Postdoc in population/community ecology in Finland

The University of Helsinki, founded in 1640, is one of the world's leading
universities for multidisciplinary research. The University of Helsinki
has an international academic community of 40,000 students and staff
members, and it offers comprehensive services to its employees, including
occupational health care and health insurance, sports facilities,
and opportunities for professional development. The International Staff
Services (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/university/working-at-the-university)
office assists employees from abroad with their transition to work
and life in Finland. The Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research
Programme is situated at the Viikki science park and belongs to the
Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences of University of
Helsinki.

The Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme (OEB) invites
applications for a

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER

in population/community ecology for a fixed term of two years. There
will be a trial period of six months in the beginning.

The post doc position is part of the Research Centre for Ecological Change
and is funded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. PIs of the Centre
are prof. Anna-Liisa Laine, prof. Otso Ovaskainen, prof. Tomas Roslin,
assist. prof. Jarno Vanhatalo and Dr Marjo Saastamoinen. The starting
date is 1 May 2019, but a later starting date can be negotiated.

The overarching aim of the Centre is to generate a coordinated
analysis of long-term ecological data to understand impacts of
global change. To unravel how populations and interactions between
species in nature are responding to ongoing environmental change, the
project takes advantage of the unique long-term datasets collected
in Finland. The centre also develops state-of-the-art methodology
for analysing long-term spatially structured data sets within a
joint species distribution modeling framework. For more information
please visit our website Research Centre for Ecological Change
(https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/research-centre-for-ecological-change).

We are seeking a post doc to analyse extensive ecological datasets. The
successful candidate will take part in developing the specific
research questions, and in linking spatial and temporal data on the
abundance and distribution of species and on community composition
to data on habitat structure, population harvesting, fragmentation,
land use and/or weather. Examples of questions of interest include the
effect of environmental change on biodiversity in different habitats,
on the spread of pests, disease, and invasive species, on the threat
status of endangered species, and on potential mismatches in phenology
among interacting species. The data and research questions concern both
aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The focus of the specific research
questions can be modified in accordance with the background and interests
of the candidate.

The successful applicant should have completed a PhD in ecology
or a related field, and have a strong background in statistics,
spatial statistics, and/or GIS. We seek candidates with excellent
written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to conceive,
execute and complete research projects, and to think independently and
creatively. The post docs will work as a part of a team at the Centre
but also with researchers from other environmental institutes. Overall,
excellent social skills are required for extensive collaborations.

For more information, contact prof. Anna-Liisa Laine,
(anna-liisa.laine(at)helsinki.fi), prof. Otso Ovaskainen
(otso.ovaskainen(at)helsinki.fi), prof. Tomas Roslin
(tomas.roslin(at)helsinki.fi) and/or Dr. Marjo Saastamoinen
(marjo.saastamoinen(at)helsinki.fi).

The salary of the successful candidate will be based on level 5 - 6
of the demands level chart for teaching and research personnel in the
salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will
be paid a salary component based on personal performance. The starting
salary will be ca. 3300 - 3800 euros/month, depending on the appointee's
qualifications and experience.

Application should include the following documents as a single pdf file:
motivational letter (max 1 page), CV (max 2 pages) and publication
list. Include also contact information of two persons who can provide
a reference letter based on request.

Please submit your application using
the University of Helsinki Recruitment System
(https://www.helsinki.fi/en/open-positions/postdoctoral-researcher-in-populationcommunity-ecology).
Applicants who are employees of the University of Helsinki are requested
to leave their application via the SAP HR portal. The deadline for
submitting the application is 1 April 2019.

References

Jousimo, J, Tack, AJM, Ovaskainen, O., Mononen, T., Susi, H., Tollenaere,
C. & Laine, A.-L. (2014). Ecological and evolutionary effects of
fragmentation on infectious disease dynamics. Science, 344: 1289-1293.

Kahilainen A, van Nouhuys S, Schultz T & Saastamoinen M
(2018). Metapopulation dynamics in a changing climate: Increasing spatial
synchrony in weather conditions drives metapopulation synchrony of a
butterfly inhabiting a fragmented landscape. Global Change Biology 24:
4316-4329.

Gravel, D., Baiser, B., Dunne, J. A., Kopelke, J., Martinez, N. D.,
Nymann, T., Poisot, T., Stouffer, D. B., Tylianakis, J. M., Wood, S. A.,
Roslin, T. (2018). Bringing Elton and Grinnell together: a quantitative
framework to represent the biogeography of ecological interaction
networks. Ecography, doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04006

"Hardwick, Bess V P" <bess.hardwick@helsinki.fi>

-----

The University of Helsinki, founded in 1640, is one of the world's leading
universities for multidisciplinary research. The University of Helsinki
has an international academic community of 40,000 students and staff
members, and it offers comprehensive services to its employees, including
occupational health care and health insurance, sports facilities,
and opportunities for professional development. The International Staff
Services (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/university/working-at-the-university)
office assists employees from abroad with their transition to work
and life in Finland. The Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research
Programme is situated at the Viikki science park and belongs to the
Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences of University of
Helsinki.

The Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme (OEB) invites
applications for a

postdoctoral researcher in statistical ecology

for a fixed term of two years. There will be a trial period of six months
in the beginning.

The post doc position is part of the Research Centre for Ecological Change
and is funded by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. PIs of the Centre
are prof. Anna-Liisa Laine, prof. Otso Ovaskainen, prof. Tomas Roslin,
assist. prof. Jarno Vanhatalo and Dr Marjo Saastamoinen. The starting
date is 1 May 2019, but a later starting date can be negotiated.

The overarching aim of the Centre is to generate a coordinated
analysis of long-term ecological data to understand impacts of
global change. To unravel how populations and interactions between
species in nature are responding to ongoing environmental change, the
project takes advantage of the unique long-term datasets collected
in Finland. The centre also develops state-of-the-art methodology
for analyzing long-term spatially structured data sets within a
joint species distribution modeling framework. For more information
please visit our website Research Centre for Ecological Change
(https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/research-centre-for-ecological-change).

The post doc takes part in the development of statistical methods for
analyzing long-term ecological data and in statistical analyses within
the Research Centre for Ecological Change. For recent methodological
publications, see the reference list at the end.

The methodological work focuses on the development of Hierarchical
Modelling of Species Communities (HMSC) and hierarchical multivariate
Gaussian processes. HMSC is a joint species distribution modelling
framework that can be used for the statistical analysis of data on
species occurrence, environmental covariates, functional traits and
phylogenetic relationships. HMSC can be applied to hierarchical, spatial
and temporal study designs, and it applies to many kinds of response data
(presence/absence, counts, etc.). Gaussian processes are a flexible
and versatile modeling approach, and are rapidly spreading through
statistical ecology as tools for species distribution and population
dynamics modeling. Gaussian processes are used to model spatial and
spatiotemporal heterogeneity in data and describe species responses to
their environment in a nonparametric manner.

The successful applicant should have doctoral degree in ecology,
statistic or other relevant field and will have experience in the
development and application of Bayesian methods for computationally
challenging problems. A successful candidate will also have experience
in scientific computing. Prior experience in ecology is not necessary,
but is counted as an advantage. The exact direction to which the post
doc will develop HMSC and Gaussian process models can be agreed upon
based on the experience and interests of the candidate.

For more information, contact prof. Otso Ovaskainen
(otso.ovaskainen(at)helsinki.fi) and/or assistant prof. Jarno Vanhatalo
(jarno.vanhatalo(at)helsinki.fi).

The salary of the successful candidate will be based on level 5 - 6
of the demands level chart for teaching and research personnel in the
salary system of Finnish universities. In addition, the appointee will
be paid a salary component based on personal performance. The starting
salary will be ca. 3300 - 3800 euros/month, depending on the appointee's
qualifications and experience.

Applications should include the following documents as a single pdf file:
motivational letter (max 1 page), CV (max 2 pages), and publication
list. Please also include contact information of two persons willing to
provide a reference letter by separate request.

Please submit your application using
the University of Helsinki Recruitment System
(https://www.helsinki.fi/en/open-positions/postdoctoral-researcher-in-statistical-ecology).
Applicants who are employees of the University of Helsinki are requested
to leave their application via the SAP HR portal. The deadline for
submitting the application is 1 April 2019.