PhD fellow in Ancient DNA and Evolutionary Genomics

Applications are invited for a three-year PhD fellowship in the field of Ancient DNA and Evolutionary Biology in the Paleomix group led by Dr. Ludovic Orlando at the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Research in the Paleomix group is focused on developing integrative approaches for studying ancient DNA molecules, promoting the field of palaeomics by the merger of biochemistry, molecular biology, genomics and computational biology. These approaches are presently mainly used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of horses and other equids and have strong implications for conservation. Recent work from the group includes the characterization of the oldest genome hitherto sequenced and the first ancient human epigenome.

Project
The project will concern retrieval, sequencing and analyses of ancient horse genomes, metagenomes and epigenomes for tracking the prehistorical and historical modifications that have accompanied the transformation of wild horses into modern domesticated breeds. The principal supervisor is Associate Professor Dr Ludovic Orlando, one of the six PIS of the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen.

We are seeking a highly motivated, hard worker and productive student who is interested and capable of contributing to a research team consisting of molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, statisticians, and evolutionary biologists. The ideal candidate will show great abilities to work in a team environment and strong expertise in experimental genetics, and the molecular tools used in next-generation sequencing and population genomics. She/he should have strong background in molecular biology, particularly in molecular methods for generating large-scale sequence/SNP datasets, and be familiar with basic concepts in computational science and optionally, with Bash or other programming languages such as R, Perl and/or Python. Experience in the analysis of ancient DNA and/or Next-Generation Sequencing will be considered positively but is not mandatory.

Principal supervisor is professor, Ludovic Orlando, Centre for GeoGenetics, mail: lorlando@snm.ku.dk.

Job description
PhD students at Science are expected to:

Manage and carry through their research project
Take PhD courses (equivalent to 30 ECTS)
Write scientific articles as well as the PhD thesis
Participate in scientific meetings
Stay at an external research institution, preferably abroad, for a up to 3 months
Teach and disseminate research
Possibly partake curation work in the Collections of the Natural History Museum of Denmark

Key criteria for the assessment of candidates

-A master’s degree related to the subject area of the project.
-The grade point average achieved
-Professional qualifications relevant to the PhD programme
-Previous publications
-Relevant work experience
-Other professional activities
-Language skills (English is the language at the Centre for GeoGenetics)

Terms of employment
The position is covered by the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff.
Terms of appointment and payment accord to the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State

The starting salary is currently up to DKK 305,291 including annual supplement (+ pension up to DKK 42,171). Negotiation for salary supplement is possible.

The University wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background. The language of the Centre is English.