A PhD Scholarship is now available in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand.\u00a0This scholarship will cover tuition fees and provide a stipend for 3 years from a University of Auckland\u2013Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) jointly funded project on \u2018Experimental establishment and eradication of plant pathogen and pest insect populations\u2019.<\/p>\n
The project aims to use experimental releases and eradications of biological control agents as proxy invasive species systems to identify key factors influencing the establishment, population dynamics and eradication of selected plant pathogen and insect species.<\/p>\n
The project is supervised by Drs Darren Ward (Landcare Research & Biological Sciences, University of Auckland) and Eckehard Brockerhoff (Scion (New Zealand Forest Research Institute) & B3).<\/p>\n
Value<\/strong>: $25,000 annual stipend plus tuition fees.<\/p>\n Tenure of award<\/strong>: Three years.\u00a0Closing dates for applications<\/strong>: Thursday\u00a024th\u00a0March 2016\u00a0(late applications may be considered)<\/p>\n Biological invasions can be considered as a sequence of processes or phases including (1) transport and arrival in a country, (2) establishment of an initial reproductive population, and (3) population growth and spread. The second phase of the invasion process is critical as this is where the establishment of a small founder population occurs, and because the success of eradication of invasive species is much higher while populations are small. However, there is limited information about \u2018actual\u2019 establishments as most invasion events are detected only years after the event and there is rarely any knowledge of the original arrival, the pathway that was involved, and how many individuals were introduced. Likewise, there is usually incomplete information about the timing of establishment or the exact size and distribution of populations that are targeted for eradication.<\/p>\n Master\u2019s degree in biology, ecology or a related area; How to apply<\/strong>:\u00a0Applications should be sent electronically (.doc, .pdf) to the \u2018Contact Person\u2019, see contact details below.<\/p>\n University transcript of previous grades The start date is flexible but ideally between May and July 2016. The PhD can either be based in Auckland and\/or Christchurch.<\/p>\n Contact Person<\/strong>.\u00a0Dr Darren Ward. Landcare Research, Private Bag 92170, Auckland, New Zealand Email:\u00a0wardda@landcareresearch.co.nz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A PhD Scholarship is now available in the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand.\u00a0This scholarship will cover … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[616,614,618,620],"class_list":["post-1813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-auckland","tag-invasion-biology","tag-new-zealand","tag-phd-scholarship-it","latest_post"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/auckland.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Webmaster","author_link":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/author\/adminspv\/"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgSRpQ-tf","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-29 15:28:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/auckland.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciproveg.com\/cs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Selection criteria<\/h2>\n
\nunderstanding of statistics for ecological research;
\nexperience with pathogen lab cultures and\/or rearing insects would be beneficial;
\npractical field experience would also be beneficial (as the project will involve field work and travel within New Zealand)<\/p>\nApplications need to supply the following documents<\/h2>\n
\nCurriculum vitae (max 2 pages), especially outlining previous research experience and any publications (including websites, blogs)
\nShort statement (<300 word) about your \u2018research interests & career goals\u2019
\nStatement from a referee outlining candidate\u2019s skill set previous research experience. Note: this statement must be sent directly from the referee to the \u2018Contact Person\u2019.
\nIn order to be accepted as the candidate, the student must pass the criteria for enrolment at the University of Auckland.
\nIt is hoped a decision about the successful candidate can be made by the\u00a07th\u00a0April 2016<\/p>\n