JOB: Postdoctoral fellow in Norway

We have an opening for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in marine mammal spatial ecology. This is a fixed-term 3-year position with Drs Kit M. Kovacs & Christian Lydersen at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø.

The position is funded by the Norwegian Research Council's ARK project (Arctic marine mammals in a time of climate change: a Kongsfjorden Case Study) and the EU-project "The future of Arctic coastal ecosystems - Identifying transitions in fjord systems and adjacent coastal areas" (FACE-IT - https://www.face-it-project.eu/).

The job will entail:

• participating in fieldwork deploying biologging instruments on seals in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard
• performing 3D spatial analyses using data from biologging instruments along with environmental co- variates (temperature, ice cover etc). The analysis will be used to explore habitat use and niche overlap among species in the context of climate change
• engaging with food-web and ecosystem modelers to integrate marine mammal spatial information into a variety of different models that have been designed to explore ecosystems interactions
• writing scientific publications arising from the tagging data
• participating in a variety of public outreach efforts to inform the public about the scientific knowledge accrued in the project.

Qualifications

You must hold a PhD in Biology (or a related field). PhDs from other fields like statistics or

mathematics will be considered if you can demonstrate skills and research experience relevant for the project. You are welcome to apply if you have not completed your doctoral dissertation yet, but you must provide documentation that your dissertation has been submitted for evaluation before the position's closing date and must defend successfully prior to starting this job.

In addition to your PhD the position requires:

• experience with 3D spatial modelling of marine vertebrates (diving, as well as positional information)
• good working competence with Excel/Access, multivariate statistics, relevant R statistical packages, Matlab, etc
• a good scientific publication record (for your career stage) that includes spatial ecology publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Knowledge of marine mammal biology, Arctic ecosystems, and/or climate warming problematics will be seen as assets. Previous field experience working with marine mammals in polar regions will also be viewed favorably.

We are looking for a person who is self-motivated and productive – one who takes responsibility for preparing necessary background knowledge on analytical methods (etc.) and works efficiently to accomplish tasks. You will collaborate with colleagues at the Norwegian Polar Institute and collaborators within the project, so good collaborative skills and the ability to work in small field teams is essential. ARK consists of researcher from Norway, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and Poland. You will, of course, also work independently.

Further inquiries about the position may be directed to Section Leader Dr Kit M Kovacs, kit.kovacs@npolar.no, tel. +47 992 89 702, or Senior Research Scientist Dr Christian Lydersen, christian.lydersen@npolar.no, tel. +47 909 30 776.

The application deadline is 1 September 2021.

The application with attachments must be submitted electronically via www.jobbnorge.no. The application should include details of your relevant qualifications and experience, CV, publications list, copies of your transcripts and names of three references. Please, do not include copies of publications or other works in the application, but note that this may be requested later in the process. Fill in only the basic personal info on the form – just use attachments for your CV (publication), letter of introduction etc.

https://www.jobbnorge.no/ledige-stillinger/stilling/209646 (just click the language button – upper right – to get to English!)