PhD student position Spatially Explicit Paleo Food-Webs: Modelling Biodiversity Change in Deep Time

The Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) at the University of Oldenburg invites applications for a

PhD student position (m/f/d)
Spatially Explicit Paleo Food-Webs: Modelling Biodiversity Change in Deep Time

Salary according to E13 TV-L, 75% 

starting from January 2025 for a period of 3 years.

ICBM is an interdisciplinary research institute for fundamental and applied marine research. The internationally renowned institute aims at understanding the function of marine environmental systems through close cooperation of the various scientific disciplines (chemistry, biology, physics, mathematical modelling) of its more than 20 research groups. 

The position is available in the Mathematical Modelling group of Prof. Dr. Bernd Blasius at the ICBM and is part of the BMBF-funded project AGELESS, a cooperation between ICBM, the Universities of Bremen and Erlangen, and the Helmholtz-Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB), to leverage long-term planktonic diversity data for assessing and protecting biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Your tasks: You will develop spatially explicit, size-structured models of paleo food-webs to investigate how climate change has impacted marine species across different trophic levels, from microplankton to megafauna. These models will describe species’ spatial ranges based on their climatic niche and body size, capturing predator-prey relationships and thermal affinities. By simulating colonization and extinction events within the food-web context, the models will predict species distributions and associated extinction cascades due to environmental changes. Using marine fossil records for calibration, these models will also guide the design of climate-smart marine protected areas (MPAs).

Requirements: Master or Diploma (not of a University of Applied Sciences) in theoretical ecology, physics, applied mathematics, data science or a related field. Experience in mathematical modelling, time series analysis, or machine learning is essential. Familiarity with basic ecological concepts, marine ecology, especially plankton ecology, is highly desirable. Applicants should be fluent in written and spoken English and show a strong interest in multidisciplinary teamwork.

The University of Oldenburg is dedicated to increasing the percentage of women in science. Therefore, female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply. In accordance with Lower Saxony legal regulations (NHG § 21), equally qualified female candidates will be given preference. Applicants with disabilities will be employed preferentially if equally qualified.

Kontakt:

For further information regarding this position, please contact Prof. Dr. Bernd Blasius (bernd.blasius@uol.de).