Leverhulme Trust funded project on ecosystem change: new postdoc position available
Our project on Predicting the dynamics of African ecosystems under multiple pressures is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The grant is co-led by Ben Collen and Tim Newbold.
We are now looking for a postdoc to contribute to the research. Please get in touch with Ben or Tim if you have any questions about the project or the post doc role. Applications will close on the 14th March 2017.
The project: Ecology requires robust models to understand the processes shaping ecosystems and ecological communities, to assess the impact of the many drivers of biotic change and to guide policy interventions. In this interdisciplinary project, we are directly addressing this need by developing and testing a fine-scale ecosystem model for continental Africa, which captures the interaction between ecological systems, the Earth system and the socio-economic system. Biological science has been effective at tracking recent changes in nature. It has been poor at predicting future changes and why they matter to the biosphere and humans. This three year project tackles those challenges.
The postdoc: The role will start with the task of developing and/or adapting some existing aspects of the Madingley ecosystem model, to create habitat structuring and account for the impacts of climate on organisms and on ecosystem processes. This will contribute to the following project objectives:
We seek a post doc who has:
To apply, go to the HR link here.
Our project on Predicting the dynamics of African ecosystems under multiple pressures is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The grant is co-led by Ben Collen and Tim Newbold.
We are now looking for a postdoc to contribute to the research. Please get in touch with Ben or Tim if you have any questions about the project or the post doc role. Applications will close on the 14th March 2017.
The project: Ecology requires robust models to understand the processes shaping ecosystems and ecological communities, to assess the impact of the many drivers of biotic change and to guide policy interventions. In this interdisciplinary project, we are directly addressing this need by developing and testing a fine-scale ecosystem model for continental Africa, which captures the interaction between ecological systems, the Earth system and the socio-economic system. Biological science has been effective at tracking recent changes in nature. It has been poor at predicting future changes and why they matter to the biosphere and humans. This three year project tackles those challenges.
The postdoc: The role will start with the task of developing and/or adapting some existing aspects of the Madingley ecosystem model, to create habitat structuring and account for the impacts of climate on organisms and on ecosystem processes. This will contribute to the following project objectives:
- Test how well predictions of human impacts in a general ecosystem model match observed recent changes.
- Predict the impact on ecosystem structure of predicted future environmental changes under a business-as-usual scenario.
- Test whether scenarios designed to mitigate environmental changes will modify the business as usual trajectory.
- Assess the effect of environmental characteristics of ecosystems and the history of past environmental changes on the resilience of ecosystems to future changes, and in which parts of Africa resilience is predicted to be particularly high or low.
- Assess the relative contributions to ecosystem change, over time and space, from the three major human pressures ‒ land use, climate and bushmeat hunting.
We seek a post doc who has:
- A PhD (or is just finishing one) in quantitative ecology, ecological/ecosystem modelling, conservation science or a related discipline·
- Strong quantitative skills, experience in ecological modelling and data analysis, in R or similar. Knowledge of C# would be advantageous.
- An excellent publication record relative to opportunity
- Strong research skills and experience, including the capacity to work independently and in teams
- Excellent communication skills
To apply, go to the HR link here.
PhD studentships
We're always interested in working with good PhD students. If you're interested in devising your own studentship application, you might consider the following schemes:
We're always interested in working with good PhD students. If you're interested in devising your own studentship application, you might consider the following schemes:
- The London NERC Doctoral Training Partnership brings together nine of the world’s leading research centres in environmental science. Please apply through the London NERC DTP website.
- UCL Graduate Research Scholarship (these are highly competitive)
- For outstanding students from the Commonwealth, Commonwealth Scholarships
Post-doc and Fellowship opportunities
We're particularly interested in developing collaborations and providing support for post-doc Fellowship applications. Please contact Ben well in advance of the deadline to discuss project ideas.
We're particularly interested in developing collaborations and providing support for post-doc Fellowship applications. Please contact Ben well in advance of the deadline to discuss project ideas.
