Post-Doctoral Research Assistant in Agricultural Peat Biogeochemistry

This role will support the delivery of the EU Horizon Project: PalusDemos (with a primary focus on WP2: Identifying best practices to transition from degraded peat soils to wet agriculture and WP3: Improving Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) methods and tools, though other roles will also be involved); https://palusdemos.org/. This project focuses on the development and assessment of paludiculture/wetter farming in order to deliver more sustainable agriculture on peatlands. The role holder will undertake and aid in the coordination of field-based studies on GHG emissions, soil physiochemistry and fluvial emissions from rewetted agricultural peatlands in the northwest of the UK. There may also be opportunities for lab and ex-situ experimental designs. The role holder will have scope to develop novel research areas linked to optimising approaches towards agricultural productivity whilst minimising emissions and pollutants. The role-holder will also collaborate with EU partners (primarily in Ireland and the Netherlands). Specifically, in the collation and larger-scale analysis of data and continuous, close collaboration to achieve wider goals of establishing successful methods, deriving regional emission factors, gaining data on the natural capital benefits of rewetting, best practice for farmers under wetter farming conditions and the social and economic consequences of shifting practice.

This role will focus primarily on the environmental monitoring elements and methods development for monitoring, but will also involve components from all WPs, so an additional interest in agri-environmental policy, socioeconomics, agricultural/crop science and education and awareness would also be required. Lab work, data analysis and the drafting of papers and relevant reports for publication will also be undertaken. The project will seek to determine the benefits of degraded agricultural peatland rewetting and the potential for continued cropping under wetter farming conditions, with the aim of quantifying potential emissions reduction and improvement in soil health. The post will rely strongly on project collaboration with local NGO and government stakeholders as well as the multiple university-based research partners.

Please note all of our vacancies will be closed to applications at midnight on the advertised closing date, unless otherwise stated.

LJMU are committed to adhering to the principles set out in the Researcher Development Concordat; in line with this all fixed-term researchers will be supported to complete 10 days professional development activities per year (pro-rata).

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