The junior research group "Organismic Biogeochemistry" at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry offers a:

Post-doc position in ecological statistics and eco-informatics

The position is offered in a new interdisciplinary DFG research group devoted to establish a forest biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiment in China (BEF China). The candidate will take a central position in the German-Chinese consortium and will be responsible for implementing and maintaining the project database and for supporting the statistical analysis of the project data. In addition, the candidate is encouraged to develop and pursue his own research agenda in ecological statistics and functional biodiversity research within the framework of the project.

The applicants should have a strong background in informatics and advanced statistics and a keen interest in ecological questions. They should be familiar with a professional database language (preferably MySQL) and the statistical language R. They are excellent team-players, fluent in English and have successfully published in the past. They are prepared to travel to China at least once a year. Language skills in Chinese would be a plus.

We offer an international and interdisciplinary research environment. The position is available as soon as May 1, 2008. The envisaged duration of employment is three years. Salary and benefits are commensurate with those of public service organizations in Germany. The Max-Planck-Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply. The Max-Planck-Society is committed to employing more handicapped individuals and especially encourages them to apply.

For best consideration, please send your application, including a statement of your research interests and qualifications, curriculum vitae, copies of your certificates, and contact details of three academic referees before 31.03.2008 to: Max-Planck-Institut für Biogeochemie; Personalabteilung; Postfach 100164; D-07701 Jena, or via e-mail as a single pdf-file to cwirth@bgc-jena.mpg.de. For questions contact Dr. Christian Wirth (++49-3641-576225)