Job Description

Ref Number

B02-09452

Professional Expertise

Research and Research Support

Department

School of Life & Medical Sciences (B02)

Location

London

Working Pattern

Full time

Salary

43,981-52,586

Contract Type

Permanent

Working Type

On site

Available for Secondment

No

Closing Date

15-Oct-2025

About us

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Biosciences is one of the world's foremost centres for research and teaching in the biological sciences and one of the largest Divisions within UCL, undertaking a significant amount of research and teaching. The Division has a diverse portfolio addressing all areas of biology from protein interactions to cell function, organism development, genetics, population studies and the environment. Computational modelling approaches are frequently used alongside experimental research programmes and much of our research crosses traditional boundaries, including the relationship of biodiversity to the health of the planet. Activity is underpinned by high calibre science technology platforms and state of the art equipment. Educational activity includes a range of undergraduate programmes, an expanding number of Masters Programmes and a substantial number of postgraduate research students.



This is an exciting opportunity to join an interdisciplinary team of researchers from UCL on a Future Leaders Fellowship-funded project that will innovate the use of environmental DNA isolated from the air to improve our understanding of biodiversity data capture and of ecological networks. Airborne environmental DNA provides a unique snapshot of aboveground biodiversity across taxonomic groups (from microorganisms to vertebrates), potentially allowing the measurement of ecosystem functional resilience and ecosystem service provision. The research fellow will primarily be based at the People and Nature Lab on the new UCL East campus.



The People and Nature Lab is a collaborative group of researchers addressing the intersection between biodiversity, technology, the built environment and society to create new ways for societies and nature to sustainably coexist. Collaborators on this project include Professor David Murrell (UCL) and Dr Martin Wilkes (University of Essex).

About the role

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Dr Littlefair has been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship which will investigate how ecological communities are responding to human impacts globally and deliver technological solutions to the problem of scale in biodiversity monitoring using widely distributed air sampling networks. We are seeking an experienced postdoctoral scientist to lead on the data analysis associated with this project. Your role will be to analyse biodiversity data derived from airborne environmental DNA to explain finescale temporal variation in species richness, turnover, and community composition, and how these change over time according to environmental variation and human impacts. We are also interested in approaches which integrate biodiversity data streams from other sources and predict the validity of eDNA records from surrounding land use datasets. You will lead on the management of these datasets from the UK and across the world. The end goal is to derive multi-trophic ecological networks from these datasets, using a combination of inference from repeated temporal sampling and trait-based network approaches. You will perform lab work alongside others in order to generate these datasets (training and support is available from us).



This role is an open-ended contract with a funding end date of 31/10/2028 in the first instance. Appointment at Grade 7 is dependent upon having been awarded a PhD; if this is not the case, initial appointment will be at Grade 6B with payment at Grade 7 being backdated to the date of final submission of the PhD Thesis.



This appointment is subject to UCL Terms and Conditions of Service for Research and Professional Services Staff. Please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/conditions-service-research-teaching-and-professional-services-staff for more information.



Interviews will take place in late October 2025.



A job description and person specification can be accessed at the bottom of this page.



If you have any queries about the role, please contact Dr Joanne Littlefair at j.littlefair@ucl.ac.uk If you need reasonable adjustments or a more accessible format to apply for this job online or have any queries about the application process, please contact the HR Administrator at fls.hr@ucl.ac.uk, quoting the advert reference number in your subject line.

About you

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You hold a PhD in a relevant area (or are about to submit your thesis) and have significant experience of working in ecological/environmental genetics or ecology, with a strong quantitative component. The postholder will have significant experience in the spatio-temporal analysis of large biodiversity datasets, for example in explaining environmental and human drivers of terrestrial biodiversity and/or ecological networks. Prior experience in constructing trait-based ecological networks and using large trait databases would be a significant advantage. Experience in the development, integration and management of large datasets is essential, as is the application of appropriate ecological statistics (e.g. in R and/or other computational languages). The successful candidate will have knowledge of, or interest in learning, amplicon-based lab workflows, and would ideally have experience of conducting bioinformatic analyses for DNA-based data (e.g. shell scripting or python), although this is not essential.



Excellent project management and communication skills, including with other lab members and external stakeholders, are essential. The ability to keep meticulous records and well-annotated computer code is crucial to the smooth running of this project. The postholder will also be expected to play a significant role in writing the resulting publication(s) and reports, and to collaborate with other lab members on computational approaches. There will be exciting opportunities to work with external partners and develop a network in this innovative research area, and take advantage of the significant career development opportunities that the wider team and UCL offer.



Please read the person specification carefully when formulating your application.

What we offer

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As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:


41 Days holiday (27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)

Additional 5 days' annual leave purchase scheme

Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)

Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan

Immigration loan and expenses

Relocation scheme for certain posts

On-Site nursery

On-site gym

Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay

Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service

Discounted medical insurance


Visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/reward-and-benefits to find out more.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

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As London's Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.



We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL's workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.



Our department holds an Athena SWAN Silver award, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality.



You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/