Computational Ecology and
Environmental Science

Salary: £22,000 - £30,000
Closing date: 6 April 2010

The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and Microsoft Research, Cambridge, invite applications for joint post-doctoral scientists to research and develop novel global biodiversity models.

The Role

We are looking for enthusiastic and motivated post-doctoral scientists to explore potential drivers and pressures underlying the loss of biodiversity, and how these factors can be used to predict future changes in biodiversity. They will develop an expanded, and improved, set of biodiversity metrics than those currently available; rigorously and transparently develop new global biodiversity models and test and validate these models at global scales.

The Project

The project aims, complementing earlier work by the GLOBIO partnership, to collaborate with Microsoft Research and others to explore new approaches to modelling the response of biodiversity to multiple factors including, but not limited to, habitat loss and climate change. We are building a team of post-doctoral scientists that will combine ideas and approaches from community and ecosystem ecology, with global-scale data sets, to enable the international community to assess the impacts of alternative policies on biodiversity and ecosystem function.

The Person

The successful applicants will have analytical, programming and/or GIS skills and be able to communicate, collaborate and convene a wide range of stakeholders. They will contribute to shaping the role of science at UNEP-WCMC and have an interest in bridging the science-policy interface.

Who We Are

UNEP-WCMC, based in Cambridge UK, is the specialist biodiversity information and assessment centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), run cooperatively with WCMC 2000, a UK charity. UNEP-WCMC’s mission is to evaluate and highlight the many values of biodiversity and put authoritative biodiversity knowledge at the centre of decision-making. Since its establishment in the 1970s, it has been at the forefront of the compilation, management, analysis and dissemination of global biodiversity information, and has an outstanding record of achievement.

The Computational Ecology and Environmental Science group at Microsoft Research Cambridge undertakes research to deepen our understanding of critical fundamental and applied problems in ecology and environmental science, and develops novel computational methods for addressing these problems. The group has a strong scientific publication record, is very well resourced, has a sister group in computational biology, and benefits from links to a software and tools team with whom we aim to develop useable, freely available software for use by the scientific community.

The Facts

These are three-year fixed term positions, based at the offices of UNEP-WCMC but with continuous collaboration with and frequent visits to scientists in the Microsoft Research Computational Ecology and Environment Science group in Cambridge. The salary is negotiable within UNEP-WCMC’s existing band.

Applicants who meet the requirements are invited, by 6 April 2010, to send their CV and a completed application form identifying their specific skills and knowledge in relation to this vacancy to recruitment@unep-wcmc.org. For further information on this role, including the application form, please visit the jobs page at www.unep-wcmc.org.

Applications are invited from all nationalities; however, candidates must be eligible to work in the UK to be considered for this position. Prospective candidates should note that this is not a UN post.