mercredi 11 mars 2015

Two year post doc at the interface between arctic ecology and social sciences

Within the framework of the TAMANI project funded by the Belmont Forum (http://igfagcr.org/cra-2014-arctic-observing-and-research-sustainability) a team of dedicated French, Canadian and Norwegian researchers in ecology, geography and sociology is looking for an inspired Post Doc, to lead highly innovative interdisciplinary arctic research.

Starting date: Spring 2015
Duration: Two years
Application deadline: 15 April 2015

Opportunity and training: This project will provide the Post-Doctoral fellow with a unique opportunity to build up his own interdisciplinary research profile, to acquire world-class level training in ecological and sociological synthesis techniques, to publish in leading journals, and to meet with the highest level of stakeholders involved in arctic biodiversity monitoring.

Project outline:
The arctic environment is changing at an alarming rate and it is essential to understand the consequences of such changes on arctic biodiversity. Long-term monitoring programmes of key arctic species are the backbone of scientific research aiming at studying these ecological consequences. The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program of the Arctic Council recommends that such monitoring should be conducted and coordinated at a pan-arctic scale, and should involve indigenous participants. However, these monitoring programmes are still mainly operated by national research institutions, with a very uneven distribution of study sites across the Arctic and little involvement of local communities. In this context our project will handle the following key questions: What is the best, most efficient survey design for pan-arctic monitoring? Are current monitoring plans adequate, and how can they be improved? How can participatory citizen science best contribute to pan-Arctic long-term monitoring? What are the current participatory initiatives, and how can they be improved? We will focus on land vertebrates and seabirds which are acknowledged indicator species of arctic change and emblematic species for local communities. Using interviews of representatives of institutions funding arctic research and of representatives of arctic communities, we will assess their perceptions and expectations of pan-arctic, long-term participatory research activities on land vertebrates and seabirds. Further, we will use pan-arctic data on existing monitoring programmes of land vertebrates and seabirds, to test the hypothesis that this network of monitoring sites is unevenly distributed relative to environmental gradients. These analyses will allow us to propose a revised, ecologically sound network of key monitoring sites for land vertebrates and seabirds, that allows the most efficient study of these key species on a pan-arctic scale while fully involving local communities in participatory citizen science programmes.

Project objectives:
(1) Liaise with arctic communities and international research institutions on their perceptions and expectations of pan-arctic, long-term participatory research activities on land vertebrates and seabirds (work package supervised by B. Parlee and C. Furgal)
(2) Compile data on the spatio-temporal cover of existing participatory citizen science programmes and of long-term ecological research programmes of land vertebrates and seabirds (work package supervised by D. Berteaux, N.G. Yoccoz and D. Grémillet)
(3) Analyse data on the spatio-temporal cover of participatory science programmes and long-term monitoring programmes of arctic terrestrial vertebrates and seabirds, to propose improved, participatory, pan-arctic monitoring schemes in ecology (work package supervised by N.G. Yoccoz and A. Rodrigues)

Expected outcomes: 
We are aiming at three scientific publications in international research journals, and the Post Doc will also be in charge of promoting his/her work through a great variety of media (dedicated web portal, social media, educative online videos) and by attending international conferences and visiting arctic communities.

Required skills:
The candidate should have (1) outstanding communication skills, which will be required during the 45 planned interviews of arctic research stakeholders at arctic conferences and within local communities, and during the dissemination process of research outcomes. (2) The capacity to travel across the Arctic, to research institutions and conferences, as well as to remote communities and research sites (at least four trips per year). (3) Strong computational, analytical and mapping skills, as the candidate will have to deal with large databases, to download and format remote-sensing biotic/abiotic information, to perform sophisticated statistical analyses and modelling of time series as well as of spatial data, and to adequately map research outcomes. (4) A taste for writing, as the work will involve reporting to the Belmont Forum, as well as publishing three papers in high-profiled journals. The candidate will be expected to be fairly independent across the project, including the writing up of papers. Nevertheless, all project partners were carefully selected according to their varied skills, so that they will facilitate the work of the Post Doc in its different phases.

Salary: please contact us for detailed information
Location: The Post Doc fellow will primarily be based at the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive in Montpellier, France (http://www.cefe.cnrs.fr/index.php/en/), but will also spend time at UiT, The Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø (http://en.uit.no/startsida) and at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada (http://www.uqar.ca/english/)
Project partners: David Grémillet (coordinator, CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier), Dominique Berteaux (Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada), Chris Furgal (Trent University, Canada), Brenda Parlee (University of Alberta, Canada), Ana Rodrigues (CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier) and Nigel G. Yoccoz (University of Tromsø, Norway).
Applications: Please send your CV and motivation letter to: David Grémillet, CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier, France Email: david.gremillet@cefe.cnrs.fr Tel. +33 (0)4 67 61 32 10