Post Doctoral Research Associate

The Problem: Understanding what sets the spatial-temporal distribution of plankton in the ocean is critical for predicting future changes to fisheries production and deep ocean carbon storage as the ocean warms. Biogeochemical-ecosystem models are currently used for this purpose but have difficulty scaling to the many thousands of plankton types. Statistical models do not have this issue and can be efficiently built using the correlations between the plankton and colocalized ancillary data. However, it remains unclear under what conditions these models remain predictive as the ocean warms. If they are not valid, we should not use them, even if they are easy to construct. We are looking for someone excited to take on this challenge.

The Role: We seek a motivated postdoctoral researcher with an expertise in statistical modelling, interested in applying these skills towards understanding when statistical models for plankton populations work and when they do not. A passion for ocean systems is useful, but by no means required. This is an exciting opportunity to be part of an international collaboration (the Simons Foundation funded Computational Biology In Marine EcoSystems (CBIOMES, www.cbiomes.org ) containing fantastic researchers from international institutions like MIT and UK institutions like Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

This post is ideally suited to someone with a background in statistical modelling, interested in thinking about the sea and the plankton which live there. There are dedicated funds for computer equipment, and travel to support you in your scientific work.  You should have a PhD which included a dedicated focus on statistical modelling.

Any applicants who are still awaiting their PhD to be awarded should be aware that if successful, they will be appointed at grade 6, spine point 30.  Upon written confirmation that they have been successful in being awarded their PhD, they will be moved onto grade 7, spine point 31 from the date of their award.

This post is available on a 3 year fixed term basis.

For full details and to apply online, please click the 'Apply' button, above.

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