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Postdoc­toral Re­searcher in Com­munity Eco­logy

Employer
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI
Location
Helsinki, Finland
Closing date
16 Aug 2020

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Academic Discipline
Biological Sciences, Life sciences
Job Type
Academic Posts, Postdocs
Contract Type
Fixed Term
Hours
Full Time

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 Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences (HiLIFE) is a life science institute at the University of Helsinki established in 2017 supporting high quality research across campuses and life science faculties. HiLIFE builds on existing strengths and new recruits and partnerships to create an attractive international environment for solving grand challenges in health, food, and environment.

The Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences invites applications for a

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

in community ecology for a fixed term of two years. There will be a trial period of six months in the beginning. The starting date is 1.1.2021, but a later starting date can be negotiated.

The post doc position is part of the Research Centre for Ecological Change founded in 2018 and funded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. PIs of the Centre are prof. Anna-Liisa Laine, prof. Otso Ovaskainen, prof. Tomas Roslin, assist. prof. Jarno Vanhatalo and assoc. prof. Marjo Saastamoinen. The overreaching aim of the Centre is to generate a coordinated analysis of long-term ecological data to understand impacts of global change. To unravel how populations and interactions between species in nature are responding to ongoing environmental change, the project takes advantage of the unique long-term datasets collected in Finland. The centre also develops state-of-the-art methodology for analysing long-term spatially structured data sets within a joint species distribution modeling framework. For more information on the Centre, please visit https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/research-centre-for-ecological....

We are seeking a post doc to link the spatial and temporal data on distribution of community composition and biodiversity in Finland. The questions of interest relate to identifying what traits determine winners and losers in regards to on-going environmental change, the strength and rate of biodiversity shift over the last decades, and identifying factors and underlying mechanisms that mitigate such change. The data and research questions concern both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The focus of the specific research questions will be modified in accordance with the background and interests of the candidate.

We seek candidates who have completed a PhD in ecology or a related field, and have strong conceptual and computational skills, as well as experience developing and working with large and complex datasets and theory. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to conceive, execute and complete research projects, and to think independently and creatively are required. The post docs will work as a part of a team at the Centre but also with researchers from other environmental institutes. Overall, excellent communication skills are required for extensive collaborations.

For more information, contact prof. Anna-Liisa Laine, prof. Tomas Roslin and/or assoc. prof. Marjo Saastamoinen by email: anna-liisa.laine(at)helsinki.fi, tomas.roslin(at)helsinki.fi, marjo.saastamoinen(at)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 16 August 2020.

References

Kahilainen, A., van Nouhuys, S., Schultz, T., Saastamoinen, M. 2018. Metapopulation dynamics in a changing climate: Increasing spatial synchrony in weather conditions drives metapopulation synchrony of a butterfly inhabiting a fragmented landscape. Global Change Biology 24, 4316-4329

Kankaanpää, T., Skov, K., Abrego, N., Lund, M., Schmidt, N. M., Roslin, T. 2018. Spatiotemporal snowmelt patterns within a high Arctic landscape – with implications for flora and fauna. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research 50, e1415624.

Antão, L. H., Pöyry, J., Leinonen, R., Roslin, T. 2020. Contrasting latitudinal patterns in diversity and stability in a high-latitude species-rich moth community. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29, 896–907.

Dallas, T., Laine, A.-L., Ovaskainen, O. 2019. Detecting parasite associations within multispecies host and parasite communities. Proc. R. Soc. B 286, 20191109.

Due date

16.08.2020 23:59 EEST

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