Postdoctoral Researcher (f/m/x) in Predictive Avifauna Modelling

Place of work

The job position is available for full-time or part-time employment.

Contract limitations

Salary

Contact

Your contact for any questions you may have about the job:
Karin Frank - karin.frank@ufz.de
Nils Hein - nils.hein@ufz.de
Tati Micheletti - tati.micheletti@gmail.com

Your application

Please submit your application via our online portal with your cover letter, CV (please omit your photo, age, or marital status) and relevant attachments.

Diversity and Inclusion

The UFZ has a strong commitment to diversity and actively supports equal opportunities for all employees regardless of their origin, religion, ideology, disability, age or sexual identity.
We look forward to applications from people who are open-minded and enjoy working in diverse teams.

Your tasks

• Working in close collaboration with the group leader and partners from the TripleBird initiative, you will co-develop innovative biodiversity forecasting models.
• Your work will form the scientific engine of the BirdFutures project. Develop dynamic (i.e., time-explicit) habitat use models to forecast the impacts of diverse policy and management options on avifauna.
• Project bird metrics with future scenarios that clearly illustrate the long-term consequences of different courses of action for decision-makers.
• Build and implement a continuous evaluation pipeline for biodiversity protection measures, using annually updated data from schemes like PECBMS.
• Play a key role, in close collaboration with other project partners, in the co-conceptualization and design of related user-friendly data products.
• Together with the team lead and the team’s social scientist, you will be responsible for translating complex model outputs into actionable insights for a diverse range of stakeholders (finance, business, conservation NGOs).
• Publish high-impact research and present your work at international conferences.

We offer

• The freedom to master even the most demanding challenges between basic research and practical application
• The chance to work in interdisciplinary, international teams and benefit from a variety of perspectives
• Firstclass integration into national and international research networks to work together on global challenges
• Excellent research infrastructure and research data management to optimally support your work
• Flexible working hours and a wide range of options for balancing work and care responsibilities through our family office
• Competent support and advice for international colleagues arriving at the UFZ from the 'International Office'
• Special annual payment, capital-forming benefits and subsidised Germany Job Ticket
• A workplace in a vibrant region with a high life quality and social and cultural diversity

Your profile

• PhD in Quantitative Ecology, Computational Biology, Biogeography, Statistics, Applied System Science or a related field.
• Strong background in developing models and scenarios of species distribution and diversity (e.g., species distribution models, occupancy-detection models).
• Excellent conceptual and quantitative skills, with high proficiency in R. Knowledge of python is an asset.
• Proficiency with GIS software and spatial analysis is essential.
• Proven experience with FAIR science principles, including reproducible workflows and version control (e.g., Git/GitHub). Experience or a strong interest and facility in using High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments.
• Strong interest in developing hybrid models that integrate mechanistic and data-driven approaches.
• Experience with diverse biodiversity data sets and heterogeneous data.
• Experience with machine learning approaches (e.g. neural networks) is an asset.
• Excellent English language skills; German and other European languages are an asset.
• A collaborative spirit and a passion for working in a deeply interdisciplinary team.