*Three UK-based postdoctoral research associate positions on the
metabolic basis of species invasions*
Three postdoctoral research associate (PDRA) positions are available
under a collaborative project between Imperial College London (IC) (two
positions) and University of Exeter (UE) (one position). The three
3-year PDRA positions are funded by a UK National Environmental Research
Council grant to study metabolic constraints on species invasions under
different regimes of environmental temperature. The IC PDRAs will be
based in the Pawar lab (http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/s.pawar) at
Silwood Park (http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/silwoodparkcampus) and the UE
position will be based in the Yvon-Durocher Lab
(http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/people/yvon-durocher/ and
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gabriel_Yvon-Durocher) at the Penryn
Campus in Cornwall (http://www.exeter.ac.uk/cornwall/index.html). Both
Silwood Park and Penryn Campuses offer a vibrant academic environment in
beautiful natural settings.
Invasive species are currently considered second only to habitat loss as
a cause of rapid and undesirable changes in the functioning of
ecosystems worldwide. However, we currently lack adequate frameworks for
predicting which species will succeed in invading new habitats as the
planet warms. This multi-institutional, interdisciplinary project will
use a novel combination of ecoinformatics (construction and analysis of
a global metabolic traits database), mathematical theory, and laboratory
experiments with phytoplankton to build a general mechanistic,
trait-based predictive framework for invasion success. The three
positions are:
(1) */PDRA in computational biology and ecoinformatics/*: The
primary responsibility for this position will be the construction,
management and mining of a new global database on the thermal responses
of metabolic traits relevant to species invasions. For this position, we
invite applications from candidates from any background having
computational skills suitable for big data science, bioinformatics and
statistical likelihood-based data mining. The core computational tools
will all be open-source, possibly SQL in combination with programming in
Python (or a similar language) and R. For more details and application
procedure, please see
https://www4.ad.ic.ac.uk/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?page=/oracle/apps/irc/candidateSelfService/webui/VisVacDispPG&OAHP=IRC_EXT_SITE_VISITOR_APPL&OASF=IRC_VIS_VAC_DISPLAY&akRegionApplicationId=821&transactionid=1205965559&retainAM=Y&addBreadCrumb=RP&p_svid=44701&p_spid=1690210&oapc=15&oas=GjavE_6MsNQDUedRaNUkBQ,
or contact Samraat Pawar by email (s.pawar.imperial.ac.uk) for informal
enquiries.
(2) /*PDRA in mathematical modelling*/: The primary responsibility
for this position will be the development and analyses of mathematical
models of species invasions under fixed and fluctuating temperatures,
and fitting models to experimental invasions data. For this position, we
invite applications from candidates from any background with
mathematical skills suitable for modelling the population dynamics of
species interactions who are also comfortable with developing efficient
numerical simulations/analyses in Python (or equivalent languages). For
more details and application procedure, please see
https://www4.ad.ic.ac.uk/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?page=/oracle/apps/irc/candidateSelfService/webui/VisVacDispPG&OAHP=IRC_EXT_SITE_VISITOR_APPL&OASF=IRC_VIS_VAC_DISPLAY&akRegionApplicationId=821&transactionid=1205965559&retainAM=Y&addBreadCrumb=RP&p_svid=44703&p_spid=1690212&oapc=12&oas=ux2wD5FM9b3GAIuO2Uk0UA,
or contact Samraat Pawar by email (s.pawar.imperial.ac.uk) for informal
enquiries.
(3) /*PDRA in experimental population biology:*/ The primary
responsibility for this position will be the development and
implementation of laboratory experiments with a wide range of
phytoplankton taxa. The experiments will entail characterization of
phytoplankton physiology using Oxygen electrodes and fast repetition
rate fluorometry as well as running multiple competition experiments
under different regimes of simulated global change. The successful
candidate will work closely with the theoretical and ecoinfomatics
post-docs to develop a general trait-based predictive framework for
species invasions. For this position, we invite applications from
candidates with who are competent both in the laboratory and at handling
and analysing large, complex datasets. Prior experience with
phytoplankton culture, physiology and programming in R are preferable.
For more details and application procedure, please search for “P47703”
under Keywords at https://jobs.exeter.ac.uk , or contact Gabriel
Yvon-Durocher (g.yvon-duroc...@exeter.ac.uk) for informal enquiries.
The integrative nature of this project means that the PDRAs will get a
unique opportunity to work in a collaborative environment. There will
also be ample opportunities to visit and interact with the laboratories
of Co-Investigator Dr. Daniel Reuman at U Kansas and Kansas Biological
Survey, and a number of project partners and collaborators in Australia,
China, UK, and US. An interview will be scheduled for all short-listed
candidates in early December.
--
Samraat Pawar
----------------------
Lecturer, Department of Life Sciences
Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus
N1.12 Munro Hall
Buckhurst Road
Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY
United Kingdom
Director, MSc in Computational Methods in Ecology and Evolution
<http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/lifesciences/postgraduate/courselist/msc-cmee>,
Silwood Park
Director, MRes in Computational Methods in Ecology and Evolution
<http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/lifesciences/postgraduate/courselist/mres-cmee>,
Silwood Park
Web: http://imperial.ac.uk/people/s.pawar
Email: s.pa...@imperial.ac.uk <mailto:s.pa...@imperial.ac.uk>
Phone: +44 (0)2075942213
