Vacancy:
PhD Studentship funded by Microsoft
We are pleased to announce a 3 year studentship funded by Microsoft Research in
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Complex Ecological Communities
Ecological research focuses on minimising loss in biodiversity by seeking
understanding of ecosystem processes and the mechanisms that sustain
biodiversity. This project will investigate different ecological theories
and their predictions about multi-species spatial patterns of competing species.
The chosen student will develop stochastic, agent-based models to generate
multi-species spatial patterns under contrasting assumptions of ecological
theories of biodiversity. Statistical measures from spatial point process
theory will be used to characterise the main features of multispecies
spatial patterns derived both from models and from spatial patterns of
extraordinarily detailed tropical rain forests data sets.
The applicant should have a strong computational background, particularly a
familiarity with a compiled language like C, C++, or Fortran. Some
familiarity with a statistical programming language like R or Matlab would
also be beneficial. Prior experience with biology or ecology is not
required, but the applicant should have a keen interest in learning about
these areas.
Primarily supervision will be by Dr. Janine Illian and based the Centre for
Ecological and Environmental Modelling (CREEM) in St Andrews. The student
will be co-supervised by Prof. Richard Law at the Biology Department,
University of York, Dr. David Burslem, School of Biological Sciences,
University of Aberdeen, and should therefore be prepared to occasionally
travel to Aberdeen or York for meetings.
The studentship is funded by Microsoft Research. In addition, the student
will receive a laptop with a selection of software applications. Start date
is by negotiation, but the application deadline 31st December 2008.
An opportunity exists of an internship in one of the Microsoft Research
laboratories working on a project alongside and as part of a team of
Microsoft researchers. Students will be paid during their internship on top
of their scholarship bursary.
Contacts:
For further information, please contact Dr Janine Illian:
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To apply to St Andrews as a postgraduate student, please see our website:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/admissions/pg/Applicationprocess/Howtoapply/
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