PhD Scholarship Position in Arctic Palaeoecology in Greifswald

At the Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology of Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald (Germany) a position is available as

Scientific collaborator
(50 %, 20 hours per week, 3 years = PhD-student position/Doktorandenstelle)

in the field of Peatland Studies and Palaeoecology.

The PhD student will work within the DFG collaborative project „Polygons in tundra wetlands: state and dynamics under climate variability in Polar Regions (POLYGON)”. This interdisciplinary project (with Hamburg University, Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Potsdam and several Russian partners) studies the short- and long-term dynamics of Arctic polygon mires in Northeast Siberia (Indigirka-Delta, Kolyma) as a function of climate and climate change. The project aims at reconstructing Pleistocene and Holocene developments and at modelling future changes as a reaction on global warming. The relevant sub-project in Greifswald focuses on developments in the past decades and centuries. The position involves labour-intensive microscopic analyses and 1 month per year field work in Arctic environments.
Salary is according to the DFG (German Research Foundation) salary scale (Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L Wissenschaft).

The research involves
1. Study of vegetation, permafrost morphology and temperature conditions in selected polygons.
2. Analysis (pollen, non-pollen-palynomorphs, geochemistry) of surface samples
3. Palaeoecological analysis (pollen, non-pollen-palynomorphs, macrofossils, geochemistry) of selected cores.
4. Dendrochronological analysis of trees and dwarf shrubs.
5. Data integration and interpretation wit respect to climate and weather dynamics.

The position requires a diploma or master in Natural Sciences, preferably in Landscape Ecology, Geobotany, Geography, Earth Sciences or Quaternary Sciences. Good knowledge of pollen, npp’s and macrofossil analysis and of Russian is of advantage.
Applications of women and seriously disabled persons will be preferentially considered.

Please send your electronic application before April, 15, 2011 to Prof. Dr. Hans Joosten:
joosten@uni-greifswald.de
who can also provide further information.

Prof. Dr. Hans Joosten
Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology
Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University Greifswald
Grimmer Strasse 88
D-17487 Greifswald
Germany

Application Deadline : 15 April 2011