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> 3 PhD Positions in University College Dublin
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> Three, 3-year PhD scholarships are available in University College Dublin on an EPA-funded, multidisciplinary project (ReConnect) to harness the existing knowledge base and develop a validated methodology for prioritizing selection of barriers on rivers for modification or removal to improve hydromorphology and connectivity in Irish freshwater systems.
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> All students will be involved in fieldwork mapping barriers on selected Irish rivers but each student will work on a different component of the project. All will benefit from interaction with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and with each other.
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> Start date: April 1st 2016 (or as soon after that as possible)
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> Scholarship: €22,550 in year 1 to €23,902 in year 3 (Note: annual registration fees are deducted from these figures)
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> PhD Position 1
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> Location: UCD School of Biology & Environmental Science; Supervisor: Dr Mary Kelly-Quinn
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> Research will focus on the effect of various types of barriers, singularly or in combination on aquatic ecology (fish, macrophytes and macroinvertebrates), and responses to their removal.
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> Applicants should have completed a good honours Bachelor or Masters degree in Environmental Science, Zoology or related discipline and have studied freshwater ecology. Experience in identification of freshwater biota and in multivariate analyses would be an advantage.
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> PhD Position 2
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> Location: UCD School of Geography and UCD School of Civil Engineering;
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> Joint Supervisors: Dr. Jonathan Turner and Prof. Michael Bruen
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> The research will (I) characterize the hydromorphological (flow, sediment dynamics etc.) impacts of various types of barriers and associated attributes of channel boundaries (bed and bank form and composition) including (ii) an evaluation of existing tools to predict effects and (iii) the development of a decision support methodology to prioritize barriers for removal.
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> Applicants should have completed a good honours Bachelor or Masters degree in either Geography, Science or Engineering. The preferred candidate will have some knowledge of either hydraulics, hydrology, or river morphology and will have good computational skills, including the ability to programme in a recognized high level computer language.
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> PhD Position 3
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> Location: UCD School of Biology & Environmental Science; Supervisor: Dr Jens Carlsson
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> The research will investigate the feasibility of using environmental €DNA (species specific qPCR and next generation sequencing based metabarcoding) to examine the catchment-wide impact of various types of barriers, singularly or in combination, on key fish and macroinvertebrate species.
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> Applicants should have a good honours Bachelor or Masters degree in Zoology, Genetics or related discipline. Experience in lab-based genetics is a requirement while familiarity with qPCR and/or eDNA would be an advantage.
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> A letter of application and CV should be forwarded by email to mary.kelly-quinn@ucd.ie (PhD Position 1), jonathan.turner@ucd.ie &michael.bruen@ucd.ie (PhD Position 2), or jens.carlsson@ucd.ie (PhD Position 3) by Friday February 5th, 2016.
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> Dr. Jonathan Turner
> Lecturer and Erasmus Coordinator
> School of Geography and UCD Earth Institute
> Newman Building
> University College Dublin
> Belfield
> Dublin 4
> Ireland
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> Tel. +353 (0)1 716 8175

jonathan.turner@ucd.ie