Postdoctoral Research Assistant: Remote Sensing Scientist/Computational and Spatial Ecology; Biology, 11a Mansfield Road, Oxford, OX1 3SZ, and, South Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3RB, and, Wytham Field Station, WythamA postdoctoral research assistant position is available for up to 3.5 years (2.5 years with a potential further year’s extension) working with Prof Ben Sheldon FRS on the application of deep learning in ecology.
The main roles of the post are to develop computational deep-learning methods to infer species identity and phenology at the level of individual trees from time series of drone images and to use these data to understand the spatial scaling of phenological variation. Depending on the background of the successful candidate, the post holder could also explore how this contributes to ecology and evolution of producer-consumer relationships.
The post is funded as part of a UKRI Frontiers grant running from 2022-2027. The overall project aims to understand the effect of the spatial scale of phenological matching on natural selection, local adaptation, community diversity and demography in primary and secondary consumers in a deciduous woodland ecosystem.
This study will also focus on interspecific diversity at each of these trophic levels and their effects across levels. The project involves large-scale deployment of drones to measure phenology of deciduous trees in multiple years, as well as observational and experimental methods to understand the mechanisms by which spatial variation in phenology influences behaviour, ecology, and evolutionary processes in consumers, and involves a team of ~10 researchers over five years from 2022-2027.
The successful applicant will have a track record in application of deep learning to image analysis, ideally in a remote-sensing context.The University of Oxford is committed to equality and valuing diversity. All applicants will be judged on merit, according to the selection criteria.
This post is full time and available immediately.Applicants should submit: (i) a letter of application, explaining in detail how they meet the selection criteria; (ii) a detailed CV; (iii) copies of their three most significant pieces of work (preprints are acceptable) & (iv) names and contact details of three referees, who will not be contacted until short-listing.
Applications must be submitted online via our e-recruitment system below by 9 August 2023; interviews will take place in early September 2023.The post will be physically based in the Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Informal inquiries can be directed to Prof Ben Sheldon (ben.sheldon@biology.ox.ac.uk)