Wednesday, December 19, 2012

2 POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER POSITIONS in GLOBAL CHANGE and CONSERVATION


Two positions available at the Global Change and Conservation group, part of the Centre of Excellence in Metapopulation Research, at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The appointments will be for a fixed term for two years and there will be a trial period of four months in the beginning. Starting independent university researchers can be considered in special cases.

We are looking for ambitious advanced postdocs willing to join a stimulating environment and collaborate with an active team. We would especially welcome candidates with background and expertise that could complement the team most. We work with a broad range of topics related to conservation effectiveness and conservation planning. Climate change research has a strong focus, but we also deal with other important aspects of conservation: conserving evolutionary history; ecosystem functioning and conservation planning; deforestation, causes and consequences; governance and other sociopolitical constraints to conservation (read more about us at http://gcc.it.helsinki.fi). The team hosts a broad range of research activities from methodological and theoretical research to teaching a very applied field course in the tropics. A qualified candidate will have interests in developing conservation theory, developing measures of effectiveness of conservation actions, and/or developing quantitative and spatial conservation planning approaches.

We would welcome candidates with very different profiles, from social scientists to spatial ecologists or biostatisticians. We especially welcome applications from candidates specialized in community ecology (in particular, modelers of metacommunities in space), macroecology, paleontology, and physiology. For one of the posts, we would favor a candidate with a strong spatial statistics background and extensive GIS skills.

For the second post we would have preference for a candidate with a social science
background and with expertise in studying the social aspects of conservation science.
The topic for the research project is open for specification depending on the expertise and interest of the candidate. Nonetheless, the successful candidate will be expected to conduct original research on core problems in biodiversity conservation. The candidate should be willing to integrate his/her own research project to those of the team, and be able to propose and foster common lines of research.

Qualified applicants should possess a minimum of a doctoral degree (Ph.D) and have the background and ability to address or discuss a wide range of disciplines and issues
related to conservation. Selected candidates will not have the obligation, but will have the opportunity to participate in PhD student supervision.
The salary will be based on level 5–6 (3 105–4 221 €/month, Postdoctoral Researcher /
University Researcher) of the demands level chart for teaching and research personnel in the salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will be paid a salary component based on personal performance. All standard pension benefits and
occupational health care are provided for university employees.

Applications
Candidates should submit by email (biotiede-mrg@helsinki.fi) the following documentation by December 30th:
- Curriculum vitae
- Brief description of previous work, with 3 selected publications
- Letter of interest, expressing how the candidate thinks his/her background would
fit the team’s research interests
- Names and email addresses of up to three referees

Position Extent: 2 years

Starting date: preferably 1.2.2013

Contact person: Mar Cabeza (cabeza@cc.helsinki.fi)

Information about us:
The team: http://gcc.it.helsinki.fi
The larger research group: www.helsinki.fi/science/metapop
The department: http://www.helsinki.fi/biosciences/
Helsinki, 12th December 2012
University of Helsinki Central Administration
www.helsinki.fi/university

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