PhD in Computational Ecology and Archaeology (Fixed Term)
We invite applications for a 4-year PhD studentship on ecological modelling as part of the Leverhulme Trust funded project "Crops, pollinators and people: the long-term dynamics of a critical symbiosis" led by Professor Martin Jones.
The overarching objective of the project is to determine which major factors constrained the expansion of insect-pollinated crops in the human past, considering a) plant-water-climate relations, b) plant-pollinator relations, and c) people-plant-pollinator relations. It will focus in particular on whether intensification of agriculture and its diversification through crop globalization in the past were associated with rising human management of honeybee populations and an increase in honeybee numbers. This is an opportunity to be part of a large multidisciplinary project, working alongside experts in biogeochemistry, archaeogenetics, and computational archaeology. The successful candidate will be supervised by Dr Enrico Crema and Prof Martin Jones in the Department of Archaeology. He or she will use Species Distribution Modelling and related techniques to identify potential ecological, environmental, and cultural parameters that promoted the expansion of buckwheat in Eurasia during its early stages of domestication and build theoretical co-evolutionary simulation models of human, plant, and insect pollinator.
Candidates must have strong motivation to work on a multidisciplinary project, have some experience in computational modelling and a desire to expand their skill in ecology, statistics, and agent-based modelling. Applicants should have (or expect to obtain) the equivalent of a UK first class or upper second-class honours degree and a Masters in any relevant discipline. The studentship provides a maintenance grant and tuition fees at the UK/EU rate. Applicants must satisfy the eligibility and residence requirements of the UK Research Councils. The studentship covers 4 years' UK/EU tuition fees and a maintenance stipend, and is available for UK nationals and EU students who meet the residency requirements.
Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 4 years in the first instance.
Applications should be emailed in the form of a single pdf file (less than 2MB), and should include a CV, detailed academic transcripts, a cover letter highlighting what you can bring to the project, a short (1-2 pages) summary of your Masters dissertation (or other recent research project) for a non-specialist audience, and contact details for two academic referees.
Applications should be sent to Ms Katie Teague (ket32@cam.ac.uk) by the closing date of 3rd of August 2017. Interviews will take place in Cambridge on the 21st of August.
Informal enquires regarding this studentship may be made to Dr Enrico Crema (erc62@cam.ac.uk). General queries regarding Graduate Student admissions should be directed to Ms. Katie Teague (ket32@cam.ac.uk).
Please quote reference JB12688 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.
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This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/14281/