CREAF

CREAF is seeking for a postdoctoral researcher to work on forest resilience in a context of climate change.
The postdoctoral researcher will contribute to build an operational framework for forest resilience based on assessing different metrics and indicators informing on ecosystem services and forest value chains resilience. This research will be financed by a project under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, aiming to study how resilience of Europe’s forests and forest value chains can be improved in a context of climate change, with the goal of guiding decision-making. For this purpose, forest resilience and vulnerability will be assessed as a function of past and current site factors and management in different forest types and management systems across Europe.
A full-time contract is offered, with a planned incorporation in May-June 2021 with a duration of 24 month. The salary offered is 29.027,25 € gross per year.

TASKS
- Assess different procedures to quantify forest resilience considering both socio-economic and ecological perspectives; this will include evaluation of different metrics and development and assessment of indicators allowing quantification, comparison, modelling and projection of resilience for different forest system components.
- Assist in the implementation of the developed resilience metrics and indicators in different work packages of the project; this will involve (i) modelling tools to simulate disturbance, climate change and management actions and (ii) an operational framework integrating resilience trade-offs and synergies to support decision-making and management.
- Assist in project management tasks, including the coordination of CREAF’s team with other partners participating in the Project, to achieve the planned milestones and deliverables of the project.

REQUIREMENTS
- Degree in Forest Sciences, Biology, Environmental Sciences, or equivalent.
- A completed PhD on a topic related to the current project description.
- Research experience in forest ecosystems, particularly on their response to global change and/or the assessment of forest ecosystem services, as evidenced from prior scientific publications.
- Expertise in resilience theory, its quantification and evaluation.
- Expertise in managing and analyzing databases including data from the literature to conduct reviews, quantitative syntheses or meta-analyses.
- Advanced knowledge of English.

ASSESSABLE CONDITIONS
- Experience on forest value chains.
- Experience on forest modelling (e.g., forest dynamics models, spatial modelling tools).
- Experience on multicriteria analysis.
- Experience in working alongside and/participation in large international research groups, preferably in the context of EU projects.

SELECTION PROCES AND CRITERIA
1. Admission of candidates: applicants must submit a curriculum vitae, a cover letter (maximum 500 words) and the questionnaire attached to the offer (filled), by e-mail to laboral@creaf.uab.cat, until 30 April 2021, indicating the reference code of the offer. Applications referred to another portal, other than CREAF job openings section and the instructions included in this, will not be accepted.
2. Pre-selection: determination of compliance with the minimum requirements of the offer.
3. Selection: assessment of the preselected candidates by scoring based on objective criteria.
4. Final decision: in case of finding the suitable person, the election will be formally communicated to him/her, and the identification of the chosen person will be published on CREAF job opening section