[Aqualist] PhD scholarship, Denmark

[Tim Barrows]

 From Bert Roberts: <rgrob at uow.edu.au>)

Ph.D scholarship in geochronological studies on 
faunal evolution and hominin dispersal in South 
and Southeast Asia during the Late Quaternary

Applications are invited for the above Ph.D 
scholarship, which will be based at the 
Quaternary Dating Laboratory, Roskilde 
University, Denmark and affiliated to GESS (the 
Graduate Programme in Environmental Stress 
Studies). The scholarship is for a period of 3 
years and must be filled as soon as possible 
(applications required by 15 February 2008). 
Salary will be around 268,000 Danish kroner per 
year, before tax and deductions.

This project will contribute to understanding the 
timing and forcing mechanisms of the migration of 
modern humans (Homo sapiens) and earlier hominins 
from Africa across southern Asia and into 
Australasia. The Ph.D student will be part of an 
international team of geochronologists, 
archaeologists and palaeoecologists that is 
currently investigating key archaeological and 
palaeofaunal sites in continental southern Asia 
(India and peninsula Malaysia) and island 
Southeast Asia (the Philippines and Indonesia). 
The student will be primarily responsible for 
providing a robust chronological framework for 
the most critical archaeological and 
palaeontological sites, to enable the turning 
points in faunal evolution and hominin dispersal 
to be placed in their correct temporal sequence. 
The overall aim is to combine results from two 
complementary numerical-age dating methods 
(40Ar/39Ar and optically stimulated luminescence, 
OSL) with archaeological and faunal data to 
reconstruct the timing and routes of dispersal of 
hominins around the rim of the Indian Ocean, and 
to document the contemporaneous ecological 
changes in these regions and the nature of 
human–environment interactions. The temporal 
focus will be the Middle and Late Pleistocene 
stages (~800 to 10 ka ago), which are accessible to both Ar/Ar and OSL dating.

The Ar/Ar work will be carried out under the 
supervision of Dr Michael Storey in the 
Quaternary Dating Laboratory 
(<http://www.quadlab.dk/>www.QuadLab.dk) at 
Roskilde University (Denmark), which is equipped 
with a state-of-the-art multi-collector noble gas 
mass-spectrometer. OSL dating will be carried out 
in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences 
at the University of Wollongong (Australia), in 
collaboration with Prof. Richard ‘Bert’ Roberts. 
Full training will be given in field and geochronological methods.

The application should include a vision statement 
of 4–6 pages, a time plan, copies of educational 
certificates, and curriculum vitae. Letters of 
recommendation may also be submitted. Further 
information can be obtained by contacting Michael 
Storey by phone at +45 4674 2308 or by email at 
<mailto:storey at ruc.dk>storey at ruc.dk

Applications should be submitted as 5 printed 
copies (electronic copies are not acceptable) to:

Ph.D. Secretary, Hanna Pihl
GESS
Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change
Roskilde University
Universitetsvej 1, PO Box 260
DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

The deadline for receipt of applications is Friday 15 February, 12:00.
Material received after this time will not be taken into account.
Applications sent by e-mail will not be considered.