PhD position in Wild Urban Evolutionary Ecology
A PhD position is available to work in the Wild Urban Evolution and Ecology Lab led by Marta Szulkin at the
Centre of New Technologies (CeNT), University of Warsaw (Poland) for a period
of 4 years. The position is part of
a 5-year grant from the Polish National Science Centre (NCN)
entitled: “Ecological genetics of the great tit in a new, long-term population
study set along an urbanization gradient”. CeNT is a new research institute of
the University of Warsaw. Both Polish and English are working languages in the
group.
Background. Urban areas are
predicted to expand 12-fold between 2000 and 2050, yet knowledge on the
evolutionary ecology of free-living animals in urban environments is scarce. To
understand the footprint of cities on the phenotype and genotype of wild birds,
we will be starting a large-scale, long-term study of urban great tits Parus major in the city of Warsaw
(Poland).
Job description. The PhD candidate will actively participate in fieldwork and in collecting
phenotypic and genetic data. He or she will be interacting with the PI, the
postdoctoral fellow, collaborators in Poland and worldwide, and attend relevant
workshops and conferences. It is expected that the candidate will learn a large
ecological genetics skill set that will allow him/her to infer the evolutionary
ecology and / or population genomics of urban great tits. Salary: Monthly
scholarship of 3000 PLN not subject to income tax, awarded for 4 years.
Job requirements. We seek motivated candidates with an MSc degree, a strong interest in
evolutionary ecology and a good command of English. Desirable skills include
experience in: ecological (avian) fieldwork, programming in R, population
genetics, molecular lab, bird ringing.
How to apply. The candidate will
start on the 4th of January 2016. For candidates in their final year of MSc studies: there is a possibility of PhD deferral until October 2016 and work in
the project as field assistant during the 2016 field season (April-June). Your application should include (in PDF format): a cover
letter, C.V. (including, if applicable, your research experience, conference
attendance, publication list, contact information for two referees and academic
transcripts. Please send your applications to marta.szulkin@cent.uw.edu.pl no later than the 23rd of November 2015 with the term “PhD position” as
email subject line. Selected candidates will be asked for reference letters;
top candidates will be invited for live interviews or via Skype.
The position is
also detailed at http://www.cent.uw.edu.pl/pl/node/2813
