The UCAR Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science (CPAESS) is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 36th cohort of Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral (C&GC) Fellowship program.

The Fellowship program has an outstanding reputation for attracting the best and brightest PhDs in the sciences and for training future leaders in Climate and Global Change Science. The C&GC Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is seeking applications from across the full breadth of disciplines contributing to Climate and Global Change Science. Find out more and apply by October 16, 2026.

Climate and Global Change Call for Applicants

Innovative research within and across disciplines spanning the spectrum of physical, social, and integrated sciences is needed to better understand, predict, plan for, and manage the Earth System and its interactions in a changing climate, as well as how communities experience and are affected by these changes, and how society will pursue low-carbon pathways for a secure and sustainable future. Each appointed Fellow is hosted by a mentoring scientist at a U.S. University, Research Institution, or Federal Agency to work in an innovative climate-related research area of mutual interest, advancing the fundamental science and our understanding of climate-related issues.

Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellows focus on advancing Climate and Global Change Science. This includes research that advances our understanding of the Earth system (e.g., climate, freshwater, ocean, carbon and other biogeochemical cycles), energy, and decarbonization processes. Examples include but are not limited to: observing, understanding, modeling, and predicting climate variability, change, and impacts on seasonal and longer time scales; documenting and analyzing past, current, or possible future climate variability and change; enhancing Earth system model development through improved process representation, novel observational constraints, innovative data assimilation and statistical methods, systematic calibration, evaluation and uncertainty characterization; advancing data assimilation of both atmospheric and terrestrial freshwater processes in order to inform and improve human use of freshwater consumption with high fidelity within global Earth system models and data products; studying the underlying Earth Systems processes, including physical-, chemical-, biological-, biogeochemical-, and coupled human-Earth systems processes, and/or their interactions. In this context, coupled human-Earth system dynamics encompass the mechanisms by which biogeophysical feedbacks and extreme events constrain decarbonization trajectories, institutional decision-making frameworks, and pathways toward climate-resilient, sustainable, and equitable societies. Applications may focus on one discipline or be interdisciplinary, integrating across disciplines.

C&GC Fellows are UCAR employees and receive a fixed annual salary, plus UCAR’s benefits and allowances for relocation, travel, and publications.

More information and application

Deadline for submissions: October 16, 2026