Researcher in Quaternary Science

Lunds universitet, institutionen för naturgeografi och ekosystemvetenskap

Lund University was founded in 1666 and is repeatedly ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has 40 000 students and more than 8 000 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö. We are united in our efforts to understand, explain and improve our world and the human condition. 

The Faculty of Science conducts research and education within Biology, Astronomy, Physics, Geosciences, Chemistry, Mathematics and Environmental Sciences. The Faculty is organized into nine departments, gathered in the northern campus area. The Faculty has approximately 1500 students, 330 PhD students and 700 employees.

Subject description

We seek an experienced, qualified researcher for a short-term position with specific duties relating to pollen-based Holocene land-cover reconstructions in Europe and Africa using a modelling approach, and for collaboration with archaeologists, modellers of anthropogenic land-cover change and climate modellers. The successful applicant will be employed by the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, but spend most of her/his time in close collaboration with Professor Marie-José Gaillard at Linnaeus University, Kalmar.

MERGE
Modelling the Regional and Global Earth System (MERGE, http://www.merge.lu.se/) is a cross-faculty strategic research environment at Lund University. MERGE is coordinated and hosted by the Center for Environmental and Climate Research, (CEC, http://www.cec.lu.se), which carries out research education and communication on environmental and climate research at Lund University.
MERGE focuses on the development and application of advanced models of the role of the terrestrial biosphere within the climate system. MERGE is a collaboration between Lund University (leader), a number of other Swedish universities and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SMHI, and aims to develop a new generation of climate models and to use these to study global and regional climate changes and impacts. The research contributes to a variety of international networks and institutes.

Work duties

The researcher will focus on pollen-based Holocene land-cover reconstructions in Europe and Africa using the ERV- and REVEALS models and collaborate with archaeologists, modellers of anthropogenic land-cover change (HYDE and KK) and climate modellers. The researcher will be expected to produce descriptions of past land-cover for climate modelling. The research project is led by Prof. M.-J. Gaillard who is the overall coordinator of the international PAGES (PAst Global changES) working group LandCover6k (http://pastglobalchanges.org/landcover6k) since 2015. The research project is a contribution to PAGES LandCover6k and MERGE (coordinator: Dr Paul Miller) (http://www.merge.lu.se/).

Qualification requirements 

Applicants must possess 

• A PhD in environmental science (with a focus on palaeoecology and pollen analysis)
• At least 1-2 years of postdoctoral experience with a focus on palaeoecology and pollen analysis
• Solid, demonstrable expertise in African pollen morphology
• Solid, demonstrable expertise in pollen-vegetation modelling using the ERV- and REVEALS models 
• Experience of collaboration with archaeologists and climate modellers 
• Knowledge of general Holocene vegetation history over the globe (with a specific focus on Africa and Europe) 
• Skills in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and multivariate numerical analysis 
• Excellent English language skills 

Assessment criteria and other qualifications 

The successful candidate will be a service-minded, responsible team player with structured work habits and the ability to manage several tasks in parallel. She/he will have the ability to solve problems and work independently as well as to interact well in a research group.

Consideration will also be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant’s experience and skills complement and strengthen ongoing research within the department, and how they stand to contribute to its future development.

Terms of employment 

Fixed-term employment for 1 month,2021-01-01 until 2021-01-31, full-time.
For enquiries relating to project duties, please contact:
Professor Marie-José Gaillard +46-(0)730-292663, marie-jose.gaillard-lemdahl@lnu.se

Instructions on how to apply

Applications shall be compiled into a PDF-file containing:

• résumé/CV, including a list of publications
• a general description of past research and future research interests (no more than three pages)
• contact information of at least two references
• copy of the doctoral degree certificate, and other certificates/grades that you wish to be considered 

Lund University welcomes applicants with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We regard gender equality and diversity as a strength and an asset. We kindly decline all sales and marketing contacts.