[Aqualist] PhD in Quaternary paleoecology, Victoria University of Wellington

[Andrew Rees]

Victoria University of Wellington leads New Zealand in world class
scientific research, and the academic staff and postgraduate students
comprising the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences (SGEES)
are ranked first in geosciences of all universities in the country. SGEES’
success is anchored in a passion for planet Earth, the planet’s changing
nature, and the processes that constantly reshape Earth through time. It is
within this exciting multidisciplinary framework that we invite
applications for a PhD studentship in Quaternary paleoecology.

The successful candidate will join a highly motivated, international team
of scientists with specialties ranging from classic techniques, like
tephrochronology and palynology, to cutting edge methodologies, like δ13C
lipid biomarker analysis. We will investigate a key field area of the
Southern Hemisphere – the Auckland maars – using multi-proxy evidence. By
interrogating laminated lake sediments, which span the Last Glacial
Interval (LGI; the last 117,000 years), we will inform on South Pacific
climate preceding the Last Glacial Maximum, during Marine Isotope Stages 3
to 5; abrupt climate events throughout the LGI; and the role of the
southern westerlies in triggering and propagating climate change.

Within this multi-proxy framework, the successful candidate will develop
climate reconstructions from pollen and chironomid records from two or more
Auckland maar cores that span the LGI. They will have some experience in
identifying chironomids and/or pollen, in generating stratigraphic records,
and communicating those results via (inter)national conferences and
peer-reviewed publications.

Applicants should hold a Masters in a relevant discipline such as Biology,
Environmental Science, Physical Geography, or Geology; have a strong
background in Quaternary sciences and/or limnology; and possess advanced
skills in numerical techniques and analysing large data-sets.

The application *closing date is the 31st of January, 2015*. Full
Scholarship funding is available for three years, starting from March 2015
or as soon as possible thereafter.

Please send your application to Prof. Rewi Newnham, School of Geography,
Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box
600, Wellington, New Zealand, by mail or *preferably* as a single PDF by
email toRewi.Newnham at vuw.ac.nz. Include a letter outlining your suitability
for the post, a detailed CV, contact details of two referees, and a list of
publications and successful funding applications.

Please pass on to any contacts who might be interested.

Thanks,

Andrew Rees