Early stage researcher (TerraNova ESR 11)

Job Announcement, Reference Nr.: 4-1766/19-D

The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, in cooperation with the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, offers the following position, starting from 1 October 2019 and limited for 36 months:

Early stage researcher (TerraNova ESR 11)
on the Marie Curie ITN funded project:
“What is the socio-economic value of landscape management?”
full time employment, work place: iDiv Leipzig

The position is offered within the EU Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks in the project “The European Landscape Learning Initiative: Past and Future Environments and Energy Regimes shaping Policy Tools- TerraNova”. The salary of the Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks Fellowship (MSC-ITN) follows the regulations set by the European Commission. The salary will include social security and will be composed of living, mobility and family allowances, where appropriate, as outlined in the Marie-Curie Grant Agreement and Horizon 2020- Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions Work-Programme, please see here:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-msca_en.pdf

Background:

Terra Nova aims at improving our understanding of landscape histories and land use strategies in Europe in the Holocene and Anthropocene. Previously identified socio-cultural transitions and the effects of natural forcings will be critically assessed in a new intellectual interdisciplinary arena created by the TerraNova project in 15 new PhD positions. Regional and continental syntheses will be used to anchor landscape and climate change models, which include the effects of past human actions and generate scenarios for landscape management and rewilding. Ultimately, this project will contribute to identifying major previous shifts in resource use and energy regimes and provide options for the future transition to a low carbon society.
This PhD project will be jointly supervised by Prof. Henrique Pereira (iDiv Halle-Jena-Leipzig/ Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany), Prof. Jens-Christian Svenning (Arhus University, Denmark) and Dr. Chris Sandom (Wild Business, UK). The workplace will be the Biodiversity Conservation Research Group at iDiv Halle-Jena-Leipzig, which is located at the BioCity Leipzig. The Biodiversity Conservation Group research aims at understanding the patterns and processes of global biodiversity change, with the goal of informing environmental policy and management of ecosystems (http://biocon.idiv.de).

Requirements:

• MSc in Ecology, Ecological Economics or related fields is preferred (all backgrounds are
welcome to apply).
• Experience in ecosystem service assessment and evaluation is highly desirable
• Knowledge of Geographic Information Systems and R programming is desirable
• High standard of spoken and written English
• Qualification as an „Early stage researcher“, i.e. at the time of appointment no PhD and less
than 4 years of research experience (full-time equivalent) after obtaining a degree that formally
allows you to embark for a PhD.
• Mobility requirement: At the time of appointment an “Early stage researcher” may not have
resided or carried out his/her main activity in Germany for more than 12 months in the 3 years
immediately prior to her/his appointment.
• For more details please see here: http://terranovaproject.eu

Tasks:

The overall aim of this Early Stage Researcher PhD project (ESR) is to develop and apply a framework to assess the relationship between rewilding and ecosystem services. At least three research publications are expected as an output. Specific tasks include:

• develop a framework to compare socio-economic costs and benefits, risks and opportunities
provided by ecosystems before and after rewilding;
• apply the framework by comparing stocks and flows of natural capital in selected TerraNova
FL areas with varying degrees of ‘ecological intactness’ in order to define conservation
management priorities (e.g. using methods such as InVest, the Toolkit for Ecosystem Service
Site-Based Assessment, and the Natural Capital Protocol).
• develop an auditing approach based on natural capital stocks and flows usable by
practitioners

Three secondments will take place to Aarhus University to develop expertise in geospatial analyses and ecoinformatics at (Month 21-23), to Rewilding Europe Foundation to develop expertise in rewilding and land management practice at (Month 15-17), and to Wild Business to develop marketable skills in landscape management (Month 26).

Severely disabled persons are encouraged to apply and will be given preference in the case of equal suitability. Women are strongly urged to apply. Mobility requirements as outlined above are mandatory. All requirements will be evaluated prior appointment.