Conservation management of endangered species in front of the global change: how to improve their conservation status?- Supervisor Sandra SAURA, CREAF. Hosting offer MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship 2021

ORGANIZATION

CREAF: http://www.creaf.cat/msca-postdoctoral-fellowship-creaf

Through excellence in science we aim to be a Mediterranean and world-class research institution that pushes the frontiers of knowledge while addressing some of the biggest and more complex environmental challenges society faces this century.

Founded in 1987, CREAF is a public research and innovation centre in ecology, territorial analysis and environmental impact. We aim to create new knowledge and innovative solutions on ecology management and land-atmosphere interaction that helps society to mitigate Global Change effects, creating adaptation plans and boosting the resilience of nature.

CREAF´s expertise includes among other topics conservation ecology, land use policy, forest biomass and production measurements, powerful GIS technologies, remote sensing, fire ecology, and modelling ecosystem processes. It contributes to the development of methodological and conceptual tools designed to facilitate decision-making and improve environmental management.

SUPERVISOR & OFFER

Sandra SAURA: ORCID: 0000-0001-8539-427X - email: sandra.saura@uab.cat

Research group interests/undergoing projects

Our research is largely focused on conservation biology, and concretely on the study of how drivers of global change determine status conservation of species. More specifically, we combine approaches from disturbance ecology (specially drought, habitat destruction and wildfires) and global change biology to pursue three mainly lines of plant ecology research: i) examining the causes of global change linked to the endangered status of conservation of endangered plants and singular forests, ii) investigating how management can improve status plant and forests conservation, iii) studying Mediterranean basin plant conservation problems in relation to environmental violence. More specifically, we combine and interdisciplinary approach and a transdisciplinary point of view to achieve improvements on status conservation of endangered plants. We combine the use of novel statistics and novel conservation management issues with field experiments and long term poblational studies in the field. We are currently using lizards as our study organisms and have ongoing studies in the Caribbean and in the Mediterranean. Recently, we established a new study system in Cap de Creus Natural Park, where we are collaborating with management teams also from different natural areas of Catalonia with the aim of improving the conservation of endangered or protected species of flora and fauna. We also coordinate and participate in different types of initiatives related to education for gender equality, transdisciplinarity, social and environmental justice, sustainability, science, green education and nonviolent conflict resolution.

Offer: 

The candidate will join our conservation team at the Biodiversity Department of CREAF. The theme of the proposal will be agreed according to the common interests of the fellow and the host group, based on the potential for knowledge transfer from the host group to the researcher and vice versa. During the course of the fellowship, the applicant will join CREAF and will receive training in leadership, student supervision, analytical approaches, communication skills, and preparation of grant proposals to pave the way to become an independent researcher.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The applicant can be of any nationality. By the time of the 2021 MSCA-PF application deadline, applicants must:

- hold a doctoral degree in animal ecology or related topic.

- do not have more than 8 years of full-time equivalent in research.

- not have spent more than 12 months in Spain in the three years immediately prior to the call deadline.

HOW TO APPLY

Researchers willing to apply should check that they fulfil the eligibility criteria. Please send to sandra.saura@uab.cat and msca@creaf.uab.cat asap and at the latest by 17th August 2021:

- your CV

- a covering letter explaining why you wish to apply for an MSCA-PF at CREAF

- an outline for a research project that would strengthen and complement the presented research profile

Selected candidates will be informed by end of August.

Please include "MSCA PF 2021_Sandra SAURA " in the subject line of your email.