Postdoctoral Research Fellow - Coral Reef

• ­The School of the Environment

• Play a crucial role in advancing understanding of water pollution's impact on coral reefs, contributing to conservation and restoration efforts.

• This position provides unique opportunities to collaborate closely with conservation and restoration organisations, translating findings into tangible real-world impact.

• Join a university ranked in the world’s top 50

• Based at our St Lucia Campus location

About UQ
As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world, and within an environment where interdisciplinary collaborations are encouraged.
At the core of our teaching remains our students, and their experience with us sets a foundation for success far beyond graduation. UQ has made a commitment to making education opportunities available for all Queenslanders, regardless of personal, financial, or geographical barriers.

As part of our commitment to excellence in research and professional practice in academic contexts, we are proud to provide our staff with access to world-class facilities and equipment, grant writing support, greater research funding opportunities, and other forms of staff support and development.
About This Opportunity 

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Postdoctoral Researcher to join our dynamic team of ecologists, modellers, and programmers, collaborating with conservation practitioners. The primary focus of this role is to support a cutting-edge project, contributing to the development of a global, user-friendly, open-source pollution mapping and risk assessment tool. This tool is designed to provide crucial information to coral reef managers and restoration practitioners worldwide on coral reef vulnerability to pollution, to enable better management of coral reefs.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Integrate in-situ ecological and water quality data with satellite and aerial remote sensing data to collect information related to coral reef environments and associated pollution indicators.

• Apply advanced spatial analysis techniques to process, interpret, and visualise large datasets to assess pollution dispersal and its effects on coral reefs.

• Distil and synthesise outputs from spatial analysis and modelling into effective knowledge products for coral reef managers.

• Develop and refine pollution dispersal models, integrating environmental data, satellite imagery, and other relevant datasets to predict pollution trends and their implications for coral reef health.

• Collaborate with conservation organisations and research end-users to align research goals with the real-world needs of coral reef conservation and restoration.

• Contribute to the development of actionable strategies for reef preservation.

• Take advantage of opportunities for fieldwork to gather ground-truth data and validate research findings.

This is a research focused position. Further information can be found by viewing UQ’s Criteria for Academic Performance .

This is a full-time (100%), fixed-term position until the 31 December 2025 at Academic Level A. The full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range of $75,808.68 - $100,926.59, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $88,696.16 - $118,084.11 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

The greater benefits of joining the UQ community are broad:  from being part of a Group of Eight university, to recognition of prior service with other Australian universities, up to 26 weeks of paid parental leave, 17.5% annual leave loading, flexible working arrangements including hybrid on site/WFH options and flexible start/finish times, and genuine career progression opportunities via the academic promotions process.

About You  

• Completion or near completion of a PhD in marine science, environmental science, geospatial science or engineering.

• Proficiency in remote sensing, GIS, and spatial analysis software (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, ENVI, R, Python).

• Strong ability in data management, data analysis, data visualisation, and programming.

• Experience with environmental modelling, especially in the context of coral reef ecosystems, is advantageous.

• Effective communication skills and a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in a team.

• Experience working in interdisciplinary teams and a willingness to learn and collaborate with experts from diverse fields to address complex environmental issues.

• A strong publication record and the ability to prepare and submit research proposals.

• Some experience in meaningful internal service roles and contributions towards external activities

• Previous fieldwork experience, project management and stakeholder engagement is advantageous

Visa sponsorship may be possible. You can find out more about life in Australia’s Sunshine State here .

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Dr Amelia Wenger via [email protected] . 

For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line.

Want to Apply? 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Resume

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section

• A writing sample

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected] .

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close March 6 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (R-35086). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for the week commencing 18 March 2024.