he position is connected to the Department of Natural Sciences, Tromsø University Museum, and the successful applicant will be enrolled in the PhD programme of the Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics at the University of Tromsø. The Department of Natural Sciences presently employs 25 staff members, including 10 permanent scientific positions and 5 PhD students. The department has large scientific collections, documenting more that 130 years of research in North Norway and other northern regions. The research at the department covers both taxonomy and ecology, and our molecular laboratory is used for studies in taxonomy, phylogeography, and conservation genetics of various organisms including fungi, plants and animals.

The PhD position is within the field of conservation genetics and taxonomy of vascular plant species. Potential research topics are taxonomy of poorly separated sister species or complicated species complexes, genetic and morphological distinctiveness of disjunct populations, conservation genetics of rare or disjunct species, and correlation between levels of genetic variation and viability of populations. The research group has long experience in taxonomy and ecology of vascular plant species growing in northern Norway and Svalbard, and thus the PhD study should focus on species occurring within these areas. Examples are the rare Stellaria hebecalyx and S. pojoenis, or the extremely disjunct Lysiella oligantha and Trisetum alpestre.

The successful applicant must document knowledge in botany at Master’s level. Furthermore, the successful applicant must fulfill the requirements for admission to the faculty’s PhD programme, cf. §6 of Regulations for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor (PhD) at The University of Tromsø, English translation and the faculty’s supplementary regulations.

Applicants must have a good command of English and preferable also Norwegian. Skills in Russian are of advantage as part of the field work may take place in Russia.

Application deadline is March 17, 2011

For further information, please click here

or contact

project leaders
Inger Greve Alsos,
e-mail: inger.g.alsos@uit.no

or
Torbjørn Alm,
e-mail: torbjorn.alm@uit.no

or head of Department of Natural Sciences:
Karl Frafjord,
e-mail: karl.frafjord@uit.no,
phone + 47 77 64 50 00.