Doctoral student in Ecology

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We are an international university in Småland, Sweden. Together we set knowledge in motion for a sustainable societal development.

The Department of Biology and Environmental Science is part of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. The research activities within this multidisciplinary department include the areas of aquatic ecology, cell and organism biology, evolutionary biology, microbiology, environmental science and environmental engineering as well as disease ecology.

The marine microbiology research group in Kalmar seeks a PhD candidate for studies of the influence of concentrations of silica on the interactions between diatoms and picophytoplankton to elucidate the effect of varying silica concentrations in the sea in deep time.

Field of subject for the appointment

Ecology, with specialization in Marine Microbial Ecology

Placement city: Kalmar.

Job description

Silica is an important nutrient in marine ecosystems, for its importance to diatoms – one of the most important phytoplankton groups – but also in other eukaryotic organisms. Recently it was discovered that silica biomineralization is an important process also in the picocyanobacterium Synechococcus. Little is currently known about how shifting silicate concentrations in the sea during the last billion years of evolution have affected the evolution of phytoplankton in general. The Ph.D. study will focus on different effects of silicate concentrations on interactions and competition between organisms groups, in isolation as well as in communities. Moreover, the potential influence of low phosphate concentrations as well as different pH will be studied, as these two factors may strongly influence uptake and mineralization of silicate. Analyses will involve state-of-the-art techniques in microbiology, transcriptomics and evolutionary biology, e.g. measurements of growth rates, intracellular element concentrations and gene expression. Computational methods will be used to study evolutionary questions, regulation, gene expression patterns etc.

The PhD study is part of a larger interdisciplinary research project in collaboration with scientists from Daniel Conley’s research group at Lund University as well as other scientists within the framework of the Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial model Systems (EEMiS) at Linnaeus University that comprises expertise in ecology, evolution, and microbiology. The research is also connected to the Strong Research Environment ECOCHANGE.

According to the Higher Education Ordinance a person appointed to a doctoral studentship should primarily devote himself/herself to his/her own studies. An appointee may, however, work to a limited extent with education, research, artistic development, and administration. However, before a doctoral degree has been awarded, duties of this kind may not comprise more than 20% of a full-time post.

Requirements

A person fulfils the general entry requirements if he/she has


• been awarded a degree on second-cycle level or equivalent in Biology, Aquatic Ecology, Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, or other closely related fields
• completed the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits, of which 60 credits on second-cycle level, or
• in other way, in Sweden or abroad, acquired principally equivalent knowledge.

Specific requirements refer to


• high proficiency in written and spoken English
• ability to work independently to solve problems
• capacity to interact well in a research group (i.e. team work)
• important personal qualities are to be creative and organized.

Assessment grounds


• experience with aquatic microbial ecology research including working in the field and familiarity with microbial methods and experimental design is desired
• expertise in cultivation of phytoplankton and/or bacteria, including experiments with mixed natural assemblages or isolated bacterial cultures is highly favourable
• experience with using advanced molecular biology methods (e.g. [meta]genomics and/or [meta]transcriptomics), quantitative PCR, and bioinformatics for answering ecological questions is advantageous
• knowledge of multivariate statistics and in working with statistical software such as R
• experience with assessing the microbial biodiversity in natural samples using next-generation sequencing methodologies is appreciated.

Contacts

Associate Professor Hanna Farnelid, (hanna.farnelid@lnu.se);
Professor Jarone Pinhassi, (jarone.pinhassi@lnu.se);
Head of Department Per-Eric Betzholtz, +46-(0)480- 446249, (per-eric.betzholtz@lnu.se);
Human resources consultant Stiina Salmgren (stiina.salmgren@lnu.se), +46-(0)480- 446406.

Union representatives can be contacted via the university switchboard at +46-(0)772- 288000. 

Application

The application (in English) should contain:


• a CV (with telephone and e-mail)
• documentation of exams and grades
• an application letter describing personal motivation and experiences relevant to the research project
• any other documentation that the applicant would like to present
• contact details (including telephone number and e-mail address) of two reference persons.

Applications should arrive no later than 30 June 2020. Mark your application with reference number 2020/421-2.2.1.

 


Linnaeus University has the ambition to utilize the qualities that an even gender distribution and diversity brings to the organization.

Please apply by clicking on the "Apply" button at the bottom of the ad. Applicants are requested to the application resolving CV, cover letter , a copy of a relevant essay , grades and certificates and other relevant documents. The applicant also requested to submit with their application a proposed research plan within the current area of research. All documents must be attached to digital in the application. The application and other documents shall be marked with the reference number. All documents cited must be received by the University no later than 24.00 (Local time in Sweden) on the closing day.