PhD Fellow in plankton ecology

31st May 2024
Languages
English

• Norsk Bokmål
• English

English
Do you want to contribute to solving the climate puzzle through plankton research?
PhD Fellow in plankton ecology
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PhD position

We have a three-year fixed-term position as a PhD Fellow in plankton ecology available at the Centre of Excellence, iC3: Centre for Ice, Cryosphere, Carbon, and Climate, funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN).

You will be part of a cohort of iC3 fellows commencing in 2024, benefiting from our dedicated impact theme, iT-2: Training the Next Generation. For more information, visit our website https://ic3.uit.no/

Your workplace will be at the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), while the degree-conferring institution will be UiT, The Arctic University of Norway. Some travel including fieldwork and workshops/meetings relevant to the project should be expected.

Work content

The project aims to understand how changes in environmental factors like glacial runoff and sea ice extent affect plankton and the marine carbon cycle in polar regions.

Your tasks as a PhD Fellow will include working with time series data, some of which are already available, while others will be collected. This includes:

• Investigate phytoplankton/zooplankton community composition along a fjord transect over an entire annual cycle (including possibility to look at summer plankton data from Kongsfjorden for the period 2010-2023)
• Determine vertical flux structure and magnitude in relation to glacier positions in Kongsfjorden
• Determine vertical flux structure and magnitude in the near-coastal Southern Ocean outside of Queen Maud Land, in relation to changing sea ice cover and run-off from the Antarctic ice sheet for the period 2019 to 2025.

The project offers a wide range of laboratory and field opportunities depending on the candidate’s interests.

Qualifications

This position requires a master’s degree or equivalent in Marine Environmental Sciences, Marine Biology/Ecology, Biological Oceanography, or a related field (including documentation of the BSc and MSc education with grades translated to English or in a Scandinavian language)

A Norwegian Master’s degree or equivalent master’s degree from a foreign university is required. You are welcome to apply if you have not completed your dissertation yet, but you must then provide documentation that your dissertation has been submitted for evaluation before the position’s closing date.

In addition to a completed degree, your grades from the master’s degree must meet the enrolment requirements for the PhD program at the UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT). See UiT’s home page for more information https://www.uit.no/phd-en.

In addition, the position requires:

• Demonstration of strong numerical and statistical skills
• Experience working in a chemistry or biology lab.
•  Experience with phytoplankton and/or zooplankton species identification.

It is considered an advantage if you have:

• Practical experience in sampling and analysing plankton.
• Experience with processing of sediment traps samples.
• Good data analysis skills and basic knowledge of a programming language (e.g. R, python or Matlab)
• Scientific publications and/or reports
•  

Working conditions on field work may be challenging and demands good health. Passing a health check in accordance with the institute's guidelines is a prerequisite for participating in field work.

We are looking for candidates who are highly motivated to obtain a PhD degree and identify with the outlined project description. You will collaborate closely with other partners at NPI and iC3, so good collaborative skills are necessary. And you will, of course, also work independently. This implies that you need to determine what type of work that needs to be done and to conduct it in the best possible way.

Good language skills in English are required. Our working language is Norwegian, so knowledge of the Norwegian language will carry weight in the assessment. If you do not speak Norwegian you are expected to attend language courses within the first two years of your employment since communicating in Norwegian will be important for you, as well as for the institute. We pay for courses that are completed successfully.

We offer

• Interesting and exciting work tasks in a highly international research environment.
• Salary according to the Norwegian State salary code 1017 PhD Fellow. 2% is deducted to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.
• Cruise and field pay according to national and local agreements.
• Membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund. The membership includes many benefits, such as lifetime retirement pension, the right to financial support if you become ill or disabled, financial support for your family if something happens to you in our service, insurance against occupational injury/illness, as well as good mortgage terms.
• Membership in our staff association, which among other things has its own cabin and facilitates various social gatherings.

We believe a diverse work force is a strength, and want employees with different skills, subject combinations, life experience and perspectives. If you are qualified for the position, you are welcome to apply regardless of your gender, age, cultural background, disabilities, or gaps in your CV. We also accommodate special needs in the workplace, if needed. There are special health requirements for this position that could limit our possibilities to accommodate special needs in the workplace.

Tromsø and the surrounding area have excellent conditions for experiencing the midnight sun, polar night, Northern lights, varied outdoor activities and a lively cultural and entertainment environment. Tromsø is situated at nearly 70°N with just about 75.000 residents. The city is an expanding centre for research, with numerous governmental and private research institutions and a major well-established university.

Application

Further inquiries about the position may be directed to Research scientist Philipp Assmy, [email protected], tel. 949 73 774, Research scientist Sebastien Moreau, [email protected], tel. 412 42 265 or Professor Marit Reigstad, [email protected].

The application deadline is 31 May 2024.

A statement of personal and scientific interest and a separate outline of a potential PhD project idea (total max. 2 pages) must be included in the application. In the assessment, the emphasis will be on the applicant's potential to complete a research education based on a publication-based PhD thesis, and any other scientific work. The project idea will also be considered. In addition, other experience of significance for the completion of the doctoral program may be given consideration. We will also emphasize motivation and personal suitability for the position.

Your application must be submitted in Jobbnorge. The application should include details of your relevant qualifications and experience, attachments, CV, publications list, copies of your transcripts and names of three references. Please, do not include copies of publications or other works in the application, but note that this may be requested later in the process.

We collaborate with Semac (www.semac.no) on electronical reference interviews and background checks to ensure a good recruitment process. This helps ensure that we recruit the right expertise and contribute to a fair evaluation of the applicants. The background check often consists of verification of information provided in the application, CV, diploma, etc.

All applications are handled in confidentiality until the application deadline. Thereafter, a public list of applicants will be prepared. Applicants who wish to reserve their applications from the public list must give reasons for this in their applications. Information about an applicant can be made public even if the applicant has requested that they be excluded from the public list of applicants, cf. Freedom of Information Act, Section 25, 2nd paragraph.

The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) is a directorate under the auspices of the Ministry of Climate and Environment and has approximately 160 employees located in Tromsø, Svalbard and Antarctica. The institute is the main strategic adviser for the Norwegian State in polar issues, represents Norway internationally with respect to polar sciences and management committees and processes, and is Norway’s environmental authority in Antarctica. For more information visit www.npolar.no.

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About us

The Norwegian Polar Institute is a directorate under the auspices of the Ministry of Climate and Environment and has approximately 160 employees located in Tromsø, Svalbard and Antarctica. The institute is the main strategic adviser for the Norwegian State in polar issues, represents Norway internationally with respect to polar sciences and management committees and processes, and is Norway's environmental authority in Antarctica.

For more information visit www.npolar.no .

 

Questions about the position

Philipp Assmy

seniorforsker

+47 949 73 774

[email protected]

Sebastien Moreau

seniorforsker

+47 412 42 265

[email protected]

Marit Reigstad

professor

[email protected]

Apply for this job
Deadline

31st May 2024

Employer

The Norwegian Polar Institute

Municipality

Tromsø - Romsa

Scope

Fulltime (1 positions) Fulltime (%)

Duration

Fixed Term

Place of service
Framsenteret, 9296 Tromsø

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