Come and work with me in Frankfurt!

We’ve got an EXCITING(!) EXHILARATING(!!) ENTERTAINING(!!!) EXASPERATING(!V) opportunity for someone wanting to do a post-doc in Frankfurt, working in the Data and Modelling group here at BiK-F. I’ll be one of the people supervising the project. The official announcement is here (pdf), and below. Although it’s initially for about 15 months, there’s a reasonable chance of getting an extension, depending on how things go.

Of course, I think Frankfurt is a great place to work. BiK-F is an institute connected to the Senckenberg museum, and the Goethe university. The project itself is part of a German project to create a biodiversity database for German research: this part is to show that such a database would actually be useful.

The full advert follows. Feel free to ask about this in the comments below.

The Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) has been founded by the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, the Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, and additional partners. It is funded by the Federal State of Hessen through its Initiative for the Development of Scientific and Economic Excellence (LOEWE). The mission of the centre is to carry out internationally outstanding research on the interactions of biodiversity and climate change at the organism level.

The Project Area E “Data and Modelling Centre” invites applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher
“Statistical modelling of species distributions” (Ref. #E41)

Your tasks:

• Improve our tools for estimating species distributions
• Statistically relate species occurrence data and environmental layers
• Handling of remote sensing products related to habitat quality (e.g. biomass, area burned, tree
  cover)
• Sampling bias analyses
• Develop toolboxes for a DFG-funded biodiversity data centre (visualization and analyses)
• Work in an interdisciplinary team with informatics and GIS experts and bio- and geoscientists

Your profile:

• PhD degree in Ecology, Mathematics, Statistics, Bioinformatics, Geography, Environmental Science
  or a related field
• Strong expertise in statistics and numerical modelling
• Advanced skills in analysis of large datasets and/or ecological modeling
• Special expertise in Bayesian species distribution modelling would be an advantage
• Strong track record of international publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Interest to work in interdisciplinary teams

Salary and benefits are according to a public service position in Germany (TV-H E13, 100%). The contract shall start as soon as possible and will be initially restricted to May 2015. An extension is intended being subject to personal performance and availability of funds. The Senckenberg Research Institute supports equal opportunity of men and women and therefore strongly invites women to apply. Equally qualified handicapped applicants will be given preference. The duty station will be Frankfurt am Main, Germany, but exceptions might be possible. The employer is the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung.

Please send your application before February, 15th 2014 preferred by e-mail (attachment in a single pdf document), mentioning the reference of this position (Ref. #E41) and including a letter outlining your suitability for the post, a detailed CV, contact details of 2 references and a list of publications and funding to the Administrative Director:
Herrn Dr. Johannes Heilmann
c/o Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung
Senckenberganlage 25
60325 Frankfurt
E-Mail: [email protected]
For scientific enquiries please get in contact with Prof. Dr. Thomas Hickler, [email protected].
Further information: http://www.bik-f.de.

EDIT: and if you don’t want to work with me, you could apply to work with Tord Snäll in Sweden, instead.