PhD Studentship in Paleoecology

The ESR will be jointly supervised by will be jointly supervised by three supervisors. Dr. Florence Mazier (Palaeoecological research group, Department of Environmental Geography, University of Toulouse, France), Prof. Dr. Marie-Jose Gaillard (Palaeoecological research group, Department of Biology and Environmental Science, Linnaeus University, Sweden), and Dr. Gabriela Florescu (Department of Geography, Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava (USV), Romania).

Three secondments will take place to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Earth Sciences), to Linnaeus University (Environmental Geography) and to University of Suceava

What are we offering?

• A challenging position in a socially involved organization. Renumeration according to the conditions of Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions (MSCA).

• Be part of a team of leading scientists in different fields of academia and commerce (science, landscape management, modelling and imaging techniques).

• Prestigious EU fellowship.

• Develop multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary research skills.

• Excellent training programme covering human-environment interaction, landscape histories, reconstruction, and management, energy regimes and spatial planning, among others.

• Establish a professional network in academia, business organizations and NGO's.

• Internships and visits to different disciplinary institutes within industry and academia.

Salary and conditions

The appointment will be for 36 months.

The recruitment process and conditions will respect the obligation of the 32th article of the Grant Agreement and the rules of the CNRS, under the label HR Excellence in Research.

Location: The place of employment and work is the palaeoecological research group of the Department of Environmental Geography, at Toulouse Jean Jaurès University (https://www.univ-tlse2.fr/home/), France. The group currently includes seven senior researchers, two research engineers, one technician, five PhD students and four Post-Docs. Environmental Science includes palaeoecology, geoarchaeology, environmental geology and chemistry. The focus of the palaeoecological group is on Holocene landscape dynamics and relationships between vegetation/landscapes, human activity, metallurgy, pollution history, and climate change over century to millennial time scales. The most unique expertise of the group includes pollen-vegetation modelling (pollen-based quantitative reconstructions of past vegetation cover/landscape openness/deforestation), sedimentology and diatoms analysis for reconstruction of past human occupation and pollution, and charcoal analysis for inference of past fire history, metallurgy, and land-use.

The PhD position is part of the European Training Network TERRANOVA (H2020 ITN) in which 15 PhD fellows will collaborate to increase long-term understanding of landscape histories and land use strategies in Europe. This PhD will quantify past natural and anthropogenic landscape openness using pollen and archaeological data from Terra Nova Field Laboratories in Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Portugal. As a PhD student, you will produce maps of regional landscape openness and types of forest cover in Europe over the Holocene, as a background to the local reconstructions for the Field Laboratories by a) using pollen databases and the landscape reconstruction algorithm (REVEALS and LOVE models) to estimate regional and sub-regional/local past vegetation cover; b) using the pollen-based reconstructions, LPJ-GUESS simulated natural vegetation and Anthropogenic Land-Cover Change scenarios (ALCCs) with spatial statistical modelling to achieve continuous maps of vegetation cover.

Your duties

• analyze literature, conduct regional analysis and pollen-based modelling

• publish scientific papers and deliver synthesis

• interact and collaborate with other PhD students in the project

• interpret and reconstruct scientific analysis to produce past land-cover maps of Europe.

Requirement

We seek an excellent, highly motivated candidate with an MSc (or equivalent degree) in Ecology, Environmental Science, Conservation Science or related fields. We expect a strong interest in paleoecology as well as in European ecosystem. Mandatory skills include a sound background in geographic information systems, statistics and the R statistical environment. We expect a strong interest in environmental issues, land-use history, and historical ecology.

Application

Are you interested in this position? Please apply via the application button and upload your curriculum vitae and cover letter before 15/04/2019, 17:00.

Application Steps

• Check that you meet the conditions specified in Eligibility Criteria to qualify for applying;

o All researchers recruited in a Marie Sklodowska-Curie ITN must be Early-Stage Researchers (ESRs). A ESR shall, at the time of recruitment by the host organisation, be in the first four years of their research careers and not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree. The four years start to count from the date when a researcher obtained the degree which would formally entitle him/her to embark on a doctorate.

o Researchers are required to undertake transnational mobility (i.e. move from one country to another) when taking up their appointment. One general rule applies to the appointment of researchers: At the time of recruitment by the host beneficiary, researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of their host beneficiary for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately prior to the reference date. Note that the mobility rule applies to the beneficiary where the researcher is recruited, and not to beneficiaries to which the researcher is sent or seconded.

o For all recruitment, the eligibility and mobility of the researcher will be determined at the time of their (first) recruitment in the project. The status of the researcher will not evolve over the life-time of a contract.

• Please provide evidence that you meet the above mentioned eligibility requirements as an annex of your CV.

Key dates

Application deadline: 15 April 2019, 17:00

Evaluation, interviews and selection process: 16 April 2019-20 June 2019*

Successful candidates informed: 21 June 2019

ESRs are employed and ready to start: 1 October 2019

*An assessment event at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam can be part of the selection process.