The Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in the Berlin Research Association, an institute of the Leibniz Association, aims to understand and, where possible, improve the adaptive capacity of wild animals to cope with global change. To this end, it investigates the diversity of lifestyles, mechanisms of evolutionary adaptation and limits of adaptation, including diseases, of wild animals in and out of human care and their interactions with humans and the environment in Germany, Europe and overseas. The Institute fulfils this mission through long-term, application-oriented, interdisciplinary basic research in evolutionary ecology, ecological dynamics, evolutionary genetics, wildlife diseases, reproductive biology and reproductive management.
For an interdisciplinary project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), on
“SmartPatrol: AI against poaching – dynamic real time optimization for efficient protected area patrols”
the Leibniz-IZW offers (earliest start date November 1st 2023, end October 31st, 2024) the following PostDoc position:
Quantitative Ecologists (full- / part time)
Project and responsibilities:
The position will be embedded in the Department of Ecological Dynamics (Team Biodiversity Dynamics) at the Leibniz-IZW. The team Biodiversity Dynamics studies the highly threatened mammal communities of Southeast Asia and their threats using a combination of state-of-the-art in-situ field research and advanced computational simulations and modelling.
This position will focus on the development and application of modern approaches to process and analyse wildlife survey data. One component of the work will be to analyse camera-trapping and SMART patrol data using a (community) occupancy framework. Further work includes the co-development of an R Shiny App to make the analytical approaches available to a broader scientific and conservation community, and the co-development of AI (convolutional neural network) approaches to locate and classify animals in camera-trap images. This project represents a pilot phase with good chances of receiving additional funding; the postdoc will be involved in developing a proposal for continuation of the project.
Requirements:
- PhD in ecological statistics, ecology or related fields with a strong analytical/quantitative/methodological focus
- Experience with statistical hierarchical modelling frameworks for wildlife survey data, ideally community occupancy modelling
- Excellent programming and scripting skills in R, BUGS/JAGS (and/or Python)
- Broad experiences working with wildlife community datasets
- Strong documented ability to publish in peer-reviewed journals
- Organisational skills, high motivation and capable to work both independently and as part of a team
- Proficiency in English (both spoken and written)
- Experience in the following areas will be an advantage
- Spatial data analysis (QGIS, R spatial “ecosystem”)
- Developing R Shiny apps
- R package development
- Working with convolutional neural networks for image classification and object detection (e.g. in Keras, TensorFlow)
The position will be housed at the Leibniz-IZW in Berlin. We offer a stimulating international research environment in an interdisciplinary, collaborative project employing state-of-the-art methodology.
The position can start as early as 1st November 2023, but a later start date is possible. The position is currently limited to to end 31st October 2024, but can be extended if additional funding is secured.
Working hours comprise between 35,1 (90 %) and 39 (100%) hours per week, depending on start date, with salary according to TVöD (Bund), E13.
As an institute of the Leibniz Association the IZW is an equal opportunity employer, determined to increase the proportion of women in successful scientific careers, and particularly encourages women to apply. Preference will be given to disabled applicants with the same qualifications. We welcome people of any gender, origin, sexual orientation and religion; there is equal opportunity. The Leibniz-IZW is "total-e-quality" certified, actively supports the compatibility of work and family and promotes equality.
Applications can be submitted until the position is filled. We expect to hold interviews between 4th and 10th October (presumably via zoom).
For enquiries, please contact Dr. Andreas Wilting, Tel.: +49 (0)30 5168 333, wilting@izw-berlin.de or Dr. Rahel Sollmann, +49 (0)30 5168 253, sollmann@izw-berlin.de.
Please apply via Button "Apply Online" and upload complete and informative application documents, i.e. letter of motivation, CV, copies of relevant degrees, list of publications and names and contact details of two referees, as soon as possible. With completely prepared documents, your online application will take 10-15 minutes.
We look forward to receiving your application!
