PhD position: PHYLOGEOGRAPHY AND POPULATION GENETICS OF SOUTH PACIFIC ANTS

Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social Insects, Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

We are looking for a motivated student with biology background to join our international team focused on ecology and evolution of tropical ants. The PhD candidate will study phylogeography and population history of ants from Melanesia and South Pacific. He/she will use various genomic and genetic tools to study the origin and relationship of ant faunas in New Guinea and South Pacific islands. She/he will combine traditional population genetics methods with Next Generation Sequencing tools. The project will involve repeated research stays in laboratories in the US (Harvard Univ.) and Mexico (LANGEBIO, http://www.langebio.cinvestav.mx/), where the student will develop genomic tools.

We offer 4 years grant contract (50%) at Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences (http://www.entu.cas.cz/en/). The student will be required to enroll into associated PhD program at Faculty of Science, Univ. of South Bohemia (http://www.prf.jcu.cz/en/). The salary and stipend are sufficient to cover living expenses in Czech Republic. The beginning of the project is between June and August 2012.

Requirements:
- fluent English and ability to communicate with an international team
- Master degree in biology
- experience with laboratory techniques used in molecular biology (e.g. Sanger sequencing, microsatellite genotyping)
- highly independent
- experience with work in R, and/or basic programming skills (Perl, Python) is preferred
- experience with genetic, bioinformatics, phylogenetic or biogeography research is advantageous

We offer:
- participation in cutting-edge research
- access to unique ecological and biological data and original research topics
- research stays at collaborting institutions in USA and Mexico
- opportunity to learn novel methods of data gathering and processing (NGS)

Interested candidates should send a short statement of interest, a CV, and the addresses of two potential referees to Milan Janda. mjanda@oeb.harvard.edu

Closing date for applications is April 5th 2011.

Starting date for the position is flexible between June and September 2012.
For further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Dr. Milan Janda
Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences
Branisovska 31, 37005, Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
email: mjanda@oeb.harvard.edu

more information:
www.newguineants.org
www.entu.cas.cz/en/
http://www.entu.cas.cz/en/departments/department-of-ecology-and-conservation-biology/