Open doctoral student positions in the Biological and Environmental Science
The Department of Biological and Environmental Science (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) seeks to recruit 4 doctoral students into the Doctoral Programme in Biological and Environmental Science, starting earliest 1.1.2018. The student should complete the doctoral degree in 4 years. Applications, together with all relevant enclosures, should be submitted using electronic application form at latest 31.8.2017 (in Finnish, in English). After the deadline, each supervisor will select one best candidate for their own project. These top candidates will be asked to write a 2-page long research plan on the thesis topic and will be interviewed. Applications sent by email will not be considered. Only one application per candidate is accepted.
For further information on the project, please contact the supervisor (see below).
For full list of projects and details of the application process see: https://www.jyu.fi/bioenv/en/study/doctoral-programme/phd-posts/2018/call
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
8. Sustainable future use of European forests for developing the bioeconomy
Work description. The PhD student will work in the project "Sustainable future use of European forests for developing the bioeconomy". In this project, we assess the potential of EU forestry policy and practice to increase the delivery of wood products while contributing to climate change mitigation in such a way that the delivery of other ecosystem services and the persistence of forest species are also warranted in the long-term from the Finnish perspective. For this holistic evaluation, our international team includes forest researchers, life cycle analysis experts and biologists together with target stakeholders of the forestry and environmental sectors that will work on developing a novel integrative framework for forest management. We aim to identify forest management plans that can provide optimal solutions to potential conflicts across the full array of considered objectives (ecosystem services and biodiversity). We consider a wide set of valuable provisioning (i.e. collectable goods), regulating (i.e. climate regulation) and cultural (i.e. recreation) ecosystem services that boreal forests can provide. We consider alternative aspects of biodiversity including habitat availability for indicator and umbrella species, availability of critical resources, and plant species richness.
Qualifications. The research tasks will require the development and use of mathematical models in forecasting resource development, potential for ecosystem service provisioning and biodiversity conservation. To be successful, applicants should be able to express themselves fluently in both written and verbal communication and possess good analytical and problem-solving skills. Applicants should be familiar with a computer programming language (e.g. python or R) and database management tools (i.e. SQL). An ability to work with large data sets is necessary. Familiarity with operations research methods is considered an asset. Potential candidates are required to be eligible to start doctoral training and to have a master's degree e.g. in ecology, economics, forestry, mathematics, statistics or systems analysis.
Further information: Professor Mikko Mönkkönen, Email: mikko.monkkonen@jyu.fi
https://www.jyu.fi/bioenv/en/divisions/biosciences/eko/research/biodivcons/SpatEco
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Mikko Mönkkönen
professor, head of the department
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
University of Jyväskylä, Finland
Tel. +358 50 441 3682
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ECCB2018 in Jyväskylä
https://conbio.org/mini-sites/eccb2018/
