Department: Department of Anthropology – Faculty of Science
Deadline: 29 Feb 2020
Start date: The position is available from 1. September 2020

Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic invites excellent scientists to apply for POSTDOC POSITION in Department of Anthropology

Description of research:

Environmental stress impacts on human biology and demography

The Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University conducts research of influence of long-term famines, wars and political transformations on the biological status of human populations. These adverse situations are associated with psychological stresses related to fear of losing life, family members, property, job, etc. For instance, the Russian famine of the 1920s, the Dutch Famine and the siege of Leningrad of WWII have provided information on the influence of long-term food shortage on humans in the form of shorter body height, hypertension, obesity, postponed menarche or earlier menopause, mainly in those who were exposed to the severe food shortage in utero and during the first years of life. Similar results have been acquired by research on the population having experienced the Balkans War. The impact of relatively recent economic and political transformations on the health and well-being of populations, especially from the former Eastern Europe brings also interesting results. The increase in stature have been accepted as the reflection of the overall beneficial effects of the economic growth. On the other hand, economic and political changes in post-communist countries have been associated with an increased incidence of chronic diseases and an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity. Both conditions were attributed to changes in lifestyle and diet. Some data also suggested a higher risk of metabolic dysregulation and an increased level of stress.

The successful candidate should:

• be a researcher who has received a PhD or its equivalent within the last 7 years
• be a researcher who has worked at least two whole years in the last three outside the territory of the Czech Republic in the field of research with a working time of at least 0.5 full-time equivalent, or who has been PhD student (or equivalent) abroad
• have a publishing record – in the last three years at least two publication outputs registered in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science, Scopus or ERIH PLUS databases and at the same time publications such as “articles”, “books”, “book chapters”, “letters” and “reviews”.

Specific criteria can be filled, i.e.:

• have experience in field of biological anthropology and historical demography
• have experience with research projects (an advantage)
• have excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate in teams

The application should include:

• a CV including a summary of education and research experience, publication activity, involvement in research grants, etc.
• a scanned copy of the PhD diploma or an official letter certifying submission of a doctoral thesis for thesis defence and the planned defence date
• a motivation letter
• at least two reference letters

MU offers the opportunity to get:

• an interesting job in a dynamically-expanding university area
• diverse and challenging work in an excellent research environment
• tenure track with an initial appointment for 2 years
• a professional team and pleasant working conditions
• interaction with leading scientists in an inspiring, internationalised environment
• a welcoming service for the successful candidate and his/her family

Anticipated start date: The position is available from 1. September 2020.

The submission deadline is 29 February 2020. 

Please submit your application electronically / by e-mail: urbanova@sci.muni.cz

A review of applications will commence immediately after the deadline. Short-listed candidates will be invited for interview within one month of the deadline.

Further information about:

• Postdoc@MUNI is available at http://postdoc.muni.cz
• Masaryk University is available at https://www.muni.cz/en
• Brno is available at https://www.gotobrno.cz/en/

Roman Čermák, M.Sc.

bursar of the Faculty of Science