The Institute of Biodiversity of Antarctic and Subantarctic Ecosystems calls for a public competition for a postdoctoral position in Environmental DNA, Metabarcoding and Metagenomics for biodiversity research in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic areas. Chileans or foreigners may apply. The postdoctoral fellow will join the research team “Biodiversity Observatory”, along with providing transversal support to the research of other groups of the institute. The place of performance is preferably in Punta Arenas, Region of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica.
This line of research seeks to improve knowledge of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biodiversity through the characterization and monitoring of marine and terrestrial ecosystems to detect significant changes in macro and microorganism communities because of anthropogenic climate change, using advanced technologies such as environmental DNA analysis (eDNA), metabarcoding and metagenomics.
The researcher will design, develop, and implement bioinformatics workflows to process and analyze massive sequencing data, with special emphasis on metabarcoding and metagenomics methodologies. The researcher will participate in the study of samples previously available in the laboratory and in obtaining new samples through field expeditions. The requirements are to have the academic degree of PhD in accredited national programs or their foreign equivalents, in disciplines related to the required profile: ecology, evolutionary biology, microbiology, or related disciplines, and availability to start working preferably from May 2025.
The documents to be submitted for the application are:
- Doctorate degree certificate (a simple photocopy is accepted for application, the selected applicants will be asked for the original documents or certificates).
- Curriculum vitae, highlighting the research carried out, through participation in research projects and published or accepted articles. Include bibliometric indicators such as H index. In addition, include a link to a personal academic portal such as ORCID and/or Google Scholar.
- A letter of intent
- Two letters of recommendation
In the event that the selected researcher is a foreign national, he/she must prove residence in the country through a permanent or temporary residence visa or a document that proves the application for a permanent visa with work authorization at the start date of the project. It is also possible to consider a student visa with work authorization. To do so, they must send the document that accredits it and a valid identity card for foreigners. If the selected researcher has a temporary visa, he/she must send the document that accredits him/her and a valid identity card for foreigners. If he/she has permanent residence, he/she must submit the latter document. In qualified cases, the relevance of other visas will be analyzed. The processing of the contract will be subject to the presentation of the aforementioned documents.
Bases and information regarding this competition are available at this link as of January 2025. The submission of background information must be made through the e-mail [email protected] and the deadline is March 31, 2025. The final decision regarding the award of the postdoctoral positions will be made by the Council of Principal Investigators of the ICN2021_002 project, during April 2025.