Post Doctoral Researcher

The Role

Maynooth University is committed to a strategy in which the primary University goals of excellent research and scholarship and outstanding education are interlinked and equally valued.

We are seeking a Post Doctoral Researcher to work on an exciting new project, “Ancient Woodlands Ireland” funded by DAFM and NPWS. The project will combine existing methodologies with novel approaches to deliver an all-island Ancient Woodlands Inventory. The multidisciplinary project will draw on expertise in GIS and remote sensing, paleoecology, contemporary ecology, and history to assess temporal changes in woodland cover in Ireland over the last 400 years. The Ancient Woodlands Ireland project will provide valuable data that can be used to enhance the protection of Ireland’s ancient woodlands and help prioritize sites for ancient woodland restoration. 

The successful candidate will work with the Task 4 lead, Dr Helen Shaw, to use palaeoecological approaches (pollen, spores and a range of other proxies) to validate the presence and species composition of ancient woodland, in woodland fragments identified in the project by extant and historical mapping approaches. The research will use the small woodland hollow approach to ensure local stand-scale reconstructions of past woodland.

The wider team includes Dr John Devaney – PI for the project, and academics and researchers at Maynooth Biology and History Departments, Teagasc and Dundalk Institute of Technology, together with a number of project collaborators and advisers with woodland interests. The palaeoecological team on this project will include the Task Lead, Dr Helen Shaw, and a PhD student also funded by the project. The work will also include close working with an existing PhD student. 

The post will run for 45 months. 

Salary

Post Doctoral Researcher (2024) €42,783 p.a. (1 point – with annual increment)

Appointments will be made in accordance with public sector pay provisions.

Closing Date:

23:30hrs (local Irish time) on Sunday, April 28th 2024.

Please note all applications must be made via our Online Recruitment Portal at the following link:

https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/human-resources/vacancies

Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified above. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system.

Late applications will not be accepted.

Maynooth University is an equal opportunities employer

The position is subject to the Statutes of the University