There are currently two PhD positions offered in the Plant Evolutionary Ecology group (www.uni-tuebingen.de/plantevoeco) at the University of Tübingen, Germany:
1. PHENOLOGY OF FOREST UNDERSTOREY PLANTS IN RELATION TO LAND USE AND CLIMATE CHANGE The PhD student will combine field surveys with the study of herbarium collections to investigate how land use and climate change affect the flowering phenology of forest understory plants. The project is part of the Biodiversity Exploratories (www.biodiversity-exploratories), one of the largest ecology projects in the world, which will allow the student to interact with many other ecological researchers. It will also be in close collaboration with the Ancient Genomics & Evolution group at the MPI for Developmental Biology, who will study genomic changes in the same plants. The successful applicant will be based in Tübingen. The field work will take place across Germany in the Hainich, Schwäbische Alb and Schorfheide regions. The herbarium work will be in several German herbaria, mainly Tübingen, Stuttgart, Jena and Berlin. The University of Tübingen is one of the oldest universities in Germany, and Tübingen a beautiful university town with a high quality of life. The Plant Evolutionary Ecology group at the University of Tübingen studies the ecology, evolution and genetics of plants in changing environments. We are looking for a student with a strong interest in plant ecology and global environmental change. The successful candidate should have a MSc in biology, a good command of English, and a driving licence. Botanical and statistical skills are a plus, but not a must. The position is funded for 3 years (pending final confirmation by the DFG). Salary is at the scale 13 TV-L (65%). Starting date is 1 March 2017 but can be negotiated. If you are interested in this position, please send your CV, along with a letter of motivation and the contact details of two references as a single PDF to oliver.bossd...@uni-tuebingen.de. Deadline for applications is 8 January 2017. For questions, please use the same email address as above. The University of Tübingen aims at increasing the share of women in research and teaching and particularly encourages women to apply. 2. RAPID EVOLUTION OF PLANT PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN RELATION TO LAND USE The PhD student will study the rapid evolution of grassland plants in response to land use. Specifically, the project will test whether plants evolve greater phenotypic plasticity when environments become more temporally variable in terms of mowing, grazing and fertilization. The successful applicant will collect seeds in three different regions of Germany (Hainich, Schwäbische Alb and Schorfheide), conduct controlled greenhouse experiments in Tübingen to assess plastic responses to experimental treatments, integrate experimental data with land use, vegetation, and molecular data, and analyse and publish results in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The project is part of the Biodiversity Exploratories (http://www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/), one of the largest ecology projects in the world, which will allow the student to interact with many other ecological researchers. The University of Tübingen is one of the oldest universities in Germany, and Tübingen has a rich student life, a high quality of life and a beautiful old town and surroundings (notably the Swabian Alb). The Plant Evolutionary Ecology group at the University of Tübingen studies the ecology, evolution and genetics of plants in changing environments. We are seeking a strongly motivated person with MSc degree in biology (or equivalent). The applicant should have good English language and presentation skills. Knowledge of German language is not required, but a driving licence is a must. Previous experience with plant ecological experiments and data analysis (preferably in R) is an advantage. The position is funded for 3 years (pending final confirmation by the DFG). Salary and conditions are according to a public service position in Germany (TV-L E13; 65%). Starting date is 1 March 2017 but can be negotiated. If you are interested in this position, please send your CV, along with a letter of motivation and the contact details of two references as a single PDF to niek.scheep...@biologie.uni-tuebingen.de. Deadline for applications is 8 January 2017. For questions, please use the same email address as above. The University of Tübingen aims at increasing the share of women in research and teaching and particularly encourages women to apply.
