Please be aware, this post is available from April 2020

Are you an ambitious researcher looking for your next challenge? Do you have skills in analysing ecological datasets and a particular interest in tropical ecology, biogeography, and global change? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research intensive Universities?

The Ecology and Global Change research cluster at Leeds conducts world-leading research in tropical ecosystem ecology and change. We are looking to recruit a highly skilled and ambitious Postdoctoral Research Fellow to lead analyses for two new projects led by our group: the Royal Society – Global Challenges Research Fund project FORAMA (“For a Climate Resilient Amazon”), and the NERC – Newton Fund Latin American Biodiversity project ARBOLES (“A trait-based Understanding of LATAM Forest Biodiversity and Resilience”). The central aim of FORAMA is to understand how climate changes will impact Amazon trees and use this to inform climate-proof restoration of ecosystems that contributes to livelihoods of marginalised people. ARBOLES has highly complementary aims, focused on understanding the functional basis of trait of forest climate sensitivity and resilience.

You will be responsible for leading analysis of ecological change datasets, and associated publications, with support from the project PIs and a wider team of collaborators in Leeds and beyond. You will be analysing data on forest change and dynamics (associated with our highly collaborative RAINFOR and ForestPlots.net initiatives), as well as plant distributional data (e.g. BIEN), and rich and growing datasets on Amazon forest functional traits and heating experiments in the south-eastern margins of Amazonia where ecosystems and climate are changing rapidly. Key objectives are to (1) develop independent frameworks to predict impacts of climate change on Amazon trees, (2) evaluate these against new experiments and/or observations of climate sensitivity, and (3) exchange and integrate new knowledge into restoration practice with local communities and restoration specialists. Ultimately, these novel frameworks and analyses will provide new insights into which Amazon forests and plant taxonomic groups will be most affected by changes in climate.

Delivering on both these projects is core, but we will expect the successful candidate to contribute in other ways, including helping with advanced analysis for our PhD students and others including Latin American visitors who use data in ForestPlots.net. You will be based in Leeds throughout, but will work interactively with colleagues elsewhere in the UK and in South America, and is likely to involve some project meetings and other stakeholder engagement events in South America. You will have excellent existing skills in statistical analysis using R, a willingness to collaborate widely with colleagues in Latin America, as well as a track-record of publishing high-quality papers from your previous research.

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Professor Oliver Phillips, Professor in Tropical Ecology

Tel: +44 (0)113 34 36832, email: O.Phillips@leeds.ac.uk

or

Dr David Galbraith, Associate Professor

Tel: +44 (0)113 34 32730, email: D.R.Galbraith@leeds.ac.uk

Location:      Leeds - Main Campus
Faculty/Service:      Faculty of Environment
School/Institute:      School of Geography
Category:      Research
Grade:      Grade 7
Salary:      £33,797 to £40,322 p.a.
Post Type:      Full Time
Contract Type:      Fixed Term (Fixed-term for 24 months (due to external funding) starting April 2020)
Closing Date:      Sunday 26 January 2020
Downloads: Candidate Brief