PHD Research Fellow - School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,942 to £40,322. With potential progression once in post to £42,792 a year

Grade 7

Full time

12 month FTC after which a go/no go decision will be taken on extension with another 24 months.

Please note, the post has a fixed starting date of 1st April 2020.

Closing Date: 11th December 2019

People are at the heart of what we are and do. We want to attract outstanding, inspirational, and talented people, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. Working at the University of Birmingham gives you access to the best financial and physical resources, a beautiful campus and an intellectually stimulating and diverse community. Our sector leading development programmes have made this a place where staff can thrive and recognition by Athena Swan, Stonewall, and Two Ticks demonstrates our commitment to supporting talented people from all backgrounds.

Do you have a genuine interest in landscape fires and resilience? Are you up for an interdisciplinary challenge, looking and learning beyond your own field and assumptions? With an international team that is inclusive, collaborative, creative and open minded? Then we are looking for you!

The 2018 wildfire season was a glimpse of what to expect in the future: deadly mega-fires in Mediterranean regions and high fire activity in temperate and boreal areas outside the typical Spring fire season. We cannot solve this challenge with the old mono-disciplinary approach of fire suppression: there is a critical need to change fire management from fire resistance to landscape resilience: Living with Fire. This requires a new type of diverse experts, who not only understand fire, but who are also able to communicate risks, deal with uncertainty, and link scientific disciplines as well as science and practice.

The new Innovative Training Network PyroLife will train the new generation of interdisciplinary experts in integrated fire management, acknowledging that 1) knowledge transfer from southern Europe (and worldwide) to temperate Europe can support the new generation of experts; and 2) fire risk planning, communication and management can learn from cross-risk lessons including temperate European expertise in water management. In doing so, this project combines how the North solves community problems with the fire knowledge of the European South.

We are hiring 15 PhD candidates across Southern and Northwest Europe and across a range of scientific disciplines, from social sciences and policy to environmental sciences and engineering. We are looking for a diverse group of creative and open minded Early Stage Researchers who are able to link innovative science to society, and communicate with media, stakeholders, and policy makers.

These 15 positions are open at 6 universities, 2 research institutes, a foundation and a company across Southern and Northwest Europe. For an overview of all positions, please visit https://pyrolife.lessonsonfire.eu/

This PhD project will help formulate an effective temperate European Fire Danger rating system that is urgently needed to support the management of increased wildfire occurrence expected under changing climatic conditions. The project will take a hydrological approach, predicting the moisture content of fuels (living and dead vegetation) at a range of spatial scales; from targeted high risk localised plots to temperate European regions. Fuel moisture predictions will be devised from the development of a low-cost wireless fuel moisture sensor network combined with remotely sensed water and vegetation data. Working with secondment partners, the impact of the refined temperate fuel moisture contents on fire behaviour and fire danger will be assessed at exemplar sites. The PhD project will be based at the University of Birmingham, UK, with secondments to both the University of Alberta, Canada, and to industry partners Tecnosylva, Spain.

Main duties

• Develop research objectives and proposals for own or joint research, with assistance of a mentor if required
• Contribute to writing bids for research funding
• Analyse and interpret data
• Apply knowledge in a way which develops new intellectual understanding
• Disseminate research findings for publication, research seminars etc
• Contribute to developing new models, techniques and methods
• Undertake management/administration arising from research
• Contribute to Departmental/School research-related activities and research-related administration
• Contribute to enterprise, business development and/or public engagement activities of manifest benefit to the College and the University, often under supervision of a project leader
• Collect research data; this may be through a variety of research methods, such as scientific experimentation, literature reviews, and research interviews
• Present research outputs, including drafting academic publications or parts thereof, for example at seminars and as posters
• Provide guidance, as required, to support staff and any students who may be assisting with the research
• Deal with problems that may affect the achievement of research objectives and deadlines

Person Specification

• Masters in relevant field of study
• The project can build on a diverse range of skills, with candidates likely having a background in environmental science, hydrology, wild fire science, remote sensing, ecology, or other relevant subjects.
• A genuine interest in landscape fire and resilience. Experience with (the management of) fire, forests, water, storms or other risks is appreciated;
• Ambition to obtain a PhD degree, and become a scientific expert able to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services, for social and economic benefit;
• Good communication skills and good proficiency in English (both oral and written);
• Willingness to (learn how to) communicate risk, make inter- and transdisciplinary linkages;
• Willingness to travel including moving to another country for the PhD project, completing two 4-month secondments in Europe or abroad, and travel to international training courses and any fieldwork;
• Ability to function as a team member, work independently and take responsibility for own research goals.
• Meet the mobility and early stage researcher requirements defined for the MSCA-ITN projects

What we can offer you

We provide

• A PhD position in the diverse PyroLife training network together with 14 other PhD candidates that study landscape fire using an integrated approach.
• A strong, engaging, collaborative and inclusive network of academics and practitioners
• The first doctoral training program on integrated fire management worldwide, with research, collaboration and training focused on understanding fire, risk communication, integration across disciplines, scales, sectors, and countries, and personal development
• Enrolment in a fully-funded PhD program
• Team up with other PhD students in the network that work in other risk communication topics.
• Research including an applied traineeship that will provide hands-on experience to work with communities located in areas with a high and/or new risk of wildfires.
• Become part of a dynamic team, that works with and for the fire community and society.

Working at the University of Birmingham brings many benefits, from generous holiday leave, to reward and recognition. The University offers a range of benefits to help you achieve a better balance between your family and work responsibilities. We provide discounts on childcare and have two day nurseries and a holiday club on or near campus. In addition, you can benefit from a number of retail offers and discounts and you will have the opportunity to join private medical and dental schemes such as the National Dental Plan. For more information about staff benefits, please visit: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/employeebenefits/index.aspx

Applicants should comply to the EU rules regarding ITN projects:

( https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/other/guides_for_applicants/h2020-guide-appl-msca-itn_en.pdf ). The most important rules are that you should not have a doctoral degree, have obtained your Master degree within the last four years (full-time equivalent research experience) and should not have spent more than 12 months of your time during the last 3 years in United Kingdom.

Applicants are invited to apply on-line via our e-recruitment system. This can be found at http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/jobs/index.aspx. Submit motivation letter and a CV. Use template for motivation letter at https://pyrolife.lessonsonfire.eu/ that outlines four topics we expect you to cover, and that also includes a form to show your eligibility for the program in terms of early stage researcher and mobility requirements.

For informal inquiries please contact Nicholas Kettridge, N.Kettridge@bham.ac.uk

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity at The University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community'