[Aqualist] PhD in Palaeoecology at ANU

[Simon Haberle]

Dear all,

This is a call for Australian and New Zealand students interested in doing a PhD in palaeoecology at the Australian National University, Canberra.

You will be required to successfully apply for an Australian Postgraduate Award in the Department of Archaeology and Natural History at the Australian National University by Oct 31, 2014.

Applicants may wish to be involved in one of the following specific areas of research or you may wish to contact us and discuss your own research ideas:

TOPIC 1: Environmental Transformations linked to Early Human Occupation in Australia. The project will examine how interactions between climatic change, human activities and other influence (such as the decline of megafauna) over thousands of years shaped the landscapes we know today in Australia. This project is currently funded by an ARC Discovery Grant which will provide additional support for fieldwork, analysis and international conference attendance.

TOPIC 2: The Towuti Drilling Project:  Paleoenvironments, Biological Evolution, and Geomicrobiology of a Tropical Pacific Lake. This internationally significant project, partly funded by the International Continental Drilling Program, will generate knowledge of long-term changes in vegetation and rainfall for the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool. This data is fundamental in our attempts to understand the mechanisms that govern Indonesian rainfall, a critically important component of the global water cycle. Successful applicants will be part of large international team drawn from the US, Canada, Europe and Indonesia. An application for supplementary funding has been made to the ARC in the current round.

Applicants will be well resourced through internal university funding and through additional support from external funding sources. You will join a vibrant palaeoecological and archaeological group at ANU where you will have access to state-of-the-art laboratory facilities in the Department of Archaeology and Natural History at ANU. Researchers within the department have expertise in a range of palaeoecological and archaeobotanical techniques including the use of biotic (pollen, charcoal, diatoms,  phytoliths, dung fungi remains) and non-biotic (particle size, humification, geochemistry) palaeoecological proxies. In addition to this we have the most extensive biological reference collections available in the region (for example see apsa.anu.edu.au).

Background of candidates:
We are seeking highly motivated and enthusiastic students with a background in one or more of  geography, environmental science, geology, archaeology, biology, or similar.

For further information about this opportunity contact:
Prof Simon Haberle, Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University.
Email:simon.haberle at anu.edu.au, tel: +61 2 6125 3373

Or

Dr Janelle Stevenson, Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University.
Email:janelle.stevenson at anu.edu.au, tel: +61 2 6125 1513

Relevant web links:
Department of Archaeology and Natural History http://chl.anu.edu.au/departments/archaeology/
International Continental Scientific Drilling Program  http://www.icdp-online.org/projects/world/asia/lake-towuti/


Cheers,

Simon
_________________________________
Prof Simon Haberle
Head of Department
Dept of Archaeology and Natural History
School of Culture, History and Language
College of Asia and the Pacific
Building 9, Fellows Rd.,
The Australian National University
Acton, ACT 2601, Australia