Karlstad University, Sweden (KAU) has established a process to recruit excellent 'Recognised Researchers' (R2) under the Marie Skƚodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF) programme. With this call we are inviting expressions of interest from researchers within the field of Landscape Ecology. These expressions of interest will be assessed at KAU, and one candidate will be selected to write a proposal for a 24-month MSCA-IF, to be hosted at KAU.

This call is one of six from pre-selected research environments. Successful candidates in this ‘expression of interest’ call will be invited to join an introductory Zoom session with KAU supervisors and other candidates in mid-June 2021. At this session, the candidates will present their research, discuss project plans with their potential supervisor, and receive advice on how to write a successful MSCA-IF application. The selected candidates will, in cooperation with their supervisor, write an application to be submitted in the 2021 MSCA-IF call (projected deadline 15 September 2021).

The MSCA IF in Landscape Ecology will be supervised at KAU by Professor Lutz Eckstein. Professor Eckstein is a faculty member of the River Ecology and Management group (RivEM), a strong and highly productive research environment of ca. 25 researchers. RivEM is currently strategically developing its expertise within a new research theme: Living Landscapes. The new theme embraces terrestrial and aquatic research aimed at using landscape ecological theories to develop solutions for sustainable land use.

We are searching for excellent candidates at the postdoctoral level to develop a landscape perspective on the link between anthropogenic pressures, such as invasive plants, and biodiversity conservation. The successful candidate may either work empirically, e.g. by integrating information from databases on species traits or phenology with geographical information systems (GIS) and modelling approaches; or theoretically, e.g. by synthesizing current theories of invasive plant ecology into a new landscape perspective of species invasions, plant community invasibility and biodiversity conservation.

Eligibility criteria

The applicant must be an R2 'Recognised Researcher'. By the time of the 2021 MSCA-IF application deadline (provisionally 15 September), they must be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience. The applicant can be of any nationality and must not have spent more than 12 months in Sweden in the three years immediately prior to 15 September 2021.

Process

Please send your CV (max. three pages), a covering letter explaining why you wish to apply for an MSCA-IF at KAU (one page) and an outline for a research project that would strengthen and complement the presented research profile (max. 1000 words) as attachments to GIO@kau.se by 27 May 2021. Selected candidates will be informed by 10 June. Please include "KAU MSCA 2021" in the subject line of your email.