Postdoctoral Research Associate

A 15-month fixed term full time Postdoctoral Research Association (PDRA) position is available in the Department of Geography at Durham University. The successful candidate will join the project ‘Greenland Ice Sheet and sea-level response under climate change from AD 1600 to 2100’. The project is led at Durham by Professor Sarah Woodroffe and is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

As a PDRA on this project, the successful applicant will be required to develop relative sea-level reconstructions over the past few hundred years from salt-marshes in Greenland using diatoms as the main proxy, alongside XRF and other stratigraphic methods. These reconstructions will be compared to relative sea-level predictions from new Greenland-wide models of ice sheet change developed by collaborators on the project from Lincoln and Northumbria Universities. The main responsibilities will be to develop new modern and fossil diatom datasets from Greenland saltmarshes and statistical and chronological models that allow quantitative relative sea-level reconstructions from sites around the west coast of Greenland. A further responsibility will be to write applications for radiocarbon dating support, to prepare data, figures and text for publication and to communicate the interim and final findings of the research at collaborator workshops and international science meetings.

This is a great opportunity to work as part of a friendly team on a cutting-edge project. The PDRA will have access to outstanding resources including laboratory and microscope facilities and travel funding for conferences and collaboration.

The successful candidate will have extensive experience in developing relative sea-level reconstructions using diatom data and application of quantitative methods of RSL reconstruction. Previous experience working in salt-marshes would be an advantage.

Advert information