Fwd: Pollution-related PhD position in Turku University

[Michal Vinkler]

Great PhD opportunity in a well established team in Finland!

doc. RNDr. Michal Vinkler, PhD
______________________________________________________
Laboratory for Evolutionary and Ecological Immunology
Animal Evolutionary Biology Unit
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science
Charles University
Vinicna 7, CZ 128 44 Praha 2
Czech Republic, EU
e-mail: michal....@natur.cuni.cz
tel: +420221951845
http://web.natur.cuni.cz/zoology/eei/

-------- Přeposlaná zpráva --------

Předmět:	Pollution-related PhD position in Turku University
Datum:	Fri, 27 Oct 2023 09:00:19 +0000
Od:	Tapio Eeva <te...@utu.fi>
Komu:	Caroline Isaksson (Caroline...@biol.lu.se) <Caroline...@biol.lu.se>, Eens Marcel (marce...@uantwerpen.be) <marce...@uantwerpen.be>, veerle....@ntnu.no <veerle....@ntnu.no>, Pablo Sánchez Virosta <pabl...@um.es>, Åsa Berglund <asa.be...@umu.se>, sylvie....@iphc.cnrs.fr <sylvie....@iphc.cnrs.fr>, michal....@natur.cuni.cz <michal....@natur.cuni.cz>, rute....@ua.pt <rute....@ua.pt>, c...@ecos.au.dk <c...@ecos.au.dk>

Dear colleagues,

 

Turku University announces 25 funded 4yr COFUND doctoral training positions for years 2024-2028. I have there one pollution-related topic: Pollution-related food chain changes and their consequences to passerine birds. I hope to get some good applications from motivated applicants and I would be grateful if you could advertise this opportunity (… to spend a period of life in a polluted environment 🤔) to any potentially good candidates.

 

More detailed information is given in the MSCA Horizon 2022 UTU-GreDiT web pages: https://sites.utu.fi/utugredit/

 

All the best,

 

Tapio Eeva

Department of Biology

FI-20014 University of Turku

Finland

 

We are looking for a highly motivated PhD student enthusiastic with environmental ecology and pollution-related environmental problems. Earlier experience with bird-related studies and field work is considered an advantage. Our main study sites are located in the surroundings of a point-source of heavy metal emissions, a copper-nickel smelter in Harjavalta, SW Finland. Breeding populations of insectivorous birds have been studied in this metal polluted area >30 years and we have ample background data and a long time-series available for the new project. The project will be implemented in close cooperation with the main local air pollution source, Boliden Harjavalta company. The thesis will consist of three main studies for which we suggest preliminary topics, but which can be modified as needed. First of them is a literature-based review on bird nutrition-related studies around point-sources of metal pollution, sorting out the current state of knowledge on which kind of growth-related effects, including physiological biomarkers, are common around such emission sources. The second study aims to document the actual dietary changes in a polluted area. This includes working with existing time-series on invertebrate abundance but also collecting new samples and data in the field, e.g. using DNA metabarcoding for identifying pollution-related differences in birds’ food composition. Nutrient contents (lipid, protein and carbohydrate levels) of the main insect prey items will be measured. Such information will be combined with nestling growth and other fitness parameters. The third part of the thesis will explore experimentally the factors affecting the nutritive quality of insects in the polluted environment. For this, some of the birds’ prey items will be exposed to environmentally relevant mixtures of heavy metals to find out possible metal-related changes in insect physiology and nutritive content. Because of field-work periods, driving license is an absolute necessity. This ambitious PhD position offers opportunities for improving skills e.g. in implementing practical environmental field work, laboratory analyses, project management in cooperation with industrial enterprises, data analyses and academic writing. After training, the PhD will be capable of working in the private sector, public sector or academia. Training will take place in 2024-2028 within University of Turku ESR doctoral program Solutions for Green and Digital Transition (UTU-GreDiT), which is a unique European Union COFUND doctoral program that provides an inter-disciplinary, inter-sectoral and international training ecosystem an Early Stage Researcher focusing on Green and Digital Transition in order to strengthen transformative change. More detailed information is given in the MSCA Horizon 2022 UTU-GreDiT web pages: https://sites.utu.fi/utugredit/