Postdoctor in computational ecology

The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56 000 students and 6 600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.

At the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences (BioEnv) we have teaching and research activities that stretch from the alpine ecosystem, through forests, cultivated land and streams, all the way into the marine environment. In these environments we study different levels of biological organisation from genes, individuals and populations, to communities and ecosystems. We work within ecology, evolution, physiology, systematics and combinations of these fields in order to understand the impact of natural and anthropogenic changes of the environment.

The department is placed at three different localities: in Gothenburg Botanical garden, at Medicinarberget in Gothenburg and Kristineberg Marine Research Station. The current position is placed at the Gothenburg Botanical garden with potential visits to the Senckenberg Research Institute in Germany.

Subject area description
The researcher will work in a project funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) on the interactions between herbivores, vegetation and climate. The project will focus on quantifying the importance of herbivory on vegetation structure under natural conditions and the potential for this herbivory driven vegetation changes to influence global climate. This work will build upon knowledge of natural mammalian diversity patterns from the Phylacine database, (https://github.com/MegaPast2Future/PHYLACINE_1.2), mammalian equilibrium densities (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.15.341297v1) and the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS (https://web.nateko.lu.se/lpj-guess/). 

The successful candidate will work in collaboration with the project leader, Søren Faurby (https://scholar.google.se/citations?user=_KxB9FsAAAAJ&hl), as well as external collaborators on the project Thomas Hickler (Senckenberg Research Institute; https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=urOgg60AAAAJ&hl) and Paul Miller (Lund University: https://scholar.google.se/citations?user=0uBAW6gAAAAJ&hl). There will also be ample opportunity to collaborate with other researchers at the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre: (GGBC; https://www.gu.se/en/ggbc-global-biodiversity) where Søren Faurby is a member, as well as the Swedish strategic research area on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in a Changing Climate (BECC; https://www.becc.lu.se/) where both Søren Faurby and Paul Miller are PIs.

Duties 
The first task will be to incorporate mammalian herbivory into the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-guess. This will both include programming in order to develop new code that adequately integrates with the existing LPJ-guess code and data-mining in order to get reliable estimates for relevant parameters for different mammalian species.

After this implementation is completed, the postdoctor will work on two separate projects utilizing the new code. The first will focus on understanding the interactions between herbivores, vegetation and climate in a counterfactual scenario with no megafauna extinctions or extirpations in the Late Pleistocene or Holocene. The second will focus on rewilding and search for potential win-win scenarios where reintroductions of large mammals to selected ecosystems both can restore ecosystem dynamics as they would be without mammalian extinctions and at the same time reduce global warming.

 For more information and how to apply, please click here.


The University works actively to achieve a working environment with equal conditions, and values the qualities that diversity brings to its operations.

Salaries are set individually at the University.

In accordance with the National Archives of Sweden’s regulations, the University must archive application documents for two years after the appointment is filled. If you request that your documents are returned, they will be returned to you once the two years have passed. Otherwise, they will be destroyed.

In connection to this recruitment, we have already decided which recruitment channels we should use. We therefore decline further contact with vendors, recruitment and staffing companies.