Research Associate (Evolutionary Biology)

Job description:

Are you an evolutionary biologist and/or population geneticist looking for collaborative research opportunity with conservation impact? We have an exciting opportunity for a Postdoctoral Research Associate to join our dynamic research group to study reproductive trade-offs in a threatened wild animal population. You’ll join the lab of Dr Nicola Hemmings, funded by the Royal Society, embedded within the world-leading Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Research Cluster, in the School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield. You will also collaborate with researchers at the Zoological Society of London, University of Auckland, and conservation NGOs.

You will use your existing quantitative skills to study reproductive trade-offs in a threatened bird population, capitalising on our unique long-term breeding and pedigree dataset for the hihi, Notiomystis cincta, a threatened songbird endemic to New Zealand. You will contribute meaningfully to our understanding of evolutionary processes in wild populations, with implications for conservation management and policy.

You will within a wider team with broad interests in evolutionary biology, reproductive behaviour and physiology, and conservation. We combine interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches, ranging from field-based experiments, observational studies, and long-term population monitoring to laboratory-based fertility and embryology analyses and quantitative genetics.

In this varied role, you will take the lead on your own research, sharing developments frequently with the team. You will disseminate your findings via high impact publications and international conference presentations. You will have scope to develop new research ideas and will be supported to develop your own independent research career via training, mentorship, and fellowship/grant writing advice. You can also develop your teaching and supervision skills, if desired, by supporting undergraduate and postgraduate research projects.

The ideal candidate will have a PhD/DPhil (or equivalent postdoctoral level work experience) in a relevant discipline (e.g. evolutionary biology or population genetics or an equivalent discipline). They will have strong quantitative genetics skills, experience of analysing long-term population monitoring data, and demonstrable independent problem-solving ability. They will have already published in internationally recognised, peer-reviewed scientific journals and be confident delivering a research project from concept through to dissemination.

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