Postdoc Position: Wildlife Ecology

1. Introduction

Biodiversity is declining worldwide and governmental bodies must meet their responsibility of conserving, improving and managing the livelihoods of individuals and species as well as ecosystem function. HABITRACK is a project that aims to provide crucial knowledge for supporting decision-making of the European Union, namely for the conservation of breeding, migration and wintering habitats for huntable birds with non-secure conservation status in Europe. 

2. Job description

Within the HABITRACK project, the Department of Ecology is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to support the analysis of waterfowl movement data to generate basic understanding and insight for conservation guidance. As a postdoctoral researcher you will contribute directly to improving habitat management and restoration recommendations for declining bird species in Europe.

Your research will focus on answering two main questions:
1.    Which habitats and niches do migratory waterfowl (Northern pintails, Eurasian wigeons, Garganeys, Taiga Bean geese) prefer for foraging and resting during the time of the year that they reside in the European Union?
2.    How does the spring migration stopover behaviour of the studied species relate to breeding success in the Arctic?

In order to answer these questions, you will clean and explore a multitude of collected GPS tracking data, link them to remotely sensed environmental data and statistically model relevant ecological processes. You will also be partly responsible for the management of the tracking data sets collected by the HABITRACK team.

You will publish your findings in international scientific journals and disseminate them to colleagues, policy-makers and other stakeholders. Furthermore, as the data is collected by different people and institutions, you will join regular project meetings and exchange knowledge and information with other postdoctoral researchers and PhD students working at the different partner institutions.

3. Profile

• You are enthusiastic about fundamental research as well as applied research.
• You hold a recent PhD degree in biology, ecology, environmental science, applied data science or another field related to the project topic and have a good track record of scientific publications.
• Preferably you have knowledge of bird ecology, movement ecology, the analysis of tracking data or spatial analysis.
• You have experience with ecological data collection, are familiar with data analysis and statistics, and enjoy programming in R or Python.
• You have a good command of spoken and written English at C1 level.
• You like collaborating with other people in a cross-disciplinary and international setting.

4. We are

The Department of Ecology is a dynamic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary team. We are a young and ambitious group of ecologists committed to preserving and promoting biodiversity and ecosystem health. Our department brings together aquatic and terrestrial ecologists who focus on plants, animals and microorganisms, and their interactions in a changing world. We are dedicated to conducting timely and innovative research that addresses both scientific and societal challenges. Your research will be integrated into ongoing studies of terrestrial ecology and animal movement, with opportunities for collaborating with colleagues across departments and with national and international partners. Particularly the collaboration with the HABITRACK project partners will be highly relevant. Dr Andrea Kölzsch will be the main supervisor for the project.

5. We offer

• We will give you a temporary employment contract of 22 months. 
• Your salary within salary scale 10 depends on your previous education and number of years of (relevant) work experience. The amounts in the scale are based on a 38-hour working week.
• You will receive an 8% holiday allowance and an 8,3% end-of-year bonus. 
• We offer Dual Career Coaching. The Dual Career Coaching assists your partner via support, tools, and resources to improve their chances of independently finding employment in the Netherlands. 
• You will receive extra days off. With full-time employment, you can choose between 30 or 41 days of annual leave instead of the statutory 20. 

6. Practical information and applying

You can apply only via the button below. Address your letter of application to Andrea Kölzsch. In the application form, you will find which documents you need to include with your application.

The first interviews will take place on Friday 9 May. You will preferably start your employment on 1 September 2025.

We can imagine you're curious about our application procedure. It describes what you can expect during the application procedure and how we handle your personal data and internal and external candidates. If you wish to apply for a non-scientific position with a non-EU nationality, please take notice of the following information.