with placement at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystems Analysis, Faculty of Science

Ref. no.: 4286
Last application date: 2010-01-31
Starting date: earliest April 2010
Information: almut.arneth@nateko.lu.se
Worker's unions at Lund University: OFR, SACO and SEKO

Project description: Modelling Land use/land cover change under changing socioeconomic conditions and climate change

We seek a PhD student for model analysis of future land use/land cover change at athe global scale under a range of socio-economic scenarios. The work contributes to the project Land Use Today and Tomorrow which aims to identify sustainable pathways for the use of land resources under a range of climate and socioeconomic scenarios. The student will be located in the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Analysis, Lund University, Sweden, but the thesis will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh's, Centre for the study of Environmental Change and Sustainability

Tasks: further develop and test an existing land use/land cover change model taking into account new scenarios developed in the project. The model simulates the socio-economic and environmental constraints on land use at the global scale using a limited set of model input parameters. The project will further refine the model in terms of process representation of technological, political and economic effect on land use, and will test the model outputs against past land use change. A focus of the work will be on modelling future changes in the area of bioenergy production vs. food production. The project will also contribute to development activities for a formalised analysis of land use change in terms of parameter uncertainty based on conditional probabilistic futures, especially within the context of food-security.

Qualifications

• M.Sc. degree (or equivalent) in a quantitative environmental sciences discipline or economics, for instance physical geography, agricultural science, environmental studies, agricultural economics, ecological economics. Applications from candidates who are close to completion of their undergraduate studies will also be considered
• Expertise with mathematical modelling of social-ecological systems
• Some programming skills (e.g., C++, Java)
• Willingness to communicate research results and to interact within an international research environment

We welcome candidates with enthusiasm for collaboration within a multidisciplinary team, as well as an aptness to pose and solve problems individually. The work involves extensive international collaboration and the candidate must be willing to travel. Excellent written and spoken English is a requirement.

The position will be available from c. April 2010, for a period of four years. Lund is a pleasant university town in southern Sweden with excellent connections to Copenhagen International airport.

Additional information:

Regulations concerning appointment as a full doctoral student can be found in HF 5 Chap 1-7§§ and SFS 1998:80. Also consult the admission regulations found at: http://www.science.lu.se/o.o.i.s/4964

An educational stipend is awarded for the first 18 months of full-time study, following which time the student is appointed as a full doctoral student. Regulations concerning educational stipends for doctoral students can be found in SFS 1995:938 and 1998:81. Regulations concerning appointment as a full doctoral student can be found in HF 5 Chap 1-7§§ and SFS 1998:80.

Those who hold an educational stipend or a doctoral student appointment must first be accepted for postgraduate study. To be accepted, a student must be judged to have the competence necessary to complete a course of postgraduate study.

In addition to pursuing postgraduate studies, the doctoral student may also perform other duties - including research, teaching and administration - according to the specific regulations.

The university strives for a more even gender representation within postgraduate education. Since most postgraduate students within the faculty are men, applications from women are encouraged.

Applications are made on a specific application form found on the web site: http://www.science.lu.se/upload/LUPDF/natvet/Dokument/Postgrad_application.pdf Documents must include C.V., letter of motivation, and contact details of up to two referees. The application must reach Registrar, Kansli N, Lund University, Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden, not later than 2010-01-31 submitted documents must be attested as to their authenticity.