PhD student in vertebrate palaeontology

Are you interested in working with vertebrate palaeontology, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a PhD position in vertebrate palaeontology at the Department of Organismal Biology at Uppsala University.

The Department of Organismal Biology teaches and explores the evolution, development and function on the organismal level. For more information see www.iob.uu.se.

The Program of Evolution and Development studies the evolution and developmental biology of vertebrates, both separately and as an interdisciplinary research domain that aims to illuminate the assembly of the vertebrate body plan. There is particular focus on the deep part of the vertebrate family tree and correspondingly the early fossil history of the group, from the origin of vertebrates up to the fish-tetrapod transition, but we also study the development of Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. A major current research effort is a systematic multidisciplinary reinvestigation of the origin of tetrapods, supported by an ERC Advanced Grant awarded to the Program Head, Per Ahlberg.

Duties
The work will consist of studying, interpreting, analysing and describing fossil material of Devonian tetrapods (early land vertebrates) from Greenland. The material will principally be studied using synchrotron microtomography (a kind of high-resolution 3D x-ray imaging). The PhD student will study these tomographic data, reconstruct and interpret the anatomy of the fossils, and on that basis analyse their interrelationships, probable lifestyles etc. The results will be presented in peer-reviewed scientific journals and at international scientific conferences. In addition to research, the PhD student is expected to do some teaching, usually as a lab assistant. There will be opportunities for fieldwork.  

Requirements
To meet the entry requirements for doctoral studies, you must

• hold a Master’s (second-cycle) degree in palaeontology or equivalent, or
• have completed at least 240 credits in higher education, with at least 60 credits at Master’s level including an independent project worth at least 15 credits, or
• have acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way.

The qualification requirements for this position are: practical research experience of working with tomographic data of vertebrate fossils, full written and spoken fluency in English, and the ability to both carry out research independently and to integrate successfully into a close-knit team working on a large research project under the leadership of the principal PhD supervisor.

Additional qualifications
Experience of working with synchrotron tomography data, experience of the segmentation software package Mimics, and experience of working on early tetrapod fossils are meritorious for this position.

Rules governing PhD students are set out in the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5, §§ 1-7 and in Uppsala University's rules and guidelines.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position according to the Higher Education Ordinance chapter 5 § 7. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 2024-09-01 or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Per Ahlberg, tel.: 0046-18-4712641, email: per.ahlberg@ebc.uu.se

Please submit your application by 11 August 2024, UFV-PA 2024/2271

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