Postdoc on Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity

2-year postdoc project at the Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity Group at Aarhus University (Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science) in Denmark.

Supervisor: Professor Jens-Christian Svenning

Topic: What determines the global patterns of palm species diversity? An integrated eco- and phyloinformatics approach.

"What determines species diversity?" was recently selected by the Science magazine as one of the 25 most important research questions for contemporary science. The palms (Arecaceae) constitute a diverse pantropical plant family of key-stone importance in many tropical ecosystems and for rural communities throughout the Tropics. The family exhibits marked, but poorly understood variation in species richness, clade composition, and life form spectrum across its range. It is the purpose of this postdoc project to elucidate these fundamental questions by integrated macroecological and phylogenetic analyses, making use of large databases on palm distributions, palm traits, and new high-quality phylogenetic data for the family.

The project supervisor is Professor Jens-Christian Svenning, whose research has strong focus macroecology, analytical biogeography, and ecoinformatic research more generally. The Ecoinformatics & Biodiversity Group has world-leading expertise on the biology of palms, and offers a cutting-edge and ambitious, but also positive, collaborative, and highly international research environment. For more info, see http://www.biology.au.dk/sysbot.velkom-en.

The postdoc candidate is expected to provide cutting-edge expertise in macroecological analyses and to have strong collaborative skills. Applicants should preferably have a PhD degree from a university outside Denmark.

Salary depends on seniority as agreed between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Confederation of Professional Union, but is expected to be in the vicinity of 520.000 DKK ~ 69.000 Euros per year (before tax).

The position is officially announced here: http://science.au.dk/en/positions-and-fellowships/academic-positions/, where you will also find a link to the on-line application facility. The application dead-line is October 19, 2009. If you apply, please also send an email to: Professor Jens-Christian Svenning (e-mail: svenning@biology.au.dk<mailto:svenning@biology.au.dk>).

Aarhus University ranked number 81 in the 2008 THE-QS World University Rankings and ranked number 3 of universities in Nordic countries in the same list. The university has 34,000 students, and 10,000 staff.