Postdoctoral Research Associate: Producing Wood at Least Cost to the Planet (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral research associate to join the group of Professor Andrew Balmford in the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge.

The successful candidate will lead research examining how to meet rising timber demands while protecting biodiversity, carbon storage, and ecosystem services from landscape to global scales. The PDRA will be responsible for collating and analyzing global field datasets from contrasting timber production systems in order to identify which landscape-level combinations of systems best balance biodiversity, carbon, and yield outcomes. They will also help coordinate and implement future field campaigns to fill key field data gaps. 

Additionally, the successful candidate will be responsible for advancing cutting-edge methods for quantifying global extinction risks and climate impacts embedded within international wood trade networks, enabling robust attribution of environmental impacts from harvest to consumption. These will be used to generate data-driven insights into the environmental footprints of key wood industry actors, the potential effectiveness of policy interventions at multiple scales, and the comparative impacts of wood-related demand- and supply-side interventions.

As part of these efforts, the successful candidate will be expected to engage with other stakeholders to develop business-science alliances and initiatives for improving the environmental impacts of wood production over broad spatial scales. 

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• PhD in a forestry- or conservation-related discipline.
• Strong background in field survey design, statistical sampling and analysis of large, multi-taxa biodiversity datasets.
• Expertise in landscape-level biodiversity and production analyses using R, QGIS, Google Earth Engine.
• Extensive fieldwork experience, including managing data collection within multiple forestry systems.
• Ability to communicate research findings clearly in oral and written formats to collaborators and to work collaboratively with scientific, industry and government stakeholders.
• Strong organisational and time management skills.

Desirable skills and knowledge

• Postdoctoral research in quantitative science related to forestry or conservation.
• Experience in forest conservation across tropical and temperate biomes.

The postholder will be based in the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge and will be expected to work on site at least three days per week.

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for one year with a possibility of extension subject to project status and funding.

Flexible working requests will be considered.

We particularly welcome applications from women and candidates from a BME background for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level in our University.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click the 'Apply' button above. 

If you have any queries regarding the application process please contact Anastasia Nezhentseva.

Email: an286@cam.ac.uk

Telephone: (0)1223 330117

Please quote reference PF46869 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

Advert information