PhD mobility stipends–ECO GLOBE,The National Environmental Research Institute (NERI),Aarhus University,Denmark

June 10, 2010

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The National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Aarhus University, hereby calls for applications for three fully financed PhD mobility stipends in collaboration with Aarhus Graduate School of Sciences, Faculty of Science, Aarhus University.

The PhD stipends are announced to be filled before the end of 2010. The PhD stipends are so called PhD mobility stipend and applicants must have or obtain a degree from an institution other than Aarhus University in order to be qualified.

Research at NERI is experimental and we focus on increasing our basic and applied understanding of environmental issues with regard to nature, natural resources and society in general.

The PhD mobility stipends are related to the graduate programme ECOGLOBE.

The vision of ECOGLOBE is to expand our knowledge base on climate change effects in ecosystems utilising comparative studies along current climate gradients. In-depth studies of biological responses to the increasing extremes of climate changes constitute a key challenge for 21st century science. The foreseen changes will have great impacts on biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, ecohydrology and ecosystem services. See more information here.

The following three PhD mobility stipends are offered within the scope of ECOGLOBE:

1. Climate change and ecosystem services: modelling farmer decisions on land-use and their implications for Danish wildlife.
A key objective of this study is learning to integrate the information and approaches from a range of disciplines. The successful applicant will have a strong interest in integration key aspects of social, economic, agronomic, and environmental sciences towards a systems understanding on impacts on wildlife. Furthermore, an interest in developing agent-based models is essential, and some experience of computer programming (ideally object-oriented) is therefore desirable, although not necessary. In addition candidates who can demonstrate experience in modelling of economic, ecological, or social systems will be preferred. The candidate will have the ability to work in a multi-disciplinary team and must have good communication skills. As a consequence of the multi-disciplinary nature of the project the position is open to both social science and natural science students with an MSc or equivalent degree. Contact persons: Chris Topping, Dept. Wildlife Ecology and Biodiversity (cjt@dmu.dk) and Helle Ørsted Nielsen, Dept. of Policy Analysis (hon@dmu.dk).

2. Respiration and oxygen consumption in Danish coastal seas and estuaries in a future climate. The objective is to quantify the effects of climate changes on respiratory processes in Danish estuaries and coastal waters and the consequences for carbon and oxygen dynamics. This will be done by a combination of experiments, field campaigns and ecosystem modelling. Generally a warmer climate will increase respiratory processes and turnover of organic material in the water column. This will alter the dynamics and services of the marine ecosystem. The overall aim of the project is to quantify the effects of climate change on respiratory processes and oxygen concentration in Danish estuaries and costal areas with focus on pelagic systems. The successful applicant should have fulfilled a masters or corresponding academic degree within the aquatic ecology or related natural science and have a strong experimental background in field and laboratory as well as good analytical skills. Contact person: John Hansen (joh@dmu.dk) or Stiig Markager (ssm@dmu.dk), Dept. of Marine Ecology.

3. Effects of extreme precipitation events on biodiversity and the capacity to retain and delay water in natural ecosystems

In order to quantify the role of natural ecosystems in retaining water and waterborne nutrients and particles in solution or suspended from being discharged directly into the waterways after extreme precipitation events we need to i) understand the effect of extreme precipitation events on the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of natural ecosystems; and ii) to measure the capacity of different natural ecosystems to retain and delay water flows and waterborne matters; iii) understand the interaction between carbon built up and water retention capacity. During the three year training period the PhD student is expected to plan and conduct experiments in natural ecosystems, and to work with large data sets and apply relevant ecological models on the data.

Contact person: Prof. Christian Damgaard, e-mail: (cfd@dmu.dk)

Eligibility:
To be able to apply for a PhD mobility stipends you must have or obtain a degree from a Danish educational institution other than Aarhus University or from an educational institution outside Denmark.

Employment:
You will be employed as a PhD student at NERI, Aarhus University. The terms of employment are in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations. Notice is particularly drawn to appendix 5 in the circular: protocol regarding PhD fellows.

The position is limited to a period of three to five years, depending on whether you have a Bachelor or Masters Degree.

Place of work:
Place of work will be in one of NERI’s departments located in (Sealand), Kalø (Jutland) or Silkeborg (Jutland).

Application procedure for AGSoS (Science)
You can apply for a PhD scholarship and enrolment in the PhD degree programme via Aarhus University’s web-site facility at:

Choose the following in the web-site facilility:
Graduate school: Graduate School of Science
Apply for: Enrolment and scholarship cf notice
Reference no: 2010-218/5-31
Field: Biology

Institute/Department/Center: Department of Biological Science

Project title: NERI – [and the project title you apply for]

Please see the Applicant’s Guide for further information

If you have any further questions about the applying procedure please contact agsos@science.au.dk

Application deadline: 1 August 2010

For further information:

Scholarship Tags: (NERI), Aarhus, Denmark, ECO, Environmental, Globe, Institute, Mobility, National, PhD, research, stipends, University