This is a fixed term appointment as a Research Associate for 3 years. This is a full time post (37 hours) and is a Band 6. The salary for this post is £28,200.

ALTER-Net partner, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) are seeking an enthusiastic and innovative ecological modeller to work in an active research team across CEH developing ecological models for important pathogens threatening humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. The post-holder will develop ecological models and risk frameworks, using innovative modelling approaches, incorporating large-scale ecological and environmental datasets, and considering impacts of environmental change. The post will be an Ecological Modeller based at CEH Wallingford, working within the Disease Ecology Group in the Natural Hazards Section. The post will link disease-related work on pathogens across CEH branches to deliver outputs to the Natural Hazards and Ecological Resilience CEH Science Areas and broad National Initiatives such as the Natural Hazards Partnership.

The post-holder will participate initially in a large collaborative project called PHYTOTHREATS that aims to understand the risk posed to UK forest ecosystems by the arrival and spread of Phytophthora plant pathogens in global trade networks ( http://www.forestry.gov.uk/fr/phytothreats). This project is part of the Living With Environmental Change (LWEC) Partnership Tree Health and Plant Biosecurity Initiative (http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/filter/tree-health-and-plant-biosecurity-phase3/). The post-holder will be responsible for mapping and analysing the known global distributions of Phytophthora plant pathogens to understand how spread and impacts are modulated by environmental factors and species traits and to rank risks to UK forest ecosystems. This project represents an exciting opportunity to deliver ecological models that have high impact on the way plant pathogen risks are ranked and managed as well as contributing to invasion biology.

For full details, see the CEH website.