Researcher within forest ecophysiology and remote sensing

Norwegian University of Life Sciences

NMBU has a particular responsibility for research and education that secures the basis for the life of future generations. Sustainability is rooted in everything we do and we deliver knowledge for life. NMBU has 1,800 employees of which about 250 phd scholarships and 6,000 students. The university is divided into seven faculties and has campuses in Ås and Oslo. We will be co-located in Ås from 2021.

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We encourage qualified candidates to apply regardless of gender, functional ability, cultural background or whether you have been outside the labour market for a period. If necessary, workplace adaptations will be made for persons with disabilities.

More information about NMBU is available at www.nmbu.no.

About The Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management

The Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management (MINA) works with nature and the environment, sustainable use of natural resources, biological and geological processes.

MINA’s employees undertake teaching, research and dissemination within the fields of geology, hydrology and limnology, soil science, environmental chemistry, forestry, ecology, natural resource management, renewable energy, and nature-based tourism.

Our vision is to be a key actor in knowledge production and dissemination, and our goal is to deliver research of high, international quality, and varied and excellent teaching. The faculty’s employees are significant participants within their respective fields of expertise, both nationally and internationally. The faculty is dominated by a vital research culture and high levels of scientific production.

The faculty has about 200 employees, 90 PhD students and 650 students.

Read more about MINA here.

Are you interested in tree health and like handling large data sets?

About the position

Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has a vacant 2.5-year researcher–position related to forest ecophysiology and remote sensing.

During the last decades, drought in combination with bark beetle attacks have caused large-scale death of managed spruce forests in Central-Europe. Although drought stress is less common in the Nordic countries, widespread planting of spruce on sites naturally occupied by more drought-tolerant species cause concerns about future forest health.

The project Forests4Society, financed by the EEA Norway Grants, will evaluate the ability of managed forests to provide ecosystem functions under future climatic conditions and focuses on the effects of drought and heath waves occurrence in the Czech Republic and Norway. In the Norwegian part of the project we will study water balance and it’s effect on basic ecophysiological tree functions (NPP, evapotranspiration, foliage pigments etc) along humidity gradients in spruce forests by use of field monitoring and data obtained by remote sensing. The ultimate aim is to fit models for forecasting where spruce will thrive under future climatic conditions.

Main tasks

The researcher employed will

• Plan and perform field work
• Interpret and analyze remotely sensed data
• Collaborate with Norwegian and Czech project partners
• Analyze and disseminate project results

Competence

Required Academic qualifications

• Applicants must have a PhD degree or equivalent qualifications in ecophysiology/physiology of plants, plant ecology or forest sciences
• Strong background in data analyses using R or other statistical computing software
• Experience with and motivation for fieldwork

The following experiences and skills will be emphasized:

• Experience with remotely sensed data from airborne and spaceborne platforms (e.g. LiDAR or hyperspectral data)
• Experience from studies of tree water balance or other ecophysiological parameters
• Experience from boreal forest systems

You need to:

• Have a driver’s license
• Have a strong motivation for this project
• Be able to work both individually and in teams
• Be proficient in English, both orally and in writing

Remuneration and further information

The position is placed in government pay scale position code 1109 Researcher, wage framework 24 (salary grade 61-77) (NOK 542.400-741.300) on the Norwegian Government salary scale upon employment depending on qualifications. The position follows ordinary meriting regulations.

For further information, please contact:

• Professor Line Nybakken, E-mail: [email protected]; phone +47 67231787 or
• Professor Terje Gobakken, E-mail: terje.gobak[email protected]; phone +47 67231755

Information to applicants

Application

To apply online for this vacancy, please click on the 'Apply for this job' button above. This will route you to the University's Web Recruitment System, where you will need to register an account (if you have not already) and log in before completing the online application form.

Application deadline: 10.03.2021

Up to ten publications selected by the applicant as most relevant must be attached to the application.

If it is difficult to identify the contribution of the applicant in multiple-author publications, a short explanation about the applicant’s part of the work is suggested.

Printed material which cannot be sent electronically should be sent by surface mail to Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, P.O. Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, within 10.03.2021. Please quote reference number 21/01012.

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