[ES_JOBS_NET] Two PhD opportunities in Australia

[Martin De Kauwe]

Dear colleagues,

Apologies for cross-posting, please forward these two PhD opportunities to
potentially interested candidates...

*1. Unravelling the role of lags and legacies in explaining the response of
grasslands to elevated CO2*


   The rising concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere stimulates plant
   growth; however, in grassland ecosystems, the observed growth responses are
   highly variable and often depart markedly from our theoretical predictions.
   Our inability to explain the reasons for this variability prevents us from
   predicting changes in agricultural productivity and ultimately, the future
   grassland carbon sink. This project will apply a state of the art,
   hierarchical Bayesian modelling framework to determine how past climatic
   conditions influence current responses to high CO2 concentrations. The
   project will use data from a new, specially-designed experiment, as well as
   results from past Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE) and Open-top
   chamber (OTC) experiments, to close this knowledge gap. In particular, the
   student will aim to identify the mechanisms and timescales over which past
   water and nutrient availability affect photosynthesis and growth responses
   to CO2 in grasslands.

   The project is based at the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC)
   <http://www.ccrc.unsw.edu.au/> at the University of New South Wales
   (UNSW), Australia, under the supervision of Dr Martin De Kauwe
   <https://mdekauwe.github.io/>, Professor Kiona Ogle
   <http://www2.nau.edu/ogle-lab/> at Northern Arizona University
(NAU) and Associate
   Professor Mark Hovenden
   <http://www.utas.edu.au/profiles/staff/plant-science/Mark-Hovenden> at
   the University of Tasmania (UTAS).

   The successful candidate will become part of the Australian Research
   Council Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes
   <https://climateextremes.org.au/>, an international research consortium
   of five Australian universities (The University of New South Wales, Monash
   University, The University of Melbourne, The University of Tasmania and The
   Australian National University) and a suite of outstanding national and
   international Partner Organizations. The Centre provides excellent
   opportunities for travel and graduate student development. In particular,
   there are funds available to travel to Arizona and work closely with
   Professor Ogle during the PhD scholarship.

   We are looking for expressions of interest from outstanding graduates
   with a strong academic record including Honours Class I or equivalent.
   Graduates with a strong background in plant ecophysiology, mathematics,
   physics, atmospheric science, engineering or similar quantitative sciences
   are particularly encouraged to apply. Programming experience with R or
   Python is desirable but not essential.

   Questions should be directed to Martin De Kauwe (m.dekauwe at unsw.edu.au).
   Expressions of interest including a CV, full academic transcript, and the
   names of up to three academic referees should be sent to
   arccss.grad at unsw.edu.au by the 11th of September, 2019. Note: this is
   not an official application, if your expression of interest is accepted, we
   will guide you through the application process.


*2. Water, elevated CO2 and growth: plant ecophysiological responses in a
Free Air CO2Enrichment experiment*
This project presents a rare opportunity to work in one of the world’s few
Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments, a cutting-edge global change
manipulation experiment, located in southern Tasmania, Australia. The
rising concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere should stimulate plant growth
but often doesn’t and our inability to explain the reasons for this lack of
response prevents us from predicting global carbon balances and future
agricultural productivity. This project will involve measurements in a
cutting-edge global change field experiment to close this knowledge gap by
examining plant growth responses to elevated CO2 during repeated drought
cycles. In particular, the candidate will aim to identify the mechanisms
and timescales over which past water and nutrient availability affect
photosynthesis and growth responses to CO2 in grasslands, which is crucial
for improving models of future plant growth and land-atmosphere
interactions.

This project is fully funded by the Australian Research Council. The
successful candidate will be based in the School of Natural Sciences at the
University of Tasmania and jointly supervised by Associate Professor Mark
Hovenden at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Dr Martin De Kauwe at the
University of New South Wales (UNSW)

The following eligibility criteria apply to this scholarship:

The scholarship is open to Australian and New Zealand (domestic) candidates
and to International candidates. Research must be undertaken on a full-time
basis. Applicants must already have been awarded a first-class Honours
degree in plant science, ecology or agricultural science or hold equivalent
qualifications or relevant and substantial research experience in an
appropriate sector. Applicants must be able to demonstrate strong research
and analytical skills. Current vehicle drivers license. Candidates from the
following disciplinary backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Knowledge and
skills that will be ranked highly include:

Degree-level undergraduate education in biology, plant science,
agricultural science, ecology or a related subject. Experience with plant
physiological measurements such as gas exchange, water or nutrient
relations. Experience in making repetitive measurements in a field setting.

Please contact A/Prof Mark Hovenden (Mark.Hovenden at utas.edu.au)

Many thanks,

Martin
---
Dr Martin De Kauwe

ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes
Climate Change Research Centre
Room 462
UNSW Sydney
NSW 2052 Australia

t:   +61293858481
m: +61478096086
w:  http://mdekauwe.github.io
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.ucar.edu/pipermail/es_jobs_net/attachments/20190831/529972ed/attachment.html>