Soil Molecular Ecologist

Permanent and Full Time (37 hours per week)
Salary: £43,092 - £52,705 (depending on experience)
Hybrid working options available, with 50% of your time on site
Closing Date: Tues, 28th February 2023. We reserve the right to close the vacancy earlier, should we receive sufficient applications.
Interviews: to be held on an ad hoc basis. You are encouraged to apply early for this opportunity! 

We are an independent, not-for-profit research institute. Home to 600 scientists, supported by our experienced professional service teams, we provide the data and insights that researchers, governments, and businesses need to tackle some of the major environmental challenges we face today.   
 
We want you to love what you do whilst looking after yourself, so we support you with excellent benefits such as:   

• 27 days annual leave, rising to 29 days after 5 years   
• Above standard pension contributions   
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• A flexible approach to work, enabling you to maintain a healthy work/life balance
• 24 hour, 365-day access to support with physical, mental, social, health or financial issues   

Plus loads more - https://www.ceh.ac.uk/employee-benefits  

A bit about you... 

You are an enthusiastic, curiosity-driven, and collaborative scientist with a keen interest in soil molecular ecology.

We are particularly interested in researchers with a track record in one or more of the following areas:

• Microbial ecophysiology and the role of soil microbes in nutrient cycling and soil health
• Trait and niche-based experimentation and modelling of soil microbes
• Bioinformatics and/or ecological modelling of environmental metagenomic data

As a senior member of the Molecular Ecology Group, part of the Soils and Land Use Science Area you will contribute to ongoing research and have the opportunity to develop your own portfolio of research. This could focus on a specific issue and approach (e.g., modelling, field or laboratory experiments, data science/bioinformatics). Your research will focus on soil ecology with environmental or societal relevance using omics techniques.

You will contribute to a range of projects with multiple partners from universities, consultancies, and independent research organisations, with specialisms in biodiversity, water, climate and the atmosphere, reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of our work.

The team comprises an enthusiastic group of academics across a range of career stages (including PhD students), working together to deliver high quality research. We host world class laboratories, with state-of-the-art molecular biology, high throughput sequencing (Illumina, Oxford Nanopore), spectroscopy (Raman, FTIR) and flow cytometry (and sorting) capabilities.

Main Responsibilities

• Conduct high quality research on soil molecular ecology, working with partner organisations to perform and coordinate research
• Production of high quality scientific outputs, including papers, contract reports and presentations
• Initiate and develop new research and show the potential to attract funding
• Use your skills and expertise to contribute to wider research within the group and across UKCEH
• Line management of staff and supervision of PhD students
• Stakeholder engagement in the university, commercial, regulatory and conservation sectors to represent our research activities

For full details, and the selection criteria, click the apply link at the top of the advert.

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