In support of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Science Plan on Genomic Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change, the Landscape Ecology Research Group (LERG) of the Science and Technology Division at Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is seeking a postdoctoral research scientist with expertise in wildlife conservation genomics, landscape genomics, and population genomics. This position is in support of ECCC’s science plan on Genomic Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change – a multi-departmental coordinated genomics approach that aims to advance Canada’s ability to understand, prepare for, and respond to climate-driven risks and build a resilient environment.
The unprecedented changes in the type and frequency of demands and threats require Government policies to keep pace with scientific advances and use multidisciplinary
approaches in collaboration with universities, provincial, territorial and indigenous governments
to solve complex problems. This is also an opportunity to leverage the work done under past
Genome Research and Development Initiatives for the development of genomics-based
monitoring tools and protocols, bioinformatics platforms and infrastructure.
This position focuses on evaluating the impact of climate change on caribou occupying diverse
forest and tundra ecosystems across Canada. The vulnerability of the species to changing
environmental conditions will be assessed using an interdisciplinary approach, combining
genomic, ecological, demographic, health and environmental parameters. This research builds
on an existing national-scale dataset generated under the Ecogenomics research program led
by Dr. Micheline Manseau (ECCC) and Dr. Paul Wilson (Trent University). Additional contributing
organizations to this project include Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Food and
Inspection Agency, Health Canada, provincial and territorial governments, Indigenous
organizations and the private sector.
Successful candidates will be term Federal Government employees, hired as a Scientific
Researchers (SE-RES) with associated benefits. The salary will be determined by the
qualifications of the candidate and will range between $55,870 and $64,690. The duration of
employment will be approximately 2 years. The position will be based at the National Wildlife
Research Centre located on Carleton University campus in the nation’s capital city of Ottawa.
Remote offsite work will also be considered.
If interested, please contact Dr. Micheline Manseau at micheline.manseau@ec.gc.ca for more
information.
Application Procedure: Please apply as soon as possible though the Government of Canada’s
Postdoctoral Research Program process or directly through Dr. Micheline Manseau
https://nrcan-rncan.hiringplatform.ca/6355-postdoctoral-research-program-prp/20673-
application-form/en
ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS
Official Language Requirement:
● English or Bilingual
Education:
● Graduation within the last three years* with an acceptable doctoral degree from a
recognized post-secondary institution in a field of ecology, conservation biology or with
a specialization related to the duties of the position
● *Special consideration may be given to applicants who were unable to apply during the
3-year period due to a significant career interruption or delay.
Experience:
● Experience in planning and conducting research.
● Experience in working with a team of researchers and support staff.
● Experience with the analysis of large genomic datasets to address evolutionary, adaptive
or demographic questions.
● Experience in bioinformatics, use of cloud computing and large-scale data management
systems.
● Experience with project management would be an asset.
Abilities:
● Demonstrated ability to plan and conduct high-quality and impactful research.
● Demonstrated ability to assemble, process, and analyse large datasets such as whole
genome data, demographic data, climate data or national-scale land-use and land-cover
data.
● Demonstrated use of scientific computing tools (e.g. R, python, Julia, github, etc) for
repeatable and transparent analysis. Expertise in statistical modeling and multivariate
analysis methods.
● Expertise with the development and optimization of analytical pipelines for large-scale
data analysis. Experience with cloud-based computing and large-scale data
management.
Competencies:
● Adaptability
● Initiative
● Judgement
● Teamwork
● Interactive Communication
Condition(s) of Employment:
● Reliability security clearance
Operational Requirements:
● Willingness and ability to travel (within and/or outside Canada)