Job: Investigador/a
Department: Sostenibilidad
Location: Amposta (Spain)
Contract: Temporary
Working day: Full time
Sector: Other
Vacancies: 1
Discipline: R&DEurecat is the main Research & Technology Organisation in Catalonia and the second largest private research organization in southern Europe. It brings together the experience of more than 700 professionals and provides services to more than 2,000 companies. Applied R&D, technological services, highly specialized training, technological consultancy or valorisation and exploitation of industrial property are some of the services that Eurecat offers for both large and small and medium-sized enterprises in all sectors. The technology centre participates in more than 200 large national and international consortium projects of high strategic R&I and has 181 patents and 10 spin-offs. The added value provided by Eurecat accelerates innovation, reduces spending on scientific and technological infrastructures, reduces risks and provides specialized knowledge tailored to each company.
The research to be carried out during the PhD thesis will be framed in the EU H2020 project REST-COAST, Large scale RESToration of COASTal ecosystems through rivers to sea connectivity (H2020-LC-GD-2020-3-101037097; https://rest-coast.eu) and will deal with a large-scale mesocosm experiment to evaluate the effects of climate change induced stressors (warming and sea level rise) on Mediterranean halophilous habitats with a high potential for the delivery of ecosystem services for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The aim is to contribute to predict the dynamics of these important Mediterranean ecosystems under climate change scenarios as well as to assist in the design of effective nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation, i.e., development of suitable management schemes and restoration actions to promote the delivery of ecosystem services for climate change adaptation and mitigation and biodiversity enhancement.
The PhD thesis will be developed under the supervision of researchers from three institutions: CRC/Eurecat, UPC-BarcelonaTech and RMIT University (Australia).
The department of climate change of Eurecat aims at promoting the production of relevant knowledge for the development of innovative and sustainable solutions to increase the resilience of socioecological systems to climate change and thus contribute to the achievement of the Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals and accelerate the ecological transition. To do so, the department of climate change promoted, together with the Catalan government and nine institutions (universities, R&D centers, NGOs, private foundations and municipalities), the Climate Resilience Center (CRC). The main goal of CRC is to become the leading R&D center in climate resilience (impact analysis, adaptation and mitigation) in Catalonia and the Mediterranean, achieving a strong international projection (https://centreenresilienciaclimatica.org).
The maritime engineering research group of UPC-BarcelonaTech coordinates the Marine Sciences doctoral school (https://doctorat.upc.edu/en/programmes/marine-sciences?set_language=en), the university program to which this PhD will be associated. This research group aims at investigating coastal ecogeomorphic processes and develops tools to help in decision-making and in the management of coastal resources. Moreover, it is a partner of the CRC and coordinates the REST-COAST project.
The RMIT research group involved in the PhD thesis have expertise in coastal ecosystems and biodiversity, with special emphasis on marine biodiversity in coastal wetlands, focusing on sedimentary invertebrates and microorganisms living in saltmarsh plant habitats, which are important habitats for blue carbon sequestration.
Functions and Responsibilities
The predoctoral researcher will be responsible for the execution of all the tasks related to the large-scale mesocosm experiment described above. Such tasks imply the overall experiment monitoring and management, field data and sample gathering, laboratory sample processing and data management and analysis.
He/she will also be responsible for co-authoring the scientific papers that will form part of the PhD dissertation.
The predoctoral researcher may also be asked to perform other REST-COAST tasks relevant for the mesocosm experiment
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