🌍 Earth System Modelling

The Earth System Modelling (ESM) Group, part of the Cyprus Institute Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), develops and uses numerical models to analyse how atmospheric composition changes and impacts air quality and climate, leveraging High-Performance Computing (HPC).

🔬 Research Areas

Our team works on multi-scale interdisciplinary scientific challenges, from molecular-level particle formation to global climate projections:

  • Earth System Modelling: Developing and optimising the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy) to simulate the interplay between atmospheric composition and climate. Working towards implementing the ICON modelling system.
  • Aerosol & Cloud Formation: Collaborating with the CERN CLOUD experiment to investigate how atmospheric particles and clouds influence the Earth’s energy balance.
  • Regional Air Quality: Utilising models like WRF-Chem to assess air pollution, volatile organic compounds, and their impacts on human health in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
  • Machine Learning in Atmospheric Science: Implementing advanced data fusion and machine learning to predict global concentrations of emerging pollutants at high resolutions.
  • Extreme Events & Risks: Assessing environmental risks, including wildfires and the atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides from nuclear accidents.

Join our Team:

If you are interested in joining our group as a graduate student or postdoc, please send an email with a brief description of your research interests and your CV. We typically take one PhD student per year, while postdoc positions are available at various times depending on funding, and always advertised on the Cyprus Institute Recruitement Portal.

We are seeking motivated PhD candidates with backgrounds in Physics, Mathematics, Computational Science, or Atmospheric Sciences.

🎓 Why Pursue a PhD in Our Group?

  • Global Collaboration: Work within international consortia and experiments, including CERN CLOUD, MESSy, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry.
  • Cutting-Edge Infrastructure: Access world-class HPC facilities and the unique atmospheric monitoring data from the Cyprus Climate Data Centre (CDC).
  • Interdisciplinary Environment: Our research bridges physics, chemistry, and computational modelling to create actionable policy advice for climate adaptation.
  • Strong Mentorship: Join a supportive environment where students are integrated into the academic community. You will receive direct guidance in atmospheric and climate modeling while being encouraged to publish your findings in leading peer-reviewed journals.

Explore Programmes:

View the PhD in Energy, Environment and Atmospheric Sciences and the PhD in Computational Sciences. Currently available finacial support and funded PhD projects.

Stay Updated:

Follow our latest research on Google Scholar or ORCID.

How to Apply:

Apply directly through the Cyprus Institute Graduate School online application system.

Group Members

Postdocs

Pantelis Kiriakidis, Elena Louca (2023-2025), Seyed Omid Nabavi (2021-2023), George K Georgiou (2020-2022), Michail Alvanos (2016-2017)

PhD Students

Semontee Deb, Christos Xenofontos, Giannis Ashiotis, Kyriakos Sofokleous, Pantelis Kiriakidis (2021-2024), Anthony Rey-Pommier (2020-2023) George K Georgiou (2016-2020)