Post Doctoral Fellow - Fish Futures

Te Kura Pūtaiao Koiora | School of Biological Sciences

Te Kaupeka Pūtaiao | Faculty of Science
Located in Ōtautahi | Christchurch, Aotearoa | New Zealand

• Full-time at 37.5 hours per week (1.0 FTE)
• Fixed-term position for 2 years (potential to extend)
• Commencing as soon as possible

Āu Mahi | What You Will Do

University of Canterbury's (UC) School of Biological Sciences has an opportunity for a Postdoctoral Fellow to participate in a research project, Fish Futures: Preparing for Novel Freshwater Ecosystems, funded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Your role will focus on forecasting trajectories of mixed native - non-native fish assemblages in response to changing river flow regimes.

Non-migratory galaxiids are a valued part of New Zealand's native freshwater fish fauna, but are threatened by habitat loss and negative interactions with non-native trout, compounded by climate change. The overall goal of this part of Fish Futures is to predict how trout and galaxiids interact under a range river conditions, including those due to climate warming. Interaction outcomes will largely depend on a balance between how galaxiids are affected by river conditions on the one hand and the effects of trout predation, also driven by river conditions, on the other.

The Postdoctoral Fellow's role will be to build models to generate near-term forecasts and long-term projections of freshwater fish community responses to climate change-induced changing flow regimes. The Fellow will work with ecological PhD students who have collected and synthesised field derived demographic and distribution data, and river hydrogeomorphologists to leverage hydrological and geomorphological data in predictive models.

By developing a combination of mechanistic and hybrid mechanistic-statistical modelling approaches we will enable both near-term forecasts and longer-term projections of various climate-change scenarios that are relevant to decision makers and robust to hydro-climatic nonstationarity.

For background, see also:

Tonkin, J. D., J. D. Olden, D. M. Merritt, L. V. Reynolds, J. S. Rogosch, and D. A. Lytle. (2021). Designing flow regimes to support entire river ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 19:326-333.

Tonkin, J. D., N. L. Poff, N. R. Bond, A. Horne, David. M. Merritt, L. V. Reynolds, J. D. Olden, A. Ruhi, and D. A. Lytle. (2019). Prepare river ecosystems for an uncertain future. Nature. 570:301-303.

Tonkin, J. D., Olden, J. D., Merritt, D. M., Reynolds, L. V. & Lytle, D. A. (2018). Flow regime alteration degrades ecological networks in riparian ecosystems. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2, 86-93.

Mōu | Who You Are

To be successful in this position you will ideally have the following:

• A PhD in ecology, mathematics, statistics or a related discipline

• A research background in ecology, with an emphasis on quantitative population and/or community ecology
• Demonstrated experience of excellent research capabilities (design and leadership) required to carry out innovative and insightful research
• A strong publication track record (relative to experience level) as well as experience with preparation and delivery of quality oral presentations to a wide range of audiences are essential
• Analytical/modelling and programming skills (e.g. R or python)
• A strong grounding in ecological theory

Mahi Ngātahi | Who You Will Work With

The position is part of the 'predicting future freshwater fish outcomes ' theme of Fish Futures , a research programme driving change towards holistic and just freshwater fish management in Aotearoa. The postdoc will be based at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC), working primarily with Associate Professor Jonathan Tonkin, assisted by Professor Angus McIntosh, but will benefit from being part of The Tonkin Lab , the wider multi-disciplinary Fish Futures collaborative team and partners , and UC's Freshwater Ecology Research Group (FERG).

Te Kura Pūtaiao Koiora | The School of Biological Sciences has a high national and international profile and has an excellent teaching and research infrastructure. We have well-established research programmes from molecular to whole-organism and ecological scales. For more information, visit the School of Biological Science  webpage.

The Tonkin Lab has a strong focus on understanding the impacts of environmental change on ecological communities. Our lab is international in flavour, and interdisciplinary in thought and approach. Our lab group strives to cultivate an open, safe and supportive environment that values creativity, diversity, integrity and collaboration. For more information about our team, please visit our website: http://tonkinlab.org .

Needless to say, New Zealand provides an unbelievable setting to perform this work, and the Tonkin Lab group values a balanced approach to work and life. Christchurch is the prime spot to launch excursions around New Zealand, as it has an international airport, and is in the middle of South Island. This provides easy access to beaches, pristine forests with extensive, well-maintained walking and mountain-biking tracks, excellent skiing in winter, and easy connections to other locations such as Australia. Christchurch is also very family friendly.

Ngā Painga o UC | Why UC

Tangata Tū, Tangata Ora - Engaged, Empowered, Making a Difference.

Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury stands for whanaungatanga - we value people and their differences, manaakitanga - we extend care and empower others, and tiakitanga - we will enhance and nurture our resources.

We are committed to accessible higher education, service to the community and the encouragement of talent without barriers of distance, wealth, class, gender or ethnicity. The University explicitly aims to produce graduates and support staff who are engaged with their communities, empowered to act for good and determined to make a difference in the world.

We offer a range of fantastic benefits including flexible work practices, study opportunities and generous superannuation and leave provisions. For more information, please visit us: http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/joinus

For more information about Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury, please visit www.canterbury.ac.nz

The closing date for this position is: Friday 26 January 2024 (midnight, NZ time)
Applications may be reviewed and processed as they are received. It is possible that an appointment will be made prior to the advised close date.

Please Note: Applications for Postdoctoral Fellow positions will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant Doctoral qualification. The title of Postdoctoral Fellow will be applied upon successful completion of the Doctoral degree. Prior to the qualification being awarded the title of Research Associate will be given, and salary will reflect the Research Associate scale.

Appointable salary for a Postdoctoral Fellow will be $86,000-$87,000 (pa).

Appointable salary for a Research Associate will be $61,007.09-$71,174.93 (pa).

Pēhea te tono mai | How You Apply

Applications for this position must be submitted on our careers website and should include a cover letter and resume. Please note, we do not accept applications by email, however we are happy to answer your queries in relation to the application process, please forward these to [email protected]

For further information about the role, please contact [email protected] .

For overseas applicants, please visit Immigration New Zealand website, to review the latest health and visa requirements for visiting and working in New Zealand. 

Please note, the University of Canterbury will be closed from 22 December 2023 - 2 January 2024. During this period, we will be unable to respond to queries regarding this role. We will follow up with you at our earliest convince once we return.

 

 

Job Details

Reference #	17851
Posted on	19 Dec 2023
Closes on	26 Jan 2024 23:55
Location(s)	Christchurch
Expertise	Science & Technology
Job level(s)	Academic
Work type(s)	Fixed term full-time
More details (document)	Post Doctoral Fellow Fish Futures PD Dec 2023.pdf
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