The University of Helsinki, founded in 1640, is one of the world’s leading universities for multidisciplinary research. The university has an international academic community of 40,000 students and staff members. The University of Helsinki offers comprehensive services to its employees, including occupational health care and health insurance, sports facilities, and opportunities for professional development. The International Staff Services office assists employees from abroad with their transition to work and life in Finland.

The Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme (OEB) of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences comprises roughly 40 research groups which employ 40 principal investigators and 120 researchers. The research programme is situated in the Viikki science park.

The Organismal and Evolutionary Research Programme invites applications for a

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

in ecological data science for a fixed term of two years. There will be a trial period of four months in the beginning. The post doc position will be in the newly established Ecological Data Science research group led by assoc. prof. Giovanni Strona. The expected starting date is 1.11.2020.

The Ecological Data Science research group aims at investigating through a multidisciplinary approach the mechanisms mediating the responses of natural systems to the multifaceted threats of global change. Fundamental research questions revolve around the recognition of the fundamental role played by species interactions in determining the robustness (and the fragilities) of communities against perturbations, while how the group tries to tackle them are borrowed mainly from mathematics, physics and computer sciences.

We are seeking a candidate with a PhD in ecology or a related field, capable to handle large datasets and with consolidated experience in ecological data analysis and modelling. The successful candidate will have fluency in R and/or Python, strong geospatial skills, familiarity with parallel computing on HPC clusters, and a serious motivation to contribute to the development of the new research group and to tackle the main research questions it envisions. Although the specific focus of the position will be agreed with the candidate depending on her/his scientific background and interest, a primary goal of this position will be contributing to the development and analysis of global-scale ecosystem simulations (see Strona and Bradshaw 2018, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-35068-1), with a particular focus on the study of extinction processes in past, present and future scenarios. In this context, previous experience in paleo-climatic modelling and handling paleo-climate reconstructions would be considered a plus. More in general, the successful candidate is expected to have

excellent written and verbal communication skills, as well as the ability to conduct independent and creative research.

For more information, contact assoc. prof. Giovanni Strona by email: giovanni.strona@helsinki.fi

The salary will be based on level 5 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. The starting salary will be ca. 3300 - 3800 euros/month, depending on the appointee’s qualifications and experience.

Application should include the following documents as a single pdf file: motivational letter (max 1 page), CV (max 2 pages) and publication list. Include also contact information of two persons who can provide a reference letter based on request.

Please submit your application using the University of Helsinki Recruitment System via the Apply link. Applicants who are employees of the University of Helsinki are requested to leave their application via the SAP HR portal. The deadline for submitting the application is 24 September 2020.

References

Strona G, Stringer SD, Vieilledent G, Szantoi Z, Ulloa JC, Wich SA (2018). Small room for compromise between oil palm cultivation and primate conservation in Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences USA 115(35), 8811-8816.

Strona G, Bradshaw CJA (2018). Co-extinctions annihilate planetary life

during extreme environmental change. Scientific Reports 8(1), 16724.

Strona G, Lafferty KD (2016) Environmental change makes robust ecological networks fragile. Nature Communications 7, 12462.

Strona G, Nappo D, Boccacci F, Fattorini S, San-Miguel-Ayanz J (2014) A fast and unbiased procedure to randomize ecological binary matrices with fixed row and column totals. Nature Communications 5, 4114.

Strona G, Galli P, Fattorini S. (2013) Fish parasites resolve the paradox of missing coextinctions. Nature Communications 4, 1718.

Due date

24.09.2020 23:59 EEST