The University of Eastern Finland is inviting applications for a Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) position in Chemical Ecology at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, on Kuopio campus. The position will be filled from 1 March 2025 (or starting date as agreed).
Please find more information below and submit your application no later than 6 February 2025.

OUR REQUIREMENTS AND EXPECTATIONS

Requirements

• Master’s degree in biology or agricultural sciences with major subject in entomology or equivalent.
• A person to be appointed as a Doctoral Researcher shall be qualified to pursue postgraduate studies, i.e., the Doctoral Researcher must be eligible to apply for and must have been granted the right to pursue postgraduate studies in the Faculty’s Doctoral Programme LUMETO (Web page).
• A good command of written and spoken English.

The following will be considered an advantage

• Prior experience with rearing of insects, sampling and sample preparation of insect pheromones, gas-chromatography and electroantennography experience in cell culture.

We are seeking a highly motivated Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) to work on the project “Insect-pheromones and climate change: Effects of ozone and warming on sexual communication and plant induced resistance”. The person to be appointed to this position will work at the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences in the Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology. The research will be conducted in the Environmental Ecology Research Group (EERG) (Web page, UEF Connect).
Pheromones play an important role in insect communication and the sexual isolation of species. Warming and air pollution, which are expected to continue increasing as a result of anthropogenic activity, may affect the production and release of pheromone. In addition, air pollutants such as ozone can degrade these volatile cues. The project will follow a multidisciplinary approach to determine the effects of warming and ozone on intraspecific interactions using Lepidoptera species as model insects.
As our new Doctoral Researcher (PhD student), you will be in charge of performing manipulative experiments that utilise a suite of complementary techniques including pheromone gland extraction, volatile collection and analysis by GC-MS, gas chromatography, electroantennography and olfactometry tests.
The main duty of Doctoral Researcher (PhD student) is to conduct research for their doctoral dissertation and to pursue postgraduate studies.
The position will be filled for a three-year fixed term from 1 March 2025 (or starting date as agreed). The position will be filled for a fixed term due to it pertaining to the Doctoral Researcher’s (PhD student’s) own doctoral dissertation work and studies. A probationary period is applied to all new members of the staff.
The salary of the position is determined in accordance with the salary system for Finnish universities. The salary comprises two components: a job-related salary element and a personal salary element. In this position, the job-related salary element is EUR 2,225.83 – 2,775.28 /month, based on levels 2–4 of the job requirement level chart for teaching and research staff. The personal salary element can be a minimum of 6% and a maximum of 50% of the above-mentioned sum. In the post of Doctoral Researcher (PhD student), the salary is determined based on the stage of doctoral research and doctoral studies, as well as on personal performance. Depending on the personal salary element, the salary at the beginning of the employment will be approximately EUR 2585–2720 /month.