Post-doctoral research fellowship: ARDITI-CLIMAREST-2022-002

Reference ARDITI-CLIMAREST-2022-002;

Scientific area: Marine Sciences

Sub-research field: Marine ecology

Project  Summary:

The project CLIMAREST: Coastal Climate Resilience and Marine Restoration Tools for the Arctic Atlantic Basin integrates multiple expertise into a holistic approach that aims to develop a flexible overarching toolbox designed to establish guidelines for ecosystem restoration and to enhance climate resilience in coastal communities. The concept is to develop, test, and optimise a modular toolbox that integrates expert knowledge, scientific information, multilevel stakeholder and community involvement, ecosystem service improvement analysis, cost-benefit analysis, priority of actions, and custom-designed protocols for restoring and monitoring multiple coastal habitats. The toolbox framework will have common and specific tools that will be tested, optimised, and demonstrated in five different ecosystems across a latitudinal gradient of the Arctic-Atlantic basin, ranging from the high-Arctic Svalbard (79° N) in the north to the Madeira archipelago (33° N) in the south. In Madeira, project CLIMAREST will leverage opportunistic datasets from the existing mobile applications and digital platform tools for web-based surveys, allowing the reach out to a wide stakeholder audience, enabling citizen and stakeholder participation in monitoring of restoration activities and scenarios.

Within the scope of this project, ARDITI (Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação) is seeking a Post-doctoral research fellow with a PhD degree in Marine Ecology, Natural Sciences or other field of relevance (awarded within the last 36 months), with training and/or expertise in marine ecology and training and experience conducting underwater surveys and scientific diving operations. A Dive Leader SCUBA certification or higher (European Standard EN 14153-3 or equivalent) is mandatory as the selected candidate will be involved in planning and overseeing dive operations and scientific divers. Prospective candidates will be expected to assist in the planning and implement various underwater surveys and experimentation essays to monitor and enhance macroalgae restoration in rocky reef habitats, implement interview-based surveys with stakeholders and citizen science activities to evaluate the public  perception of the importance of rocky reef habitats and residing biodiversity and to assess ecosystem services and value linked to tourism, more specifically SCUBA operators and other relevant stakeholders.

The position requires prior experience with scientific diving activities and in overseeing underwater field work, experience with experimental design, cand multivariate statistical analysis and familiarity with modeling approaches and spatial analysis. Prior familiarity with Madeira subtidal rocky reef communities and biodiversity and with the dive industry and tourist sector will be valued. The main goal will be to contribute to research and studies within the framework of CLIMAREST project, namely in restoration activities and their impact in rocky reef habitats, in assessing the public’s perception of their importance and evaluating economic value and impact of restoration efforts in SCUBA operators and other stakeholders with marine recreational activities for tourists and/or local population.

The successful candidate is expected to join MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre R&D Unit in Madeira (MARE-Madeira), Madeira, between March and April (2023). MARE-Madeira researchers conduct their work and projects at different facilities, providing multiple assets for marine related research, including mesocosms, laboratories and a broad range of field and laboratory equipment. MARE-Madeira currently has several ongoing projects focusing on a wide variety of research fields, such as coastal ecology, marine biological invasion processes, habitat-mapping, marine-litter, marine mammal ecology and conservation, fisheries, climate change and human related stressors and impacts on coastal ecosystems.

Admission Requirements

 The ideal candidate will have a valid PhD Degree (obtained within 36 months prior to the application deadline) in Marine Sciences, Environmental Sciences or other field of relevance to the CLIMAREST project and a Dive Leader SCUBA certification or higher (European Standard EN 14153-3 or equivalent). The candidates are expected to have previous experience, in (but not exclusively):

If the degree was awarded by a foreign higher education institution, that degree must comply with the provisions of Decreto-Lei no. 66/2018 of 16th August (approves the legal regime for the recognition of foreign higher academic degrees) and Portaria no. 33/2019 of 25th January, and all formalities established therein must be complied with up to the date of hire.

Workplan

The selected fellow will contribute to the planning and implement experimental trials and pilot restoration activities designed to increase macroalgae cover and/or diversity in rocky reef habitats in Madeira. The fellow will also manage and conduct activities designed to assess how the public and specific stakeholders value these habitats and biodiversity by leveraging digital tools (mobile apps, VR immersive experiences) and interview-based assessments. In addition, the fellow is expected to contribute and assist in underwater surveys, data management, manuscripts, reports and project management. Specifically, the fellows’ work plan will include (but not exclusively):

• Experimental trials with urchin removal/exclusion, artificial habitat structures, transplantation and/or seeding to enhance macroalgae abundance and/or diversity
• Monitor macroalgae fitness, cover and/or physiology and conduct Underwater visual census and surveys in target study area;
• Engage local dive operators and other stakeholders to participate in monitoring efforts using Dive Reporter app
• Assist in creating VR content for immersive experiences.
• Manage and conduct interview based survey for divers and non-divers and leveraging VR content.
• Assist in field activities and marine litter surveys within the framework of CLIMAREST;
• Assist in data management and processing;
• Contribute to manuscripts, project reporting and dissemination outputs and project participation in events;
• Assist in overall project management.

 
Scientific guidance and workplace

The work will be coordinated by Dr. João Canning-Clode and Dr. João Gama Monteiro at the Madeira Unit of MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE-Madeira), ARDITI, Madeira Island (Portugal).

Duration

• 12 months, possibly renewable until the duration of the project

Salary

• ARDITI Postdoctoral fellowship stipend (1 686,00 €) and regulations are determined by ARDITI

https://cloud.arditi.pt/index.php/s/wJGZEAJWaQx6wcx?path=%2FRegulamentos%2FBolsas

Evaluation criteria

The following evaluation criteria will be applied:

FS = QA + EP + IN

FS – Final Score

Sum of Qualifications, Experience and Interview scores (if applicable), to a maximum of 40 points

QA – Qualifications

• Maximum score of 10 points: PhD Degree in a field of relevance (e.g. Marine Sciences, Marine Biology and/or Marine Ecology).

EP – Experience

• Maximum Score of 20 points as follows:

IN – Interview

• Top three candidates may be invited for an interview (in person or remotely) if QA + EP scoring has a maximum difference of 2 points or lower. Maximum score of 10 points.

Selection panel

Dr. João Canning-Clode (MARE-Madeira, ARDITI)

Dr. João Gama Monteiro (MARE-Madeira, University of Madeira)

Dr. Manfred Kaufmann (University of Madeira)

Application contents

- Motivation Letter (emphasizing the candidate’s adequacy to each evaluation criteria)

- Curriculum Vitae

- PhD Degree certificate

- Dive Certifications

Announcement of the results

All candidates will be notified by email.

Application submission and deadline

Applications should be submitted in English by email to the following address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The specific reference to the call must be indicated in the email subject.

Deadline for application:

12/01/2023 (Lisbon/Madeira Island Time).

Notes:

The selection process will be based on the principle of non-discrimination in respect of gender, age, nationality, religion, racial group, or any other possible discriminatory issue. Selection will be made only based on merit and following the European Charter for Researchers, the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (Commission Recommendation, Brussels, 11.3.2005, 2005/251/EC) and the recommendations from the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

ARDITI is a recognized “refugee welcoming organization" by the European Commission, follows the European Charter for Researchers and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals.

Vacant posts: 1

Organization contact data:

ARDITI - Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação

Edif. Madeira Tecnopolo, Piso 2

Caminho da Penteada

9020-105 Funchal

Portugal

tel. +351 291 721 220

http://www.arditi.pt 

https://mare-madeira.pt

email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.