Stillingstittel:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ecology (2016/7781)

Stillingsbeskrivelse:
The University of Oslo is Norway’s largest institution of research and education with 28 000 students and 7000 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.

A two year position as postdoctoral research fellow available available at Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences.

The Post-doctoral position is an important part of the project "CoDINA - Cod: DIet and food web dyNAmics (Project number 255460/E40)", a collaboration between the University of Oslo (UiO) and the Institute of Marine Research (IMR), Norway; the Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), UK; University of Sheffield, UK; and the Polar Research Institute of Marine Fisheries and Oceanography (PINRO), Russia.

The fellowship will be for a period of 2 years with no compulsory teaching work. Starting date from Starting date from 01.09.2016 andno later than 01.11.2016.

Within the framework of the position duties may be assigned. No one can be appointed for more than one specified period at the same institution.

Project description

We seek a highly motivated, enthusiastic person in possession of good interpersonal skills and willingness to work in close collaboration with others to join our team on the project CoDINA (PI Geir Ottersen and Joël Durant in Oslo). With CoDINA we aim to increase the understanding of pelagic food web dynamics in sub-Arctic ecosystems by studying spatio-temporal fluctuations in the diet of Barents Sea cod and how this is linked to variability in the environment and the populations of cod and its prey. To do so, we will examine the mechanisms generating predator- prey interactions to gain a deeper understanding of trophic connections in the BS. We are interested in how these may change within the annual cycle, between years and spatially as a consequence of dynamics internal to a single population or between populations and how the functionality is influenced by external pressures like climate and fishing. Through newly digitized Cefas diet and hydrographic data for the Barents Sea from 1930s-1960s, together with more recent Russian and Norwegian diet, population and hydrographic data and a variety of modelling approaches, the proposed project will provide new knowledge on key aspects of the structure and function of the Barents Sea ecosystem, also more generally relevant to other sub-Arctic marine systems. The focus of the post-doc position will be on modelling the Barents Sea ecosystem and adjacent regions, by means of statistical and other tools, e.g., GAM, Gadget and Ecopath/Ecosim and the candidate is expected to provide evidence of competence on one or more these tools.

Qualifications:

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition of being a leading research faculty. Candidates for these fellowships will be selected in accordance with this, and expected to be in the upper segment of their class with respect to academic credentials.

Applicants must hold a PhD-degree (or other corresponding education equivalent to a Norwegian degree) in ecology, marine biology or similar field, and have a strong background in analytical work and statistical analysis. The ideal candidate should have a strong interest in population ecology and marine biology, preferably be proficient with the statistical programming environment such as R and have a proven record of publishing in high-impact journals.

The main purpose of post-doctoral research fellowships is to qualify researchers for work in top academic positions within their disciplines.

Please also refer to the regulations pertaining to the conditions of employment for post-doctoral fellowship positions: