PostDoc in Biome Biogeography; f​/m​/d

Post Doc in Biome Biogeography 70-100% (f/m/d)

The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL is part of the ETH Domain. Approximately 600 people work on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards.

The Research Group Dynamic Macroecology led by Dr. Niklaus

E. Zimmermann studies questions related to spatial ecology, macroecology and
-evolution and global biome dynamics. For this group, we are looking for a Post Doc in Biome Biogeography (70-100% effort) for a duration of 18 months (possibility of extension) as part of an SNSF (ERC) Advanced Grant project (Predicting hotspots of climate change impacts on ecosystems from an eco-evolutionary biome framework).

In this project, several PhD and postdoctoral students work on generating baseline data and testing different aspects of the theory. Your responsibility will be to contribute to the overall testing of several important aspects of the biome biogeography theory. You will generate and analyze outputs from machine learning models, process‑based simulations, and macroevolutionary approaches, conduct statistical hypothesis testing, and take responsibility for testing specific key aspects of the theory.

You will also support others with targeted contributions, spatial products, and analytical protocols in their work on theory testing, and contribute to synthesizing the biome biogeography theory across different sub‑projects.

You hold a PhD degree in ecology or a related field and have expert knowledge in macroecology, functional ecology, the processing and analysis of high‑volume data sets, spatial ecology/modelling, and coding with R/Python/GIT. Further assets include expertise in remote sensing, experience in cluster computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The capability to develop new ideas independently is necessary, as are very good English skills (both written and oral).

You are a curious, self‑reliant person who is also an excellent team worker and values cooperation.

WSL is committed to diversity and inclusion as core values. We actively promote gender equality and foster an open, inclusive work environment.