RESEARCHER IN METABARCODING OF INSECT COMMUNITIES

The Swedish Museum of Natural History (http://www.nrm.se) is one of the leading institutions of its kind in Europe. It combines a venerable tradition and unique collections with cutting-edge research in geology, paleontology and biology. The research at the Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics focuses on computational phylogenetics, population genetics and genomics. We run a DNA sequencing facility and host several national and international infrastructures. More information is available at http://www.nrm.se/en/forskningochsamlingar/bioinformatikochgenetik.9000580.html

The researcher will be employed by the Insect Biome Atlas (http://www.insectbiomeatlas.org) a five-year international project aimed at characterizing the diversity of insects in Sweden and Madagascar. The project uses metabarcoding of thousands of Malaise trap and soil samples to study the size, origins, structure and function of the insect biomes. The IBA is a collaboration between the Swedish Museum of Natural History (Fredrik Ronquist), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Tomas Roslin), Stockholm University (Ayco Tack), SciLifeLab/KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Anders Andersson), the Madagascar Biodiversity Centre (Brian Fisher, California Academy of Sciences) and Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland (Piotr Lukasik).

WORK TASKS
The successful candidate will lead the development of bioinformatic pipelines for the comprehensive analysis of insect community metabarcoding data and apply them to an unprecedented collection of bulk insect community samples from across Sweden and Madagascar. They will also contribute to the development of molecular methods for the phylogenomic characterization of a large number of individual insects. They will then utilize the rich molecular data generated to explore the origins and evolution of local and regional insect biomes. The successful candidate is expected to become an active member of the Insect Biome Atlas group at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, whilst maintaining close collaborations with all project partners in Sweden and abroad. The candidate is expected to spend some time at collaborating institutions.

QUALIFICATIONS
The candidate must hold a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology, evolutionary biology or a related field. It is required that the candidate has:
• Experience in processing of high-throughput sequencing data
• Experience analysing metabarcoding datasets in the context of insect biodiversity
• Experience working in the Unix/Linux environment
• Proficient in R/python programming and big-data analytics
• Knowledge and hands-on experience with lab molecular methods relevant to metabarcoding of bulk insect samples
• Excellent communication skills in English.

As additional merits we will consider:
• Good knowledge of insect taxonomy, functional and community ecology
• Experience with sophisticated statistical analyses of relevant biological problems
• A publication record strong for their academic age
• Knowledge of Swedish.

OTHER
To apply for the position please send a CV (2 pages max), a motivation letter (1 page max) and the contact details of 2 referees. The application should be sent in English. The Swedish Museum of Natural History strives for gender balance, and ethnic and cultural diversity among its staff.