University of Oslo Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Plague (Y. pestis) Wildlife Ecology, Norway

University of Oslo Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Plague (Y. pestis) Wildlife Ecology

Post-doctoral research fellow in plague (Y. pestis) wildlife ecology available at the Department of Biosciences, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES).

A 2 year position as post-doctoral research fellow is available at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The postdoctoral research fellowship is part of Colloquium 3, “The ecology and evolution of infectious diseases within an environmental reservoir”. The fellowship will be for a period of 2 years with no compulsory teaching work. Starting date is as soon as possible, and no later than 1 July 2016.

Job Description

One of the thematic areas within Colloquium 3 focuses on 1) addressing how climate variation affects the dynamics of plague caused by Yersinia pestis within wildlife rodent populations, and 2) how these dynamics affect the likelihood of spill-over to human populations. The post-doctoral fellow to be appointed will address these and related questions either on a short time scale (a few decades to hundred years or so), on a longer-term basis (up to approx. six thousand years), or both. Climate has been driving the range, dynamics and evolution of Y. pestis throughout Eurasia. On shorter time-spans, for which good climatic data is available and ecosystems have been fairly stable, the postdoctoral fellow is expected to generate detailed descriptions of the multi-year conditions that generate large plague outbreaks within and between multiple ecosystems, and their dynamics. The aim is to understand when and where plague outbreaks occur among rodents, and what conditions trigger such outbreaks. On longer time-spans, the post-doctoral fellow is expected to use available paleoclimatic data to reconstruct the past dynamics and ranges of various plague ecosystems (grasslands, deserts, montane steppes) and foci in China. Both long-term and short-term projects will have a special emphasis on the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China.

Requirements

The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has a strategic ambition of being a leading research faculty. The successful candidate for the announced fellowship will be selected in accordance with this and is expected to be in the upper segment of his/her class with respect to academic credentials. The ideal candidate will have completed a high-quality PhD degree (or other education equivalent to a Norwegian degree) in ecology, evolution or similar field, and have a strong background in analytical work and statistical analysis. The ideal candidate will have a proven record of publishing in high-impact journals.

Experience with statistical modeling of the ecological dynamics of vector-borne disease systems is a requirement. Due to the nature of the available data, prior experience with time-series modeling of vector-borne disease systems, in particular plague, will be considered a strong asset. Moreover, as there may be an opening for population genetic work in relation with the position, prior experience from empirical population genetics will also be considered a strong asset. The candidate must be highly proficient in written and spoken English; Norwegian or other Scandinavian language is helpful.

The candidate must submit a 2 page (maximum) proposal for the project based on the project description above. These proposals will play a key role in the selection process.

The host institution

The project will be carried out at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo. CEES is a centre of excellence for integrative biological research and is well funded. It provides a stimulating research environment with many young international and Norwegian scientists working on a variety of theoretical and empirical topics within bio-economics, ecology, evolution, population genetics, genomics, phylogenetics, molecular biology, and statistical methodology. The CEES is chaired by Professor Nils Chr. Stenseth and currently employs 18 faculty members, 61 postdocs/researchers, 30 PhD students and 38 MSc students. Information about the centre can be found at: www.cees.uio.no

This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:

http://uio.easycruit.com/vacancy/1635379/96871?iso=no