The University of Helsinki is a leading Nordic university with an international academic community of community of 40,000 students and staff members aiming to solve global challenges. Environmental Change Research Unit (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/environmental-change) forms one of the many research groups in the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, and is an integral part of the Faculty’s Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme as well as the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS). ECRU members use a range of (paleo)ecological and modeling approaches to detect environmental changes and their impacts and provide solutions for global challenges from a long-term perspective. ECRUs research concentrates on northern aquatic and terrestrial environments.

We invite applications for a

DOCTORAL STUDENT IN ARCTIC PALEOLIMNOLOGY/PALEOCLIMATOLOGY

The doctoral student will be employed full-time for a fixed term of 46 months. The successful candidate will be working in an Academy of Finland funded research project Beyond the shore: past sea-ice change and lake ecosystems in the Arctic (SLEET). The project investigates lake ecosystem structure and functioning over the past millennia, with an emphasis on sea ice as the forcing mechanism. The project combines existing marine sea-ice records, own and open data collections and modeling with new organic geochemical analyses (pigments, lipids, elemental and isotopic composition of sediment compounds) from lake sediments. The doctoral student will join Maija Heikkilä’s research team at ECRU and work closely together with graduate students and post docs hired in the new and existing projects. ECRU provides a truly enthusiastic yet welcoming and relaxed working environment.

Requirements

We are looking for outstanding candidates with a positive approach, excellent writing and interpersonal skills and a strong drive. The successful candidate is expected to be willing to travel for extended periods of time, including field work to remote locations and a six-month laboratory visit to the University of Toronto. The applicants must have:

• MSc degree in Geoscience, Environmental Science or another relevant field;
• Proven academic ability, willingness to take initiative and think independently;
• Excellent written and verbal communication (English) and good numerical skills;
• Experience in some of the following: (organic) geochemistry, paleoecology/-climatology/-limnology/-oceanography, laboratory and field work, multivariate statistics, GIS

Conditions of employment

The position is fixed-term (46 months) with a six-month probation period and requires traveling. Salary is based on levels 1−4 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 with the overall salary amounting to approximately 2200−3000 €/month (gross) depending on the stage of the doctoral studies and work performance. Standard Finnish pension benefits, occupational health care and health insurance are provided for the University employees.

The University offers comprehensive services including sports facilities, and opportunities for professional development.

PhD degree consists of the student’s own research work and studies specific to the doctoral candidate's discipline or research field, as well as transferable skills training, and career orientation and guidance (40 ECTS). English is the primary language of study in doctoral education. The University has 4,700 doctoral students, one-fourth of them international students, and awards approximately 500 doctoral degrees annually. The successful candidate will apply for the right to study for a doctoral degree in a PhD program of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/research/doctoral-education/doctoral-schools-...).

Application

The starting date is negotiable around November 1, 2020.

To apply, please submit your letter of motivation (one page), a CV including a possible publication record, copies of degree certificates, and a link to an online version of the Master’s thesis (if not available, include a copy of the MSc thesis or other substantial written scientific work), and names and contact information two or three referees using the University of Helsinki electronic recruitment system via the link Apply for Job. Internal applicants (i.e., current employees of the University of Helsinki) please submit your applications through the SAP HR portal.

Apply latest on August 3, 2020.

For more information, please contact Academy Research Fellow Maija Heikkilä by email maija.heikkila@helsinki.fi.

In case you need support with the recruitment system, please contact recruitment@helsinki.fi.

Due date

03.08.2020 23:59 EEST