Postdoctoral job offer on soil microbial ecology and carbon cycling at the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab

We are seeking for a postdoctoral researcher to work with a series of global databases compiled in the frameworks of the BIODESERT, CLIMIFUN and MUSGONET research projects, funded by the European Research Council, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie program and the British Ecological Society, respectively. These databases contain information on multiple surrogates of ecosystem structure and functioning, as well as on multiple predictors of climatic and soil conditions of several hundreds of terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Using these ready-to-be-analyzed databases, the postdoctoral researcher will work on multiple questions related to the drivers of C cycling across terrestrial ecosystems worldwide and on the relationships between soil microbial communities and carbon contents and cycling under contrasting environmental conditions.

 

Requirements of the candidates

 

*  PhD in ecology, microbiology, earth sciences or related fields.

* Experience in soil microbial ecology and C cycling.

* Experience using the statistical software R.

* Experience analyzing large-scale and complex datasets.

* Experience analyzing microbial sequencing data.

* Experience publishing scientific articles in international, peer-reviewed journals. Publications will be assessed based on their content and match to the profile requested.

This is an exciting joint collaborative position between the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab (DryLab) at the University of Alicante (UA; Alicante), the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich and the BioFun lab at Pablo de Olavide University (Seville). The post-doctoral researcher will be based at the DryLab but will conduct research stays at the Crowther and BioFun labs. He/she will work in a brand new, state-of-the-art building where the Multidisciplinary Institute for Environment Studies "Ramon Margalef” of the UA is located. The DryLab is a healthy, collaborative and people-centered workplace where the health, wellbeing and professional development of its members is a priority and harassment and discrimination (of any form) is not tolerated. More details about the lab philosophy can be found here. Alicante is also a very lively city by the beach with a high quality of life (and some of the best paella in the world!) and an international airport with excellent connections, and the UA has a beautiful campus.

The appointment is available for 18 months. Starting date: 1 July (for holders of a PhD title given by a Spanish university) or 1 September (holders of a non-Spanish PhD title). This differential starting date is caused by the extra bureaucracy that needs to be done for holders of non-Spanish PhD titles at UA at the moment. Full contract with health/unemployment/retirement benefits according to Spanish laws is offered. The salary will be equivalent to that of a "Ramón y Cajal” fellow (gross salary of 33000 €/year) and travelling/food/accommodation costs will be provided when spending time at Zurich and Seville. 

Interested candidates in applying to this position should send their updated CV and three references before 7 May 2021 to Miguel Berdugo: mglberdugo@gmail.com. Also please attach a brief letter explaining your current and future research interests and your motivation for applying to this job. Please note that we can´t provide moving/installation costs, and that profiles that do not match the requirements of the position will not be considered.