Post doctoral fellow in Ecology - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Vacancy announcement for postdoc fellowships focusing on Agenda 2030 and sustainable development: Nature-based solutions at the climate-biodiversity-health nexus

The 2030 Agenda is the framework for sustainable development that the world’s nations have signed to end extreme poverty, reduce inequalities, solve the climate crisis, promote peace and equity and much more. In order to achieve the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, research has several important roles: to identify challenges and conflicting objectives, contribute to new solutions, generate dialogue and learning between different societal stakeholders and critically analyse the goals. Lund University aspires to be a part of the solution and has therefore initiated a research programme on sustainable development with postdoc fellowships in various interdisciplinary projects. The projects will not only constitute platforms for the postdocs’ career development, but also form a basis for national and European applications, and for future environments for excellence and profiling. The programme is also to develop the postdocs’ expertise in teaching and learning in higher education. More information on the research programme is available here: https://www.sustainability.lu.se/researchers/available-positions

We now welcome applicants who want to take an active role in 2030 Agenda research to apply for the postdoc fellowships.

Duties
The main duties involved in a post doctoral position is to conduct research. Teaching may also be included, but up to no more than 20% of working hours. The position shall include the opportunity for three weeks of training in higher education teaching and learning.

In this project, researchers at the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Engineering, and the Faculty of Medicine will work together to develop a conceptual framework for how nature-based solutions – actions that protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems – generate synergies and mitigate trade-offs between biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, public health and human wellbeing. The framework will employ biodiversity science, ecosystem process understanding, environmental psychology and epidemiology, to provide a joint pathway to address these global challenges in practice. We are now recruiting three post-doctoral researchers to join the project team and coordinate the research.

This is a truly interdisciplinary project, which from its start will integrate the constituent subdisciplines as participants inform about their respective research field and jointly identify potential links between endpoints. This is done in order to develop a shared understanding of how the different endpoints are mechanistically related and of the task at hand. Initially the team will also systematically map the existing evidence of how trade-offs and synergies between climate, biodiversity and health are moderated by nature-based solutions. The post-doc hosted by the Faculty of Science will be placed at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC) and will coordinate the ecological expertise within the project.

Qualifications
For this task, we are looking for an ecologist, environmental scientist or similar, with good understanding of scientific methods for knowledge synthesis, a keen interest in transdisciplinary research, a dedication to developing evidence-based and multifunctional solutions to global challenges of sustainability and public health, and a motivation to contribute to the development of a novel research field in the climate-biodiversity-health nexus. We place high value in personal qualifications, where the successful candidate will be meticulous, structured, and take personal responsibility both for the individual work and for collaboration within the larger research team.

Requirements

• PhD in Ecology, Environmental Science, or similar
• Documented knowledge of biodiversity science, conservation biology, ecosystem ecology or related subdisciplines
• Experience of knowledge synthesis (e.g. systematic literature reviews, meta analysis)
• Documented ability to produce and publish high quality research output
• Excellent ability to work in a team
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Teaching skills

Merits

• Experience of transdisciplinary work
• revious work with nature-based solutions P
• revious experience of stakeholder interactions
• Basic proficiency in Swedish

Consideration will also be given to good collaborative skills, drive and independence, and how the applicant’s experience and skills complement and strengthen ongoing research within the department, and how they stand to contribute to its future development.

Assessment criteria and other qualifications

This is a career development position primarily focused on research. The position is intended as an initial step in a career, and the assessment of the applicants will primarily be based on their research qualifications and potential as researchers.

Particular emphasis will be placed on research skills within the subject.

For appointments to a post-doctoral position, the following shall form the assessment criteria:

• A good ability to develop and conduct high quality research
• Teaching skills

Terms of employment
This is a full-time, fixed-term employment of a maximum of 2 years. The period of employment is determined in accordance with the agreement “Avtal om tidsbegränsad anställning som postdoktor” (“Agreement on fixed-term employment as a post-doctoral fellow”) between Lund University, SACO-S, OFR/S and SEKO, dated 4 September 2008.

Instructions on how to apply
Applications shall be written in English and be compiled into a PDF-file containing:

• résumé/CV, including a list of publications
• a general description of past research and future research interests (no more than three pages)
• contact information of at least two references
• copy of the doctoral degree certificate, and other certificates/grades that you wish to be considered