Ref 2518/22 Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Pasture Ecology, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment

• Hawkesbury Campus
• Remuneration Package: $100,686 to $121,646 p.a.
• Full-Time, Fixed-Term Position for 3 years

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The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Pasture Ecology to join a multidisciplinary research team led by Professor Sally Power, Professor Elise Pendall and Dr Ben Moore, undertaking a new, industry-funded project evaluating the responses of pasture systems to changes in temperature and rainfall regimes.

In this position you will focus on understanding how predicted climate change will affect plant productivity, persistence, nutritional chemistry and species composition in mixed pastures. As pasture-dependent agricultural enterprises try to adapt to the challenges of an increasingly variable and more extreme climate, it is essential to strengthen the knowledge base that underpins farm-scale management decisions. These include which species to plant to achieve yield and nutritional objectives, and how best to manage these systems under future climate conditions. A further key issue for the industry is how to reduce methane emissions from livestock in Australia. Plant digestibility is a key determinant of ruminant methane emissions, thus understanding how nutritional chemistry is affected by climate change can inform forage decisions aimed at reducing the livestock and dairy industries’ carbon footprint. 

You will undertake research into the traits and mechanisms associated with species’ performance under future, more extreme climates, with a focus on carbon allocation, competition and digestibility. The research programme will be centred on the PACE (Pastures and Climate Extremes) experimental facility at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Campus, with the opportunity to evaluate interactions with pasture management at field demonstration sites in New South Wales. 

You will lead a small team including doctoral research students and a technical officer to undertake field-based data collection on above- and belowground plant traits for a variety of legume species, growing alongside companion grasses. The project will evaluate relationships between these traits and species’ resistance and resilience to climate change, including in the context of different management regimes. You will play a leading role in delivering milestone reports to the project funders, Meat and Livestock Australia. You will communicate findings at scientific meetings and publish research in high-impact international journals. A tailored career mentoring plan will be developed and will include opportunities to contribute to teaching and supervising Masters and PhD students as well as leadership and engagement.

Web: www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie

For further information, please refer to the Position Description.

This is a full-time, fixed-term position for 3 years based at the Hawkesbury Campus.

Remuneration Package: Academic Level A $100,686 to $121,646 p.a. (salary $85,081 to $102,792, plus 17% Superannuation and Leave Loading).

Position Enquiries: Please contact Professor Sally Power via email  [email protected]

Closing Date: 8:30pm, Sunday 12 June 2022.

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Western Sydney University is committed to diversity and social inclusion. Applications from people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; equity target groups including women, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTIQ; and people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent, are encouraged.

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