PhD Candidate in Evolutionary Ecology

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At NTNU, 9,000 employees and 43,000 students work to create knowledge for a better world.

You will find more information about working at NTNU and the application process here.

About the job

A fully-funded PhD position in evolutionary ecology is available at the Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science & Technology, NTNU.

The PhD position is associated with a major research project funded by the European Research Council and NTNU, with an overall aim of providing new understanding of spatial and seasonal population and evolutionary dynamics in nature.

Specifically, the primary focus of the PhD will be to quantify links between different types of animal movements, including dispersal (and resulting immigration to new populations) and reversible seasonal migration. Understanding how these different types of movement co-occur and interact will provide new capability to predict how spatial population dynamics will respond to dramatic changes in seasonal climates and environments.

The empirical objectives will be achieved by applying advanced statistical models to multi-year field data collected in a partially-migratory meta-population of European shags in Scotland. There will also be opportunities to contribute to fieldwork, quantitative genetic analyses and/or theoretical modelling, depending on the interests of the successful applicant. Full training in quantitative, analytical and modelling skills will be provided.

The PhD position provides an exciting opportunity to gain broad experience and expertise working at the interface of evolutionary ecology, population ecology, and movement ecology. It will provide broad training in research skills, and will suit a candidate who is motivated to undertake high-level research in evolutionary ecology. The goal is a completed doctoral education to obtain a doctoral degree. The four-year position includes research time, course components, and one year of embedded teaching and other professional duties.

The position will be hosted within a dynamic international research group based at NTNU, with strong collaborative links to University of Aberdeen and UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Scotland, UK. There will be opportunities for international mobility among the collaborating groups, and for conference and workshop participation.

The project supervisor will be Professor Jane M. Reid (Department of Biology, NTNU).

The co-supervisors will be Dr Rita Fortuna (Department of Biology, NTNU) and Professor Francis Daunt (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK).

Duties of the position

• Learn and apply advanced statistical methods to analyse multi-year data from a wild bird population (of European shags) to answer questions in population and evolutionary ecology, especially concerning links between dispersal and seasonal migration
• Contribute to collecting, collating and checking field data
• Produce a high quality PhD thesis, comprising manuscripts written for publication
• Produce presentations for further research dissemination
• Contribute to building a collaborative and interactive local and international research team
• Fulfil NTNU’s course credit requirements for the award of a doctoral degree
• Undertake teaching and other professional activities, as agreed with the Department of Biology
• Undertake a basic Norwegian language course, if required

Required selection criteria

• You must have a relevant background in ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, movement ecology and/or statistics, with capability to learn and apply advanced statistical analyses to field data (training will be provided).
• Your previous education must be equivalent to a five-year Norwegian degree programme, where 120 credits are obtained at master's level. This corresponds to an undergraduate Bachelor degree and typically a two-year Master’s degree. Applicants with a non-Norwegian education who meet comparable requirements through other routes are welcome.
• You must have a strong academic background from your previous studies and an average grade from the master's degree program, or equivalent education, which is equal to B or better compared with NTNU's grading scale. If you do not have letter grades from previous studies, you must have an equally good academic basis. If you have a weaker grade background, you may be assessed if you can document that you are particularly suitable for a PhD education.
• Current master's students are encouraged to apply, but the master's degree must be obtained and documented before starting the PhD position.
• You must meet the requirements for admission to the faculty's doctoral program (https://www.ntnu.edu/nv/phd)
• You must have strong quantitative skills, or willingness to learn, including basic competence in the R statistical environment.
• You must have excellent communication skills in written and oral English.

The appointment is to be made in accordance with Regulations on terms of employment for positions such as postdoctoral fellow, Phd candidate, research assistant and specialist candidate and Regulations concerning the degrees of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) and Philosodophiae Doctor (PhD) in artistic research national guidelines for appointment as PhD, post doctor and research assistant 

Preferred selection criteria

• Some experience of, or evidence of interest in, ecological fieldwork is desirable.

Personal characteristics

• You must be a good teamworker, with commitment to working as part of a collaborative international research environment.
• You must also be able to undertake independent and self-motivated activity.

Key characteristics:

• Reliable
• Communicative
• Self-motivated
• Organised
• Collaborative

Emphasis will be placed on personal and interpersonal qualities.

We offer

• exciting and stimulating tasks in a strong international academic environment
• an open and inclusive work environment with dedicated colleagues
• favourable terms in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• employee benefits

Salary and conditions

As a PhD candidate (code 1017) you are normally paid from gross NOK 532 200 per annum before tax, depending on qualifications and seniority. From the salary, 2% is deducted as a contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.

The period of employment is 4 years with 25 % teaching duties.
The start date can be discussed, but will ideally be before September 2025.

Appointment to a PhD position requires that you are admitted to the PhD programme in Biology (https://www.ntnu.edu/studies/phbi) within three months of employment, and that you participate in an organized PhD programme during the employment period.

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Applicants of any nationality are welcome. However the engagement is to be made in accordance with the regulations in force concerning State Employees and Civil Servants, and the acts relating to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to NTNU. 

After the appointment you must assume that there may be changes in the area of work.

It is a prerequisite you can be present at and accessible to the institution daily.

About the application

The application and supporting documentation to be used as the basis for the assessment must be in English.

Publications and other scientific work must be attached to the application. Please note that your application will be considered based solely on information submitted by the application deadline. You must therefore ensure that your application clearly demonstrates how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above.

The application must include: 

• a cover letter explaining your motivation for applying for the PhD position and outlining how your skills and experience fulfil the criteria specified above
• CV and certificates
• transcripts and diplomas for bachelor's and master's degrees. If you have recently submitted your master's thesis, you can attach the submitted version. If you have not yet submitted your master’s thesis you can attach a short summary of your project and the expected submission date. Documentation of a completed master's degree must be presented before taking up the PhD position
• Name and contact information of three referees

If all, or parts, of your education has been taken abroad, we also ask you to attach documentation of the scope and quality of your entire education, both bachelor's and master's education, in addition to other higher education. Description of the documentation required can be found here. If you already have a statement from Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, please attach this as well.

We will take joint work into account. If it is difficult to identify your efforts in the joint work, you must enclose a short description of your participation.

In the evaluation of which candidate is best qualified, emphasis will be placed on education, experience and personal and interpersonal qualities. Motivation, ambitions, and potential will also count in the assessment of the candidates. 

NTNU is committed to following evaluation criteria for research quality according to The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment – DORA.

General information

Working at NTNU

NTNU believes that inclusion and diversity is our strength. We want to recruit people with different competencies, educational backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives to contribute to solving our social responsibilities within education and research. We will facilitate for our employees’ needs.

NTNU is working actively to increase the number of women employed in scientific positions and has a number of resources to promote equality. 

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The city of Trondheim is a modern European city with a rich cultural scene. Trondheim is the innovation capital of Norway with a population of 200,000. The Norwegian welfare state, including healthcare, schools, kindergartens and overall equality, is probably the best of its kind in the world. Professional subsidized day-care for children is easily available. Furthermore, Trondheim offers great opportunities for education (including international schools) and possibilities to enjoy nature, culture and family life and has low crime rates and clean air quality.

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As an employee at NTNU, you must at all times adhere to the changes that the development in the subject entails and the organizational changes that are adopted.

A public list of applicants with name, age, job title and municipality of residence is prepared after the application deadline. If you want to reserve yourself from entry on the public applicant list, this must be justified. Assessment will be made in accordance with current legislation. You will be notified if the reservation is not accepted.

If you have any questions about the position, please contact Professor Jane Reid, email jane.m.reid@ntnu.no. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact HR at Department of Biology, e-mail: hr@bio.ntnu.no

If you think this looks interesting and in line with your qualifications, please submit your application electronically via jobbnorge.no with your CV, diplomas and certificates attached. Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered. Upon request, you must be able to obtain certified copies of your documentation.  

Application deadline: 27.01.2025

DIVERSE INFO

Kilde: NAV stillingsannonser
https://arbeidsplassen.nav.no/stillinger/stilling/7f133495-f138-4d1d-bbcb-5c2624dae08e
IMPORTAPI
https://www.jobbnorge.no/ledige-stillinger/stilling/271754