Research Assistant / Research Associate (Fixed Term)

Impacts of climate change on timber-producing species Commercial timber production or harvesting occurs in a third of the world's forests and generates more than US$1.5 trillion per year to national economies and utilises >1500 known species of tree. How these commercially important species respond to climate change and associated changing land-use pressures is key to evaluating and forecasting national and global timber security. Specific questions this project aims to address:

• How is the forecasted distribution of (suitability for) commercially valuable timber species likely to change throughout the current century.
• Among key timber-producing nations, where are key losses in suitability and competition for land likely to occur under climate change?

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral Research Associate to build a research program to tackle these key issues, reporting directly to Professor David Edwards. The successful candidate will work with large datasets, including leveraging large-scale global plot data bases and citizen-science occurrence databases to create climate-informed Species Distribution Models for commercial timber species. They will deliver high-quality analyses and publish these in leading scientific journals. They will work with a high degree of independence, as appropriate seeking input from Prof Edwards and the wider network of collaborators engaged in the Centre for Global Wood Security, which Edwards is directing. They will also support research degree students based in Prof Edwards's lab. 

Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available until 28 February 2028 in the first instance.

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

Please notice that if you have not received any news from us 1 month after the closing date you should consider that on this occasion your application has not been successful.

Please quote reference PD50732 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

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