Research Associate in Alpine Plant and Soil Ecology - 0254-25

Lancaster Environment Centre
Location:  Bailrigg, Lancaster, UK
Salary:   £32,546 to £37,174 (Full time, indefinite with end date)
Closing Date:   Wednesday 07 May 2025
Interview Date:   To be confirmed
Reference:  0254-25

We wish to appoint a highly motivated Research Associate to work on a NERC funded project which aims to experimentally test how the upward expansion of ericaceous shrubs modifies processes regulating soil carbon gain and loss, and hence soil carbon storage in alpine grassland. This full-time, 3-year position will work in collaboration with scientists at the Universities of Innsbruck, Bangor, and Stirling, and will involve a unique combination of experimental studies done at the landscape, field, and controlled environment scale, combined with the use of state of the art approaches to interrogate how the expansion of ericaceous shrubs modifies rhizosphere processes of carbon cycling in alpine grasslands, including the sequestration and stabilisation of carbon in soil. Field experiments will to be carried out on high altitude (> 2500m) alpine grasslands subject to ericaceous shrub encroachment in the Oetztal Alps, Austria, as used in our past NERC funded research. 

You will design and implement experimental studies and will be responsible for the dissemination and reporting of findings from these studies. He/she has a PhD in soil, plant, or ecosystem ecology, or related discipline, a thorough understanding of links between plant and soil microbial communities and nutrient and carbon cycling, and experience of, and a passion for, field-based research in challenging environments. The successful applicant will be part of the newly established Centre for Sustainable Soils at Lancaster University, which has newly refurbished laboratories with state-of-the-art facilities for soil microbial and biogeochemical analysis, including stable isotopes and molecular assessment of soils. You will work alongside a dedicated full-time technician, a PDRA with molecular expertise at Bangor, and project partners in Innsbruck and Stirling. You will also benefit from being part of Centre of Sustainable Soils, comprising numerous faculty post-doctoral researchers, and graduate students. 

This post is available from the 1st May 2015 and is available for three years, although extensions may be possible subject to funding. 

Informal inquiries are welcome and may be directed to Professor Richard Bardgett: r.d.bardgett1@lancaster.ac.uk  

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