PRR Project

Summary

This position is for a researcher in wildlife and conservation genetics. This researcher must have extensive knowledge and experience in applying genetics to study a wide range of topics in ecology, evolution and conservation of wild species. In addition to his/her research program in wildlife and conservation genetics, this researcher is expected to interact and collaborate with CE3C researchers, as well as from the other Research Centres of CHANGE (the Associated Laboratory to which CE3C is part of), who are mostly ecologists, in interdisciplinary studies and projects on biodiversity in areas as diverse as conservation biology, systematics and taxonomy, climate change adaptation, landscape ecology, invasion biology, and biodiversity genomics. The researcher will participate in supervising postgraduate theses at the Department of Animal Biology (DBA) of Ciências. The researcher is expected to maintain his/her research program and team with external national and international funding, and participate in applications, with other CE3C members, the entire Centre and CHANGE, to funding for integrative and strategic projects.The profile required of candidates for this position includes: i) a PhD in biological sciences or related areas; ii) multiple years of post-doctoral research experience in wildlife genetics and associated disciplines such as conservation genetics, phylogeography, population genetics, and landscape genetics; iii) extensive published evidence of excellent research ability; iv) experience in supervising postgraduate students and as leader of research teams; v) experience in applying to external research funding and as principal investigator of research projects; vi) excellent proficiency in English (written and spoken). Preferred qualifications also include: i) extensive national and international scientific collaborations and participation in research networks and consortia; ii) excellent proficiency in Portuguese (written and spoken).Wildlife and conservation genetics are research areas that are expanding rapidly internationally in the face of the current biodiversity crisis. Using genetics and genomics, they provide crucial information, difficult to obtain otherwise, for management, conservation and restoration of biodiversity that take into account evolutionary history and heritage, optimize the preservation of genetic variation, and consequently maximize resilience to current environmental challenges and adaptive potential for future evolution and diversification. Examples of applications are the identification of evolutionarily diverged units within species that should be conservation priorities, estimation of ecological and demographic parameters in natural populations (e.g. diet, population size, population structure, demographic history), analysis of biological invasions, identification and management of adaptive variation (e.g. climate-related) in threatened species, and non-invasive monitoring of wildlife populations, for example in studies of the environmental impact of anthropogenic structures (e.g. highways, dams, mines, solar and wind farms). They are therefore essential research areas to inform plans and actions to reduce and reverse negative human impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services, and to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts aiming for better coexistence.CE3C is a Centre of excellence in ecology, evolution, and research on environmental changes. Many members of CE3C are ecologists, from multiple branches of ecology (e.g. functional ecology, tropical ecology, conservation ecology, macroecology, restoration ecology, urban ecology), and also an appreciable number focus on Evolutionary issues, using genetics or genomics in their research. But few researchers that have training in population and evolutionary genetics are explicitly interested in applying that knowledge, and genetic/genomic data, in biodiversity conservation research (even though conservation is a transversal interest at the Centre). CE3C, and CHANGE, the Associated Laboratory of which CE3C is part of, therefore consider as a priority the expansion of research in wildlife and conservation genetics, and the hiring of a researcher with extensive knowledge and experience in the application of genetics to study questions in ecology, evolution and conservation of wild species. One objective is to establish at CE3C, and concomitantly at CHANGE, an internationally recognized extramurally funded research program in Wildlife and Conservation Genetics, research areas whose development in Portugal is still very limited. Another objective with this hiring is to increase the use of genetics and genomics in ecological and conservation research at CE3C, which will allow us to embark on new research avenues and more integrative projects with greater scope.