Research assistant in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Research assistant in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development

Are you interested in working with the interrelation between, naming and ordering nature (“bio- or ecolinguistics”) and the biodiversity crisis, with the support of competent and friendly colleagues in an international environment? Are you looking for an employer that invests in sustainable employeeship and offers safe, favourable working conditions? We welcome you to apply for a Research assistant position at Uppsala University.

The Department of Earth Sciences at Uppsala University is Sweden´s largest and most versatile department of its kind with approximately 280 employees. Our activities are interdisciplinary and combine natural science and technology with social science. We have research programs in air, water and landscape science; geophysics; natural resources and sustainable development; petrology, mineralogy and tectonics; paleobiology, and wind energy. By investigating the history of Earth, we understand how our planet has developed over time and how sustainable development benefits from this knowledge. For more information: The Department of Earth Sciences.

According to Linneaus there would be no knowledge without names (”Nomina si nescis, perit et cognitio rerum” from Philosophia botanica chapter VII, aforism 210). Is this true? Do the names that people give animals and plants tell us something about their knowledge of nature, and the kind of relationship they maintain with nature? These are the central questions of a new research project within the program Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. For more information about the program Natural Resources and Sustainable Development: NRHU, at the Department of Earth Sciences. 

The research project is named “The first thing Adam did: How do changes in naming and ordering nature reflect and affect biodiversity?” and it contributes to the area of strength “Evolution and Biodiversity in a Changing World” at the Science and Technology Faculty. The aim of the project is to test and scrutinize the assumption that bio- and eco-linguistics reflect people’s nature experiences and their awareness of their existential dependence on nature. It will do this through a literature study with the objective to gather, synthesise, and review evidence across scientific disciplines for the interrelation between, naming and ordering nature (“bio- or ecolinguistics”) and the biodiversity crisis.

In this position you will be closely working with Prof. Boonstra at NRHU and interacting with scholars from the Department of Organismal Biology, the Department of History of Ideas, and the Department of Evolutionary Biology, who are associated with this project.

Duties
Duties will include project administration, literature research, data collection and storage, preparation of texts and presentations.

Requirements
The applicant must have a master’s degree in environmental science. Good communication skills in Swedish and English, both spoken and written, are required. In the assessment of applicants, great importance will be attached to the experience of the candidate in relation to job duties, personal qualities such as your ability to work together and that you are flexible, independent and orderly. 

Additional qualifications
Experience of the focus area of the project, systematic literature research, administrative tasks related to research, is meritorious, as well as an educational background in both life and social sciences.

About the employment
The employment is a temporary position, 3 months. Scope of employment 100 %. Starting date 1 March 2025, or as agreed. Placement: Uppsala

For further information about the position, please contact: Wynand Boonstra, mobile: 0730597749; email: wijnand.boonstra@geo.uu.se.

Please submit your application by 10 February 2025, UFV-PA 2025/220.

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