Researcher in Functional Ecology

Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment
The Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment (www.slu.se/aquatic-sciences) is working with applied environmental science, with a national responsibility for assessing the condition of Swedish surface waters with respect to water chemistry, pollution and aquatic biota. The department has some 135 employees. The research focuses on geochemical and hydrological processes, aquatic ecology and biodiversity, as well as on aquatic ecotoxicology and environmental chemistry. The department is part of a Soil-Water-Environment cluster, a recently established competence centre for landscape-level processes that also includes the Departments of "Soil and Environment" and "Energy and Technology". The breadth of expertise among the 300 members in combination with a well-equipped infrastructure creates a unique platform for high quality research as well as environmental monitoring and assessment.
Practical approaches for assessment and mapping of ecosystem services (ES), a requirement for all EU member states, have been developed for terrestrial habitats but remain in their infancy for freshwaters. This hinders policy and management of the multiple ES provided by running waters, which include key provisioning (e.g. potable water, fish) and regulating (e.g. water purification, nutrient retention) services. Development of a framework for mapping provisioning and regulating ES in streams requires an improved understanding of how biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and ES are related. The functional traits of species - phenotypic features regulating the impacts of organisms on ecosystem functioning - provide a useful link between variation in community composition recorded by monitoring schemes and outcomes for ES.

The project is financed by the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning and offers a multidisciplinary approach to tackling ES mapping in streams.

Read more about our benefits and what it is like to work at SLU at https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/work-at-slu/

Duties:
We are seeking a researcher, who will work on the development and application of methods for modelling stream ecosystem services at the national scale based on national monitoring data. The developed models will be linked to future global change scenarios with the aim to map where in the country ecosystem services are at risk. The duties also include interactions with the relevant stakeholders, data analysis, processing of large data sets, statistical analyses and scientific publication. The project includes spending in total 2.5 years of the project time at the partner’s research institute in France, the French Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE).

Qualifications:
Applicants should hold a PhD degree in environmental sciences or aquatic ecology, or equivalent. Specialisation towards functional stream ecology, strong skills in statistical analysis and programming and, experience with handling large monitoring datasets are required. Published work on various stream organism groups, assessment of freshwater ecosystem services, and skills in communicating with stakeholders are valuable merits. Emphasis is also placed on personal characteristics such as communication skills, interpersonal skills, analytical and problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently. Proficiency in English (both spoken and written) is required, whereas proficiency in French is a merit.

Place of work:
Uppsala, Sweden and Lyon, France

Form of employment:
Permanent employment.

Extent:
100%

Starting date:
According to agreement

Application:
We welcome your application no later than 2022-11-30, use the button below.

The application should be written in English. The following documents should be included: (1) CV including a publication list, (2) PhD diploma, (3) a description of previous research, other activities of relevance for the position, and a description of specific research interests (maximum three pages), and (4) names and addresses of at least one person able to provide references for the candidate.

Academic union representatives:
https://internt.slu.se/en/my-employment/employee-associations/kontaktpersoner-vid-rekrytering/



The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) is a world-class international university with research, education and environmental assessment within the sciences for sustainable life. Its principal sites are in Alnarp, Umeå and Uppsala, but activities are also conducted at research stations, experimental parks and educational establishments throughout Sweden. We bring together people who have different perspectives, but they all have one and the same goal: to create the best conditions for a sustainable, thriving and better world.

SLU has just over 3,000 employees, 5,000 students and a turnover of SEK 3 billion. The university has invested heavily in a modern, attractive environment on its campuses.

www.slu.se