PFAS, often called “forever chemicals”, are very mobile in the environment and bioaccumulate into animals, and humans, posing major environmental and health challenges worldwide. In Switzerland, the recent discovery of PFAS contamination in agricultural lands and further in ruminant meat and milk is currently receiving widespread public attention.
The PhD candidate will be part of the SURFAS project “A survey on background levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in feeds across Switzerland:
A focus on herbages and determinants of the soil to plant transfer factors”. The candidate will combine a sampling campaign of soil and forage across Switzerland, the quantification of PFAS transfer from soil to forage plants, and the modeling of the fate of these contaminants into meat and milk. You have a background in agronomical, plant, soil, or environmental science, biology, environmental chemistry or a related interdisciplinary field. You are interested in applied research and wish to contribute to improving food safety throughout the animal food chain. You are comfortable with holistic approaches at the intersection of multiple disciplines. You have good computer skills, and some experience in field sampling, data processing, statistical analysis, as well as scientific writing and whish to further improve them. SURFAS is funded by the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) and carried out within a strong international research network comprising Agroscope, Empa (Dübendorf, Switzerland), and the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR, Berlin), offering you a unique interdisciplinary and applied research environment.
