Category: job opportunities

Deadline: Nov 15, 2023

The Department of Arctic and Marine Biology (AMB) at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE) seeks a highly motivated PhD fellow in Ecology, specializing on climate change ecology.

The workplace is UiT in Tromsø. The position is affiliated with the research group Northern Populations and Ecosystems and will be associated with the research project Arctic Forest Futures – An integrative approach to understanding and anticipating ecological transitions in the forest-tundra ecotone, funded by the Research Council of Norway for 2024-2026, as well as with the Climate Ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra (COAT).

Arctic Forest Futures is a collaborative project between UiT, and strong national (NINA, MET, NORCE, UiO) and international research partners (WSL, UniGe, CSIRO, EPFL). The prospective candidate will work with researchers from this project group and from COAT to deliver cutting-edge tools for the knowledge-based management of northern forest ecosystems in the face of climate change. Supervision will be offered from UiT with co-supervisors from NINA and UiO as relevant.

The position is for a period of four years. The nominal length of the PhD program is three years. The fourth year is distributed as 25 % each year and will consist of teaching and other duties. The objective of the position is to complete research training to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to a PhD program is a prerequisite for employment, and the program period starts on commencement of the position. The PhD candidate shall participate in the faculty’s organized research training, and the PhD project shall be completed during the period of employment. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time and no later than March 1st 2024.

Deadline for application: Nov 15, 2023

Read more here: https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/250881/phd-fellow-in-climate-change-ecology#?p=1&reset=1

Deadline: October 15, 2023

A 3-year PhD fellowship in terrestrial biology is offered by the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, GINR (www.natur.gl).

The PhD-project will build a framework to test different scenarios changing major factors affecting the feedback loop between herbivores’ distribution and their foodscape. This feedback loop would consider how caribou distribution affects the main plant functional groups (structure and productivity) through herbivory (grazing, trampling, fertilizing) and, in turn, how these altered vegetation maps shift caribou distribution. The candidate work will enhance knowledge on how the main drivers – environment (climate, soil properties), land use (hunting, infrastructure), herbivore’s density and competition for resources with other herbivore species – modify these plant-herbivore interactions.

You can find more information here. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Mathilde Le Moullec.

Deadline: Jan 8 2023

A fully-funded 4-year PhD researcher position in biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in boreal forest and tundra is available within the recently established research group Northern Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning (NorEcoFun) at the University of Helsinki.

You can find more information on the project and how to apply here. Deadline for applications is January 8, 2023 and expected starting date is ideally in March 2023, but can be negotiated.

For more details, get in touch with Elina Kaarlejärvi.

Deadline: Jan 6, 2023

Would you like to come and work with us at the Tundra Ecology Lab as a post doc? You will find an open call from the University of Iceland Post-doc grants here.

Deadline for applications is January 6th, 2023. You can contact Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir for more information.

Deadline: December 15, 2022.

A PhD student position with 4 years of funding is available to participate in an NSF-funded project examining the interaction of multiple climate change forcings on vegetation and ecosystem functioning in Arctic wetlands through field and laboratory research. Field work is conducted in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in Alaska and will involve an experiment with flooding, warming, and herbivory treatments followed by measurements of vegetation responses, and CO2 and CH4 gas fluxes. The successful candidate must start no later than 1 May 2023 (although 1 April 2023 is preferred), and be willing to work 3 months each summer (number of field seasons is contingent on project development) in an extremely remote setting in western Alaska (e.g., no internet service, no running water). This work is a collaboration between faculty at South Dakota State University, the University of Colorado-Denver and Utah State University, and the student would interact with personnel from each location. The successful candidate will receive a tuition waiver; a 12-month stipend ($24,000/yr); and room, board and travel expenses during the summer field seasons.

Required Qualifications: (1) A BS/BA degree in Biology, Ecology, Environmental Science, Natural Resource Management, or related field by December 2022; (2) strong academic record including previous research experience; (3) quantitative skills including introductory R; (4) excellent written and oral communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications: (1) Prior experience conducting field research in or living in remote settings for extended periods; (2) experience with ATVs and small craft boats: (3) experience in plant identification; (4) experience with LICOR or other gas exchange systems; (5) MS degree preferred.

Utah State University is a highly selective, public, land-grant university and is classified as a Carnegie R1 Research University. The main campus is located in Logan, a community of 100,000 people. The Beard Lab is committed to supporting and advancing diversity in STEM. Applications from members of historically underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged.

To apply, please send a single PDF with (1) CV; (2) a letter describing how you meet the required qualifications and any preferred qualifications, research interest, and career goals; (3) unofficial transcripts; and (4) contact information for three professional references to Karen Beard (karen.beard@usu.edu). Application deadline is December 15, 2022.

Deadline for applications is November 18, 2022.

The Faculty of Life- and Environmental Sciences at the University of Iceland is seeking a motivated candidate for the project: Bryophytes as ecosystem engineers in a changing tundra. The position is funded by the University of Iceland Research Fund for three years. The PhD project will be linked to larger funded projects.

Bryophytes are a major component in many tundra plant communities and potentially have multiple effects on the physical environment of tundra ecosystems as well as providing a habitat for diverse organisms building complex food webs. The aim of the PhD project is to investigate bryophyte functional traits, including the microbial/micro faunal traits, that drive ecosystem processes in tundra rangelands of Iceland (above potential tree line), and how they vary between Bryophyte Functional Groups, climatic condition, and herbivory. Within that framework the successful candidate will be given the opportunity to formulate relevant research questions.

The position is funded by the University of Iceland Research Fund for three years. The PhD project will be linked to larger funded projects.

More information can be found here: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/845469

Mathilde Defourneaux is looking for a field assistant from the 25^th of August to the 10^th of September 2022. The field assistant will help collect data for Mathilde’s PhD project which is part of a bigger international project (TUNDRAsalad), looking at the effect of changes in herbivore communities on the functionality of the Tundra. The PhD focuses on Iceland and aims to: 1) estimate the contribution of the different herbivores to the nutrient pool in the Icelandic highlands (how much nutrients they contribute to the system and how their movement is actively affecting the nutrient redistribution in the landscape), and 2) investigate how different sources of dung can affect dung decomposition and the nutrient transfer to the soil, as well as the invertebrates communities feeding on them. 

Fieldwork is conducted in the Eastern highlands, mainly in Fljótsdalshreppur and focuses on 4 main herbivore species (reindeer, sheep, pink footed goose and whooper swan). It involves various protocols from plants, soil and dung sampling for both nutrient and DNA analysis, as well as estimating primary productivity and herbivore offtake using point frame and exclusion cages. There is also an experiment set up to sample coprophagous invertebrates feeding on sheep and goose dung to estimate invertebrate contribution to dung removal. All fieldwork is conducted in the highlands of Iceland under various weather conditions, and it involves camping or staying in little huts, which can be challenging.

If anyone is interested, please contact Mathilde by email or reach her on her phone number (+354 8435313). She will be very happy to give you more details 🙂

Deadline: August 1, 2022

We are seeking applications for a Master’s student to conduct geospatial analyses to document the cumulative impact of wild and domesticated herbivores in the highlands of Iceland and contribute to the development of tools for sustainable land management. The ideal candidate will have experience in geospatial analyses and a willingness to conduct fieldwork in remote sites in Iceland. Applicants will be expected to have a relevant Bachelor’s degree completed no later than May 2023 and be available to conduct fieldwork in summer 2023. The work will be conducted in collaboration with an international and interdisciplinary team of scientists, students and government partners. The position will be jointly supervised by Dr. Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe (UVic Geography) and Dr. Isabel C. Barrio (Agricultural University of Iceland).

Interested applicants should send a cover letter, CV and contact information for two references to Noémie Boulanger-Lapointe no later than August 1st, 2022. Cover letters should identify their motivations and highlight how previous academic and/or work experience are related to the advertised position. 

Would you be interested in developing a postdoc in Iceland? The University of Iceland offers 3-year post-doc grants for researchers who have obtained their PhD within the last seven years. It is open now for applications until December 2, 2021.

More information and how to apply here.

If interested in developing a project, you can get in touch with Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir.

We are looking for two motivated and enthusiastic students to work on master project in Arctic terrestrial ecology at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland.

One of the MS projects is a part of the research project „Trapped in a degraded state?  Tundra ecosystem responses of grazing cessation – TRAPP“, funded by the Icelandic Research Fund. Through field and laboratory experiments the student will study the mechanisms that keep tundra ecosystems in the Icelandic highlands trapped in a degraded state for a long time after grazing protection. Supervisors will be Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir, University of Iceland and Kari Anne Bråthen, the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø.

The second MS project will be linked to the research network International Tundra Experiment – ITEX, which aims at studying effects of climate change on tundra vegetation and ecosystems. The master project is partly funded by the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund and will be based on long-term warming experiments in the Icelandic highlands and Svalbard. The aim of the master project will be to compare responses of individual bryophyte and vascular plant species and functional groups to long-term warming. The plan is to do vegetation analyses and data collection in Svalbard by the end of July, but it is possible that this part of the project will be postponed to the summer 2022 due to the covid pandemic. In that case all project work will be in Iceland in 2021.  

In both cases, the students need to be prepared to do fieldwork in harsh conditions (the Icelandic highlands, the high Arctic Svalbard) and to work in a team (good communication skills).  Good skills in plant identification are desirable as well as skills and/or interest in data analysis (R) and in English.

Even though the master programme does not formally start until in the fall semester we want both students to start working within their projects this summer and assist in setting up field experiments, collecting data and material to work with in the lab, etc.

For further information, please contact Ingibjörg Svala Jónsdóttir isj@hi.is

Application deadline is April 6, 2021

Submit your application by e-mail to isj@hi.is  with MASTER PROJECT as subject. Attach the following documents:

• An short introduction letter where you explain your motivation for master studies
• Names and full contact information for two referees
• CV
• Transcripts of grades during your Bachelor studies

It is expected that the applicants that will be selected then formally apply for the master programme at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences before the deadline April 15. Further information on the master programme is provided here: https://english.hi.is/biology