The Department of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Jyväskylä is seeking to recruit one Doctoral Researcher in Disease Ecology starting 4 January 2027, or as agreed, but no later than 1 March 2027, for a fixed term of 42 months. The fixed-term position is for completing doctoral studies.

full lin: https://ats.talentadore.com/apply/doctoral-researcher-in-disease-ecology/ZvnLrx

The position is funded by the Research Council of Finland through Yingying Wang’s Academy Research Fellowship project, Zoonotic disease risk under anthropogenic pressure: linking landscape change with human–animal and vector interfaces.

Research and duties

This project takes a One Health approach to investigating how urbanisation and forest management shape wildlife–pathogen–human interactions and zoonotic disease risk across Finland’s urban, rural and forest environments.

The doctoral researcher’s work will focus on quantitative analysis, integrating large, heterogeneous datasets. These include long-term wildlife monitoring and small-mammal trapping records, camera-trap observations, pathogen-screening results, land-use and climate information. Potential research directions include: Assessing wildlife community and pathogen responses to urbanisation and forest management; Identifying host–pathogen associations relevant to zoonotic transmission; Integrating ecological, environmental data to model potential human exposure to zoonotic pathogens.

Key approaches include reproducible data processing and statistical analysis in R, spatial and spatiotemporal modelling, and ecological community analysis. Depending on the dissertation topic, the research may also include mathematical or mechanistic modelling of disease transmission and human exposure. The dissertation topic and methods will be agreed with the supervisors based on the candidate’s interests and expertise. Duties include preparing scientific publications and completing a doctoral dissertation and required doctoral studies.

The duties, qualification requirements and language skills requirements are stipulated by the University of Jyväskylä Regulations and language skills guidelines (Doctoral Students). A six-month trial period will apply.

The doctoral researcher will be supervised by Yingying Wang and Eva Kallio.

Who should apply

We are looking for a motivated candidate with:

• A suitable master’s degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, quantitative ecology or a related discipline with demonstrated experience using R for data processing, statistical analysis and visualisation.
• A sound understanding of statistical modelling and an interest in integrating complex ecological and environmental datasets.
• A strong interest in disease ecology, wildlife–pathogen interactions, environmental change and One Health.
• Good written and spoken English.
• The ability to work independently and collaboratively in an international research environment.

Experience in spatial or spatiotemporal analysis and GIS, hierarchical or mixed-effects models, ecological community modelling, integration of large datasets, or mathematical or mechanistic infectious disease modelling is an advantage. Expertise in all these approaches is not expected.

The master’s degree must be completed before employment begins. The selected candidate must hold, or apply for, doctoral study rights at the University of Jyväskylä through the Faculty of Mathematics and Science’s separate admission procedure.