Job Opportunities

Have you ever thought about what is lurking in the dark spaces of the world? Are you amazed by organism’s ability to survive in the complete darkness of caves? And did you ever wonder why so many cave animals exhibit such a peculiar phenotype?Come join our team and help us elucidating the origin and the genetic basis of this striking phenotype.

Great! We are looking for an ambitious and motivated PhD candidate to support our team with the FWF project “Shedding light on the evolution of a blind cavefish” on Garra longipinnis, a cyprinid freshwater fish species from Northern Oman that comprises a troglomorphic, i.e. cave-adapted, population without eyes and pigmentation from an underground cave as well as a surface population.

Application Requirements:

You should be very interested in organismic biology and be fascinated by the mechanisms of evolution!

• good IT skills and basic experience in bioinformatic analyses (shell scripting, Python or R) 
• wet-lab experience in a molecular genetic lab
• statistical analyses
• ability to work structured, organized and independently
• good time management skills
• basic experience in academic writing
• being a team player

 When: The project will begin in November 2024.

Salary will be according to the FWF personnel cost rates for doctoral candidates (approx. 2 700 € brutto per month, 30h per week).

How to apply:

• Curriculum vitae, highlighting your specific skills
• A letter of interest and an outline of your personal research interest
• List of scientific publications (if applicable)
• Confirmation of your Master’s Degree
• Contact addresses of 1-2 referees

Download >> the complete Call for Phd position. 

Applications accepted until October 31st, 2024 or until the position is filled.

The World Association of Copepodologists (WAC) offers up to three student research grants per year, depending on the availability of funds, with each award up to US$1,000. This grant-in-aid aims to facilitate copepod research, including – but not limited to – research supplies, fieldwork, course/workshop attendance, and visiting collections.

Application Requirements:

• Applicant must be a WAC member at the time of application.
• Applicant must be enrolled in an undergraduate, Masters, or PhD program.
• Applications are due by November 1st (recipients will be notified by November 30th).

Please visit the WAC website for more details: https://www.monoculus.org/student-grants/

PhD project: Unveiling the ecosystem dynamics of three Western Australian groundwaters through functional ecology
This project focuses on designing novel functionally-based biomonitoring protocols of microbial and stygofaunal communities. Energy flows and carbon loads regulating the targeted groundwater ecosystems will be investigated under different scenarios involving e.g., aquifer drawdown, contamination, and climate change-related effects such as increased temperature or salinity. By targeting different environmental conditions of the aquifer and groundwater (space) over time (seasonality), the baseline information generated will provide guidelines on how to maintain and rehabilitate healthy groundwater habitats. Investigations of the microbial and stygofaunal communities will be carried out with a multidisciplinary design including hydrogeochemical assessment tools (isotopes, nutrients, fluorescence analysis) combined with molecular tests (DNA metabarcoding, genomics).

Who: Subterranean Research and Groundwater Ecology (SuRGE) Group (@surge_group) Link

Where: Curtin University in Perth (Western Australia – @Curtin_TrEnD) Link

When: The PhD project will start in 2024 and will last until 2028. Deadline for application: 12th of April 2024.

Want to know more/apply? Contact: Dr Mattia Saccò (@MattiSacco) – mattia.sacco@curtin.edu.au

Download the call document

Postdoc position in Groundwater Ecology, Biogeography and Biodiversity (2 years)

Groundwater is an essential ecosystem, indispensable for the provision of groundwater ecosystem services (e. g. clean drinking water) and habitat for a highly diverse and specialized fauna. Yet, it has been insufficiently studied and documented to date and its fauna and ecosystems processes are not systematically recorded in most regions worldwide. In this project you will be analysing genetic, functional and organismal (taxonomic) diversity of groundwater amphipods in Switzerland (part of Amphiwell.CH), building on a very extensive existing dataset and complemented by own field- and laboratory work.

Who: The Altermatt lab at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies (IEU) at University of Zurich and the Department of Aquatic Ecology at Eawag

Where: The two year position will be based at University of Zurich and Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology

Competitive applicants have previous experience in phylogeography, biogeography and molecular ecology (barcoding, metabarcoding) and bioinformatics. Strong expertise in community ecology, spatial ecology, biodiversity sciences and statistics is desired. Applicants will be highly motivated, enthusiastic and independent scientists. They must have a good conceptual understanding of ecological theory and strong laboratory and analytical skills. Excellent communicational and writing skills in English, experiences with publishing scientific articles, good work ethics, and creative thinking are a must. A PhD in Ecology, evolutionary biology, biodiversity sciences or related subject is necessary for admission. A valid car driving license is required for field work.

More info on the offered position: https://apply.refline.ch/673277/1173/pub/1/index.html 

The application deadline: June 26.

All applications need to go through the online form.