Deux projets de PhD en paléoécologie/paléoclimatologie/paléomagnétisme à Melbourne, Australie
Offre reçue d'une collègue québécoise aujourd'hui chercheure postdoctorale à l'autre bout du monde.
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A call for 2 PhD positions in Palaeoecology/Palaeoclimatology/Palaeomagnetism based in Melbourne, Australia
This is a call for 2 high calibre graduates who are interested in palaeoenvironmental, ecological and palaeoclimate research. Applications are invited for 2 PhD positions in the School of Geography at the University of Melbourne, Australia. We are a dynamic research group that employs a wide array of palaeoenvironmental proxies to reconstruct past changes, including lake sediment analyses, speleothem research and geomorphology. The School of Geography has four well-resourced laboratories at its disposal and is committed to cutting edge research driven by fundamental research questions.
Successful applicants will commence in February 2017 and will need to secure an Australian Postgraduate Award (https://studenteforms.app.unimelb.edu.au/apex/f?p=153:2:0:::2:P2_ID:50) or an International Postgraduate Award (https://studenteforms.app.unimelb.edu.au/apex/f?p=153:2:0:::2:P2_ID:245) at the University of Melbourne. Successful applicants will receive a scholarship top-up (up to $7000 AUD p/a), relocation assistance (up to $4000 AUD for international students) and will be in receipt of substantial project operating funds to ensure the collection of high quality data. The PhD candidates will develop original research that investigates one of two key themes:
1- the role of fire in shaping long term ecosystem dynamics in Australia's tropical savanna;
How we as humans manage fire in Australia is one of the most intense and long-standing controversies in Australia. With a rapidly changing climate system, a global imperative to reduce carbon emissions and manage biodiversity, fire management in Australia necessary and important. European arrival changed the way fire was used in Australia and we are now grappling with the effects of this change. The effective maintenance of ecological integrity and biodiversity requires an appreciation of ecological history. This project will use an integrated program of ecology and palaeoecology with model development to develop pre-European ecological baselines in northern Australia and to reconstruct changes in plant cover in response to changes in fire regime.
2- the response of the southern westerly winds to abrupt climate change over the last four Glacial Terminations.
This project is led by a high calibre interdisciplinary team of international scientists and aims to produce high quality data on how the Southern Westerly Winds (SWW) respond to largescale changes in climate boundary conditions over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles. The SWW are a key driver of Southern Hemisphere climate, Southern Ocean circulation and global CO2 concentrations. Thus, understanding how the SWW respond to changes in boundary conditions is critically important. There is considerable uncertainty about how the SWW respond to large-scale changes in climate boundary conditions. This uncertainty cripples attempts at predictive climate modelling. This project will (1) allow an empirical test for conceptual models of SWW dynamics and (2) provide essential boundary conditions for predictive climate models.
Both projects will employ a combination of state-of-the-art multi-proxy lake sediment analyses (microfossil, charcoal, particle-size, geochemistry, stable isotope, environmental magnetism and geochronological analyses).
For more information please contact Dr. Michael-Shawn Fletcher : michael.fletcher@unimelb.edu.au
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School of Geography
The School of Geography at the University of Melbourne is a high quality cross-disciplinary department that combines disciplines in Geography Resource Management. We have expertise in investigating the complex processes that shape our world by combining the study of the physical and social sciences, and considering the impact of existing systems on the environment and people.
The University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne will offer an Australian Postgraduate Award stipend, or equivalent for international students ($25,392AUD p/a), to those who score above 85 on their internal ranking system. International scholarships are also available at the same rate and are assessed by a conversion system. The University of Melbourne lies in the heart of thriving city of Melbourne. Established in 1853, the University of Melbourne is a public-spirited institution that makes distinctive contributions to society in research, learning and teaching and engagement. It’s consistently ranked among the leading universities in the world, with international rankings of world universities placing it as number 1 in Australia and number 28 in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013).
The city of Melbourne
The city of Melbourne has been ranked as the world’s most liveable city in ratings published by the Economist Group’s Intelligence Unit (in 2011 and 2012). It has also been ranked in the top ten Global University Cities by RMIT’s Global University Cities Index (since 2006) and the top 20 Global Innovation Cities by the 2thinknow Global Innovation Agency (since 2007). Often referred to as the “cultural capital of Australia”, Melbourne is the birthplace of cultural institutions such as Australian film (as well as the world’s first feature film), Australian television, Australian rules football, the Australian impressionist art movement (known as the Heidelberg School) and Australian dance styles such as New Vogue and the Melbourne Shuffle. It is also a major centre for contemporary and traditional Australian music.
