PhD research fellowship in Holocene Arctic landscape evolution, sea level, and lacustrine records
Deadline: 20.10.2020
UNIS
UNIS is the world's northernmost educational institution, located in Longyearbyen. UNIS has technical and scientific equipment, laboratories and infrastructure for teaching and research in Arctic natural science and technology for sea, land and atmosphere. The disciplines include Arctic Biology, - Geophysics, - Geology and - Technology. All teaching is in English, and about half of the staff and students is from abroad. UNIS is a state-owned corporation.
Longyearbyen is located in Svalbard, in the midst of a varied and beautiful Arctic nature with good opportunities for outdoor activities. Longyearbyen is a modern town with approx. 2200 inhabitants and has a good service offering including kindergartens, swimming / sports hall and a varied association, sports and cultural life.
Department of Arctic Geology
The Department of Arctic Geology at UNIS is seeking applicants for a a full-time, 4 year position as a PhD fellow in Quaternary Geology. Currently the department constitutes 4 professors, 4 associate professors, 5 PhD students, 4 Postdoctoral fellows, 8 Adjunct positions and 1 technical/administrative staff.
The department conducts research and education in Arctic marine and terrestrial geology, and currently provides 24 courses at bachelor, master and PhD levels. The department focuses on three main geoscientific areas all with an emphasis on High Arctic systems: Quaternary geology, Arctic basins and cryosphere. Additional information about the department can be found at www.unis.no.
Description of the vacant position
Svalbard is an Arctic archipelago marked by pronounced modern east-west gradients in temperature and precipitation that directly control glacial distribution and behaviour as well as influencing the broader terrestrial environment and ecosystems. How these gradients have changed and evolved during the Holocene is essential to understanding modern and future environmental dynamics under warming climate scenarios, however this remains poorly resolved across Svalbard. This PhD project seeks to address this through a broad and integrated investigation of a series of isolation basin lakes and their wider environments, that form a transect across the Svalbard archipelago. The aim is to reconstruct Holocene histories of ice cap variability, climate, and sea-level, coupled with understanding the pattern of deglaciation during and following the Last Glacial Termination.
Primary project goals are to:
reconstruct Holocene environmental histories of climate and ice sheet behaviour along a transect of lake cores from central western to northern Svalbard using a range of lacustrine proxies and stratigraphic approaches, as well as the analysis of organic debris emerging from beneath retreating modern ice caps.
identify and characterize the timing and style of early Holocene ice retreat in the larger landscape around these isolation basins using in-field and remote geomorphic mapping approaches to elucidate ice sheet responses to external climate and internal dynamic forcing.
constrain the hitherto poorly described deglacial and postglacial sea-level record of isostatically-driven emergence and potential Holocene transgression in the region based on the analysis of isolation basin records, geomorphic mapping, sedimentological techniques coupled with detailed geochronology.
In collaboration with researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) and the Earth Surface Sediment Laboratory (EARTHLAB) National Research Infrastructure, the project will be centred on the stratigraphic and environmental proxy analysis of sediment cores from several lake basins from central Spitsbergen to Nordaustlandet to determine the sedimentological signature of Holocene ice cap variability and environmental history. Existing core materials will be made available to the successful candidate to permit the immediate commencement of this work. Further lake basins will be identified and sampled by the candidate along this transect based on catchment characteristics and accessibility. This core work will be augmented by the collection and dating of preserved organic materials (primarily bryophytes) emerging from beneath the retreating margins of cold-based ice caps to further constrain the extent of ice during the mid-Holocene glacial minimum and the onset of Neoglacial ice expansion. To further elucidate deglacial–Holocene environmental histories both on-ground and remote mapping and dating of glacial landforms and sediments in the lacustrine catchments will be conducted. This will be supplemented by the determination of Holocene sea-level curves based on the mapping of raised shoreline landforms and sedimentology, and the dating of included organic materials. The possibility exists to extend these mapping efforts into the marine environment of the inner fjords depending on the applicability of the sites chosen and the candidate’s interests.
There is also the opportunity to link the PhD to the iEarth Centre for Integrated Earth Science Education by including the development of field teaching methodologies and resources as part of the project should the candidate wish to.
The PhD will be based at the Department of Arctic Geology, UNIS, Svalbard, with the candidate expected to be resident in Longyearbyen for the project. The candidate will be expected to apply for additional funding to support fieldwork logistics, as well as spending several months at the Earth Surface Sediment Laboratory (EARTHLAB) at the University of Bergen to analyse sediment core material. The candidate will be admitted to the PhD program at the University of Bergen (UiB) following successful application to UNIS. Associate Professor Mark Furze (UNIS) will be the main supervisor with associate professor Henriette Linge and professor Jostein Bakke, both UiB, as co-supervisors.
Qualifications and personal qualities
Applicants must hold a Master's degree or the equivalent in a relevant field, such as Quaternary geology, physical geography, or similar, and must have submitted his/her Master's thesis for assessment prior to the application deadline. It is a condition of employment that the master's degree has been awarded.
The ideal candidate will have experience in lacustrine sediment core acquisition and sedimentology/stratigraphy.
Practical knowledge in geomatics, geographical information systems (GIS), and remotely sensed data analysis is required.
Experience in a range of lacustrine palaeoenvironmental proxies and Quaternary geochronological techniques is also preferable, as is experience in Quaternary field mapping and the geomorphology of glaciated landscapes and raised shorelines.
Previous experience of fieldwork planning and execution in remote arctic or alpine environments is highly desirable.
Authorship or co-authorship of scientific publications is an advantage.
Applicants must be able to work independently in a structured manner and demonstrate good collaborative skills.
Applicants must be proficient in both written and oral English.
The PhD involves remote terrestrial field work on Svalbard in both summer and winter, which can be physically and psychologically highly demanding. A suitable level of fitness and resilience is expected.
Motivation and personal suitability will be emphasized. To allow assessment of this, a statement of personal and scientific interest in taking a PhD degree within the announced topic must be included in the application.
Employment conditions
The total duration of the PhD position is 4 years, of which 25% comprises teaching duties. The employment potentially includes some supervision duties of Master and/or Bachelor students.
All salaries are set in accordance with the Norwegian government's University salary scale. PhD fellow research fellows start at a gross salary of NOK 479 200 annually. As a Svalbard resident an annual allowance of NOK 34 560 (Svalbardtillegg) will be added to the salary. A Social Security contribution of 2 per cent, to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund, will be deducted from the salary. Income tax on Svalbard is 8%, plus 8,2% toward National Insurance coverage. UNIS offers a membership in the Norwegian Public Pension Fund.
Application/research training
About the research training
The candidate must satisfy the enrolment requirements for the doctoral degree programme at a Norwegian university. A final plan for the implementation of the research training must be approved by the faculty of the Norwegian university within three months after starting in the position.
Selection and appointment
A committee appointed by the Managing director of UNIS will evaluate the qualifications of the applicants, and invite the highest ranked person(s) for an interview. The appointment will be made by the Director of UNIS based on the recommendation from the committee.
Head of Department of Arctic Geology, Prof. Hanne Hvidtfeldt Christiansen, email: hanne.christiansen@unis.no
The application, submitted electronically in www.jobbnorge.no, must include:
Letter of motivation
CV (including a complete overview of education, professional training and professional work)
Name and contact information for two or more referees
Transcripts and diplomas showing completion of the bachelor's and master's degrees, or official confirmation that the master's thesis has been submitted
Relevant certificates/references
A list of any works of a scientific nature (publication list)
Any peer review publications in your name
The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded in Jobbnorge.
You can request to have your application kept from public access cf. the open files act § 25. The request must be explained. UNIS will determine if the application will be kept from public access or not, based on the explanation and the regulations from the open files act. If the application will not be accepted, the candidate will be contacted.
