Vacancy: Physical-chemical research technician with management skills (salary scale 10)
Institute for Biodiversity & Ecosystem Dynamics
University of Amsterdam
Closing date: 22 October 2017
This position will link strongly with the IBED Department of Ecosystem & Landscape Dynamics which aims to improve our understanding of the functioning and dynamics of abiotic and biotic components of (geo-)ecosystems across landscapes through time. To achieve this aim we make use of a wide range of state-of-the-art research facilities provided by IBED (for more information on facilities click here).
For full details of the vacancy and how to apply click here, or visit Academic Transfer.
If you have exciting new research on past ecological change please consider submitting it to Vegetation History & Archaeobotany.
Two articles recently published on-line in the journal Vegetation History & Archaebotany (of which I am an Associate Editor) recently caught my attention.These explore:
IBEDs Crystal McMichael hard at work sampling sediments in the Andes
Insights into recent field work in Ecuador by a team lead by Crystal McMichael can be found in a recent blog from our collaborators at the Instituto Geofisico, Escuela Politecnica Nacional, Quito (Ecuador).
The images taken by Adele Julier to help her with pollen identifications during her PhD at The Open University (UK) are now available to download. Please note these images are not of reference material but identifications, made by Adele and myself, of the pollen grains found within her pollen traps. The pollen traps were deployed within vegetation study plots in wet evergreen forest, semi-deciduous moist forest, and the forest-savanna transition zone in Ghana. Further publications on this work and a thesis coming soon…
Each project was set up to test a particular ecological or biogeographic hypothesis. Investigations included the exploration of the role of humans in modifying ecosystems in Amazon, the nature of the pre-farming landscape in the the Netherlands, and how to chemically identify fossil charcoal. In undertaking their projects individual students had the opportunity to variously develop skills in microscopy, spatial modelling, or analytical chemistry. The high quality of the data produced means that hopefully many of these data sets can be used in future scientific publications. Well done to all!
If you are interested in conducting a similar project (at any academic level) with us please do not hesitate to get in contact. For further details of ongoing research within the Department of Ecosystems & Landscape Dynamics visit our web pages by clicking here.
University of Amsterdam MSc Biological Sciences student Jippe Kreuning investigated the contents of cesspits in the Dutch city of Deventer for his research project. Jippe investigated fossil pollen, seeds and other biological remains to discover what people in the ancient city were eating. In doing so Jippe gained new insights into ancient trade routes.
To find out more about Jippe’s project watch his video courtesy of FOLIA YouTube channel (in Dutch)
Vacancy: Physical-chemical research technician with management skills (salary scale 10)
Ecology of the past 