Research Fellow in African Forest Measurement

Location: Leeds - Main Campus

Contract type: Fixed Term (for 18 months to complete specific time limited work)

Do you want to expand our understanding of the forests of the Congo Basin? Do you have skills in engaging partners in tropical research and developing high-quality ecological datasets? Do you want to further your career in one of the UK’s leading research-intensive Universities?

The Ecology and Global Change research cluster at Leeds conducts world-leading research in tropical ecology and change. We are looking to recruit a skilled Postdoctoral Research Fellow to undertake plot data collection and compilation from the African Topical Rainforest Observatory Network (AfriTRON) for the CongoFor1.5 project. The central aim of CongoFor1.5 is to understand the carbon balance and ecology of the forests of the Congo Basin over time.

The CongoFor1.5 project is designed to census at least 225 long-term forest monitoring plots across Cameroon (45 plots), Democratic Republic of Congo (90 plots), Gabon (45 plots), and Republic of the Congo (45 plots), in close collaboration with our long-term partners in each of the four countries. You will join a vibrant team, led by Professor Simon Lewis, and a Research Fellow in Central African Carbon Dynamics, and will benefit from the support of the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) who fund the project. 

You will be responsible for conducting field data collection with our partners in central Africa to assist training partners’ field teams and to ensure that high-quality data are acquired, quality controlled, and archived in the database ForestPlots.net. This will include substantial fieldwork in tropical forests across the Congo basin. You will work closely with the CongoFor1.5 Research Fellow in Central African Carbon Dynamics who will oversee the plot data collection and the Research Data Officer to quality control and archive the data.

You will be based in the UK, but will work with colleagues in Central Africa, and take part in lengthy and remote field campaigns. You will have excellent existing field skills and a willingness to collaborate widely with colleagues in Africa.

The University of Leeds is one of the top 80 universities in the world.  We have a truly global community, with more than 39,000 students from 170 different countries and over 9,000 staff of 100 different nationalities.  

Please note that this post may be suitable for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route but first-time applicants might need to qualify for salary concessions. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

For research and academic posts, we will consider eligibility under the Global Talent visa. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/global-talent

What we offer in return

• 26 days holiday plus approx.16 Bank Holidays/days that the University is closed by custom (including Christmas) – That’s 42 days a year!
• Generous pension scheme plus life assurance– the University contributes 14.5% of salary
• Generous pension scheme options plus life assurance
• Health and Wellbeing: Discounted staff membership options at The Edge, our state-of-the-art Campus gym, with a pool, sauna, climbing wall, cycle circuit, and sports halls.
• Personal Development: Access to courses run by our Organisational Development & Professional Learning team.
• Access to on-site childcare, shopping discounts and travel schemes are also available.

And much more!  

To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: 

Professor Simon Lewis

Email: S.L.Lewis@leeds.ac.uk

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