Doctoral in Swansea

Response diversity describes the variation in how individuals, species, or functional groups respond to environmental change and the concept is increasingly recognised as a key driver of ecosystem resilience. Understanding and promoting response diversity is therefore essential for conserving biodiversity and supporting resilient ecosystems in a changing world. The Department of Biosciences at Swansea University invites applications for a Doctoral Candidate position within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network ReDiLEEP. ReDiLEEP brings together leading universities, research institutes, and non-academic partners across Europe and beyond to advance response diversity research and translate new knowledge into ecosystem management, restoration, and biodiversity policy. The Doctoral Candidate will contribute to this effort by investigating response diversity in post-industrial landscapes in South Wales (UK), focusing on co-invasion of multiple non-native plant species across spatial scales, using a combination of experimental, observational and computational modelling techniques. Socio-ecological problems caused by invasive plants are estimated to cost many tens of billions euros (up to £14 billion in the UK alone) and are exacerbated by co-invasion of multiple non-native species in the same areas. The Doctoral Candidate will investigate response diversity across socio-ecological dimensions, in functionally distinct, co-invading non-native plant species found in degraded post-industrial landscapes across South Wales (UK). To achieve this Aim, the candidate will integrate greenhouse trials, field experiments, landscape surveys and simulation models to evaluate how interactions among multiple co-invaders, their environment and management history, shape invasion dynamics, informing sustainable restoration strategies that promote resilient ecosystems. A secondment to Advanced Invasives is planned, providing the opportunity to engage with an established company that provides practical, evidence-based, landscape-scale invasive species management and policy-facing work. The project will provide new insights into how Response Diversity shapes co-invasion dynamics under multiple stressors, including the roles of competition, facilitation, priority effects, propagule pressure, and soil legacies, how these processes affect management outcomes and can be incorporated into policy planning.

Your Responsibilities

• Conduct doctoral studies and independent research work leading to a PhD thesis within the maximum candidature period.
• Become familiar and stay up to date with the relevant literature on invasion biology, multiple stressors, response diversity and ecological community dynamics.
• Perform a comprehensive literature survey reviewing published responses of co-invading non-native plant species, to multiple, simultaneous stressors, across spatio-temporal scales.
• Design and carry out experiments, field/observational and modelling/simulation studies to determine how competition in single, two- and three-species combinations, and invasion order, influence responses to multiple environmental factors like temperature, drought, frost, historical disturbance and contamination gradients.
• Design and carry out experiments, observational and/or modelling/simulation studies investigating how Response Diversity of native plants used in restoration interacts with invasion legacies to prevent reinvasion and support stability.
• Contribute to scientific discussions within the research group.
• Participate actively in ReDiLEEP network training, secondments, dissemination, reporting, and cohort activities., Applicants must meet the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network eligibility requirements at the recruitment date
  Bachelor Degree or equivalent, A BSc Degree in the Biological, Environmental or Ecological Sciences or similar, with at least an Upper Second Class Honours (2:1) classification, or an equivalent overseas qualification, is required.
• English language skills appropriate for entry into a postgraduate research degree at Swansea University.
• A demonstrable ability to conduct research in line with the objectives of the project.
• Evidence of planning skills to contribute to the research project.
• Ability to perform field work outdoors in UK (South Wales) conditions.
• An interest in integrating ecological knowledge with statistical and mechanistic modelling is essential.
• A commitment to continuous professional development.

The following criteria are considered desirable, but are not essential:

• Experience of field or experimental work with (invasive) plant species.
• A Masters-level degree in Biological, Environmental/Ecological Sciences or equivalent.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills are beneficial, along with enthusiasm for fieldwork in diverse landscapes. Prior experience with data analysis and/or simulation modelling (e.g., R, Python or MatLab) would be advantageous but not essential, as comprehensive training will be provided., Mobility rule: applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity, such as work or studies, in Belgium for more than 12 months during the 36 months preceding the recruitment date.
• Applicants must not already hold a doctoral degree.
• Applicants must be doctoral candidates and be enrolled, or eligible to be enrolled, in a doctoral programme at Swansea University.
• Applicants must work full-time and exclusively for the ReDiLEEP project during the appointment, in accordance with the applicable MSCA rules.
• Exceptions to the mobility rule apply for compulsory national service, refugee status, and temporary protection.

Languages ENGLISH, As an inclusive and welcoming workplace, we value people for their skills regardless of their background. Applications are welcome in Welsh and will not be treated less favourably than those submitted in English. We welcome applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds.

What We Offer

• A 36-month, full-time doctoral position at Swansea University, in an international MSCA Doctoral Network.
• Gross salary: In accordance with the regulation of the Marie Curie Fellowship, starting from approx. £38,784 per annnum (with additional funding depending on the eligibility for mobility and family allowance, see General Recruitment Information of Doctoral Network ReDiLeep in accordance with the Marie Curie Fellowship regulations).
• Opportunity to develop your skills and conduct novel research on pressing questions in invasion biology, biodiversity and sustainability, as well as to contribute intellectually to the project's aims.
• Integration within the supportive Biodiversity and Ecosystems Research Theme at Swansea University.
• Skills and experience in experimental design, fieldwork, statistical analysis and ecological modelling using R.
• Opportunity to develop your skills and conduct novel research on pressing questions on biodiversity change, as well as to contribute intellectually to the project's aims.
• Relocation and integration support through the U.K. EURAXESS Centre, including guidance on visas, residence permits, social security, and daily-life integration.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants must not already hold a doctoral degree.
• Applicants must be doctoral candidates and be enrolled, or eligible to be enrolled, in a doctoral programme at Swansea University.
• Applicants must work full-time and exclusively for the ReDiLEEP project during the appointment, in accordance with the applicable MSCA rules.
• Mobility rule: applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity, such as work or studies, in the United Kingdom for more than 12 months during the 36 months immediately before the recruitment date.
• Exceptions to the mobility rule apply for compulsory national service, refugee status, and temporary protection.
• You must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom https://www.swansea.ac.uk/jobs-at-swansea/uk-visa-immigration/

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