Post-doc position on effects of climate changes on the biodiversity of protected areas in the Barents region

The position is connected to the Landscape Ecology Group (LEG) at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science (EMG). EMG has about 170 employees including almost 50 PhD students. For more information see the department’s homepage: www.emg.umu.se/en.

The LEG works with large-scale ecology. Among other things, we study landscape processes that are affected by human intervention, including climate change, and provide suggestions on how effects can be avoided or reduced.

The position is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and will be associated to a project about the biodiversity in the Barents region in a future situation with a warmer climate. The project has three major goals: (1) to assess whether the network of protected areas can conserve its species and ecosystem types, (2) to identify the major gaps in terms of providing stepping-stones or migration routes between reserves, and in representing natural variation, (3) to evaluate the economic consequences of alternative conservation strategies aiming at representing biodiversity. The position will start as soon as possible and last for about 20 months. For further information, contact professor Christer Nilsson, EMG (+46-(0)-90-786 60 03), email christer.nilsson(at)emg.umu.se, or associate professor Roland Jansson, EMG (+46-(0)-90-786 95 73), email roland.jansson(at)emg.umu.se.

To qualify for the position you should have a PhD degree or equivalent, preferably not more than 3 years old. You should be an experienced GIS user, and be familiar with nature conservation issues and species movements. Your application, in English, must include a short summary (max. 1 page) of your previous experience, a short description (max. 1 page) of how you could contribute to the research, a curriculum vitae with a list of publications, and names and contact details of three reference persons.

Union information is available from SACO, +46-(0)90-786 53 65, SEKO civil, +46-(0)90-786 52 96 and ST, +46-(0)90-786 54 31. Documents sent electronically should be in MS Word or PDF format. Your complete application, marked with reference number 315-1076-09, should be sent to jobb(at)umu.se (state the reference number as subject) or to the Registrar, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden to arrive January 7, 2010 at the latest.