Post-Doc Researcher

A Post-Doc researcher in Quaternary Palaeoecology (Environmental Science) specialized in quantitative vegetation/land-cover reconstructions, ref 2010/2880 Linnaeus University is the result of a merger between Kalmar University and Växjö University.Together we will be creating a new, exciting university with 31 000 students and 2 000 employees.Linnaeus University will be a modern, international university in the Småland region of Sweden, where people can grow to reach their potential.For more information see: Lnu.se The School of Natural Sciences is part of the Faculty of Science and Engineering.The research activities within this multidisciplinary school include Environmental Science with seven research groups of which Palaeoecology is one.The palaeoecology research group seeks one Post Doctoral researcher for studies within past land cover-climate feedbacks (Holocene period).The project is part of the Swedish strategic research area ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system, MERGE; for more information on MERGE, see http://www.cec.lu.se/forskning/merge.The position is for two years.Project title: Regional and global land cover-climate feedbacks during the Holocene ?modelling the past land-cover using pollen-vegetation modelling and other methods.The research project: The main objective of the project is to produce vegetation/land-cover reconstructions of the past (Holocene period) that can be used in climate modelling to test and refine regional and global climate models and to elucidate past land cover-climate feedbacks in particular through human-modified land-cover.Did changes in human land-use and related land-cover changes have significant feedbacks on the regional and global climate in the past?Will such changes affect the future climate?The candidate will collaborate with the global community of palynologists (contributors of pollen data), the scientists working with anthropogenic landscape scenarios, and climate modellers (including vegetation modellers for coupled climate-vegetation models).Work will include collecting of existing pollen data, getting pollen-vegetation data to calculate new pollen productivity estimates (PPEs) from regions where no PPEs are available, and modelling past land-cover on regional to global spatial scales using pollen-vegetation modelling and other methods. Applicants should have a doctoral degree in palaeoecology or similar.Documented training in pollen analysis and quantitative reconstruction of vegetation/land-cover using pollen-vegetation modelling is required.A good expertise in numerical techniques and GIS, and knowledge of general palaeoclimatology are clearly an advantage.The position is located to Kalmar.Mark your application with reference number 2010/2880.The application (in English) should contain a CV, documentations of exams and grades, the name of two references (with telephone number and e-mail), a description of motivation and experience relevant to the research projekt.