PhD Position in Plant Phylo- and Biogeography: Inferring evidence for the onset and timing of western and eastern steppe vegetation

The position will be within a joint project of groups from Osnabrück, Gatersleben, Vienna and Barnaul titled “Biogeographical dynamics of plant taxa and climate-landscape history of the Eurasian steppe belt: Genes documenting history” and provide the opportunity to earn a PhD degree.

The project task is to infer evidence for the onset and timing of western and eastern steppe vegetation, define origin and changes in the distribution of steppe habitats from the Miocene onwards, and locate refugia of steppe plants during the Quaternary climate oscillations. We will use methods of comparative molecular systematics and phylogeography, i.e. sequence analyses of multiple DNA loci inferred by traditional and next-generation sequencing methods in a set of 15 - 20 characteristic plant taxa. Although sets of materials of the study taxa are already available within the working groups, fieldwork has to be undertaken in certain areas of the steppe belt between Germany in the west and the Russian/Mongolian Altai Mountains in the east.

We expect you to have a Master/Diploma in systematics or evolutionary biology, and a sound theoretical background in phylogenetic or population genetic methods with some lab experience in sequencing of genes and/or basic knowledge of scripting (e.g., R, Python, GIS) in a UNIX environment. The candidates should have a very cooperative way of working and be able to conduct extended fieldwork.

The project announced here will be hosted by Barbara Neuffer (Dept. of Botany, University of Osnabrück, Germany), Nikolai Friesen (Botanical Garden, University of Osnabrück. Germany) and Frank R. Blattner (IPK Gatersleben, Germany).

The University of Osnabrück and the IPK Gatersleben are equal opportunity employers and place particular emphasis on fostering career opportunities for women. Qualified women are therefore strongly encouraged to apply in fields in which they are underrepresented. Both organizations committed themselves to being family-friendly institutions and support their employees in balancing work and family life. The missions of both organizations are to employ a greater number of severely disabled persons. Applications from severely disabled persons with equivalent qualifications will be given preference.

Additional information regarding the research project might be obtained from the PIs:
Barbara Neuffer: [Email Address Removed]
Nikolai Friesen: [Email Address Removed]
Frank Blattner: [Email Address Removed]

Applications with meaningful documents should be sent as a PDF mentioning the job number 08/01/17 until 28th February 2017 to

Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
Ms. Böhme
Corrensstraße 3, OT Gatersleben
06466 Seeland
Germany
email: [Email Address Removed]
phone: +49 (0) 39482 5101
www.ipk-gatersleben.de