc position in the field of hurricane risk amplification
Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh (shared appointment), UK
Closing date: 15 January 2026
The Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh seek an enthusiastic postdoctoral researcher to work on the UK NERC-funded large grant “Hurricane Risk Amplification and Changing North Atlantic Natural disasters (Huracán)”.
Some tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic that migrate into the midlatitudes retain the characteristics of a hurricane, while others evolve into post-tropical cyclones. Both can be extremely intense and may lead to severe hazards. The Huracán project aims to better quantify the risk posed by of cyclones of tropical origin (CTOs), including the risk of landfall in Western Europe and the British Isles. The project will draw on expertise across a multi-institutional collaboration to understand which regional factors influence the development, intensity and tracks of these cyclones, and how they are affected by remote drivers and climate change.
The postholder will use observations and climate model simulations to assess how large-scale dynamical and thermodynamic conditions influence the risk of CTOs in Western Europe, and whether recent landfall events indicate an increasing risk under climate change. Using a combination of attribution methods and machine-learning–based causal network approaches, they will identify key drivers of changing CTO risk, develop high-risk climate variability and change storylines, and improve future risk predictions.
The role requires resourcefulness in characterising climate drivers and their responses to greenhouse gases, aerosols, and natural forcings, integrating multiple observational datasets to constrain models, and developing a Bayesian framework to quantify uncertainty. The postholder will work with a high degree of independence in managing workload, data, and methods, while coordinating closely with supervisors and project collaborators.
The position is available immediately and is a shared appointment between the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, with equal time spent at each institution. Supervision will be provided by Dr Antje Weisheimer (Oxford), Prof Gabriele Hegerl (Edinburgh) and Prof Ted Shepherd (Reading).
The closing date for applications is noon (GMT) on 15 January 2026.