PhD Fellow in Marine Molecular Ecology

The position

The Norwegian College of Fishery Science (NCFS) at the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics (BFE) is searching for a PhD Fellow to study the molecular ecology of fishes and other communities in the Artic Ocean as a contribution to the national flagship project Arctic Ocean 2050. The candidate will be part of the Research Group for Genetics (RGG).

The position is for a period of four years. The nominal length of the PhD programme is three years. The fourth year is distributed as 25 % each year and will consist of teaching and other duties.

The objective of the position is to complete research training to the level of a doctoral degree. Admission to the PhD programme is a prerequisite for employment, and the programme period starts on commencement of the position.

The workplace is at UiT in Tromsø. You must be able to start in the position within a reasonable time after receiving the offer.

The PhD project will focus on illuminating fish diversity and connectivity, overall biodiversity, and biological interactions using environmental DNA obtained from seawater, natural samplers, and communities, video surveys and conventional survey methods, from the Arctic Ocean. This frigid part of the world is undergoing dramatic changes due to the climate crisis, however, how fishes, and other communities, and the food webs are impacted by these changes is poorly studied.

The research could therefore additionally include categorising assemblages of species and/or populations into groups of ecological traits and function and include the construction of molecular based food webs. The successful candidate will be working in the national flagship project Arctic Ocean 2050. The teaching will be related to the thematic areas of the Research Group for Genetics (RGG), primarily within a course in Fish Biology and in a new course in Aquatic Molecular Ecology.

The successful candidate will become a member of the Research Group for Genetics (RGG) and will be included in the research, the career development programme, and social activities of the research group.

The candidate will be working with the RGG and Arctic Ocean 2050 team of scientists, PhD students and technical staff with highly cross‑disciplinary competence. The applicant should be able to work independently as well as in a team.

• A master’s degree or equivalent by the time of employment in molecular ecology, molecular biology, or genetics within a topic relevant to the position
• Documented experience with DNA extraction from either tissues, communities, and/or environmental samples
• Documented experience with PCR and/or qPCR
• Documented experience with either bioinformatic or statistical analysis of DNA sequence data
• Knowledge of taxonomy of fishes and other marine aquatic taxa
• Documented knowledge of English

• Experience in collecting and handling eDNA and community samples
• Experience with working in clean lab environments
• Experience with metabarcoding and/or shotgun sequencing approaches and analysis of such data
• Experience with conventional and video fish survey methods and data analyses
• Experience with fieldwork and research cruises, especially in cold environments
• Knowledge of, or experience with, ecological niche theory and foodwebs
• Experience and interest in teaching
• Experience with outreach, communication, and social media content creation
• Knowledge of Norwegian or a Scandinavian language

In the assessment, the emphasis is on the applicant's potential to complete a research education based on the master's thesis or equivalent, and any other scientific work. In addition, other experience of significance for the completion of the doctoral programme may be given consideration.

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