The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia seeks applicants for five tenure-track positions at the level of Assistant Professor in the thematic area of restoring and protecting global biodiversity. The Faculty of Science, together with the Faculties of Arts, Forestry, and Land and Food Systems is sponsoring this unique cluster hire, which builds on existing excellence in this area at UBC. These new hires will join an existing interdisciplinary research and scholarship faculty team focused on solutions-oriented approaches to biodiversity loss and its connection to sustainability and adaptive capacity for humanity. For further information see https://biodiversity.ubc.ca/cluster-hire.
As one of the five positions, we seek a Biodiversity Data Scientist to be jointly appointed in the Departments of Botany and Zoology, with opportunities for strong interactions with UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum and Biodiversity Research Centre. Applicants must have completed their Ph.D. degree by June, 2021, show evidence of potential to develop a strong research program, and contributions to teaching and training at graduate and undergraduate levels. In evaluating candidates, we may also consider contributions to leadership, community service or engagement, and social or policy impacts of the candidate’s work.
The Biodiversity Data Scientist will conduct research tackling current challenges in using and integrating disparate data streams to promote major advances in biodiversity monitoring and conservation. Relevant data streams are accumulating rapidly, including remote sensing (e.g., GPS telemetry, camera traps, audio recordings, satellite and aerial imagery), environmental DNA, citizen-science data, and the physical and digital databases of natural history collections, along with methodological advances such as machine learning. We seek a scholar who harnesses such data and methods, and applies them to conservation problems locally or globally. We welcome applications from scholars who use their analyses for programs and platforms that educate, inspire or engage citizens, stakeholders or decision-makers, or that guide choices in biodiversity conservation within their social context. The candidate’s expertise may be in evolutionary biology, ecology (including statistical, computational, and applied ecology), environmental sciences, or related disciplines.
The successful candidate will be expected to develop an independent research program and contribute to undergraduate and graduate teaching and training, and academic service in their departments. They will also work collaboratively with other members of the Biodiversity Solutions team to develop approaches to solving social-ecological challenges related to biodiversity conservation. Applicants should have a strong interest in conducting collaborative, interdisciplinary work, as demonstrated through existing or proposed research, teaching, leadership, service, community engagement, outreach, contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion, or other relevant activities.
Applicants should submit to UBC-Department of Zoology-AP [#17215]
1. Cover letter (up to 2 pages) that summarizes briefly
a. How your expertise, scholarship and planned research will advance the research vision of the Biodiversity Solutions Cluster,
b. How you have demonstrated a strong interest or experience in conducting collaborative, interdisciplinary work,
c. How you have displayed leadership, for example through existing or proposed research, teaching, service, community engagement, outreach, outreach, contributions to equity, diversity and inclusion, or other relevant activities.
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Statement (up to 2 pages) describing your current and proposed research program, and showing how your work does or will connect to understanding of biodiversity or solutions to biodiversity crises.
4. Statement (up to 1 page) of teaching interests and accomplishments, addressing how you will teach core undergraduate courses in the UBC Biology program run by the Departments of Botany and Zoology
5. Statement (up to 1 page) identifying your past contributions to equity, diversity and inclusion, along with your ability to work with a culturally diverse student body (giving specific examples where possible); as well as your philosophy of and potential future contributions to equity, diversity and inclusion
6. Up to 3 representative publications
7. Candidates should arrange for three referees to submit letters using Academic Jobs Online: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/17215
Equity, inclusivity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We particularly encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.
Applicants will be asked to complete an equity survey. The survey information will not be used to determine eligibility for employment, but will be collated to provide data that can assist us in understanding the diversity of our applicant pool and identifying potential barriers to the employment of designated equity group members. Your participation in the survey is voluntary and confidential. This survey takes only a minute to complete. You may self-identify in one or more of the designated equity groups. You may also decline to identify in any or all of the questions by choosing “not disclosed.”
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. Review of applications will begin mid-November 2020 and continue until the position is filled.
Further information
The anticipated starting date for positions is July 1, 2021, or as soon as possible thereafter, dependent on immigration and travel restrictions.
The UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. UBC is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world. UBC embraces innovation and challenges to the status quo. UBC is dedicated to ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion are embedded throughout the university’s academic and work life, recognizing that significant work remains to be accomplished. For example, UBC’s vision is to be a world leader in the implementation of Indigenous people’s human rights and is guided in a mission of reconciliation as articulated and called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. It is firmly committed to recruiting Indigenous faculty, students, and staff as outlined in its Indigenous Strategic Plan. As one of the world’s leading universities, UBC creates an exceptional learning environment that fosters global citizenship, advances a civil and sustainable society, and supports outstanding research to serve the people of British Columbia, Canada and the world.
The Zoology Department includes more than 38 principal investigators and promotes integrative research in biology (https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/). Its faculty and students pursue cutting edge questions in Comparative Animal Physiology and Biomechanics, Evolution, Ecology, and Cell and Developmental Biology. The Botany Department, with 30 research faculty members, is one of the largest and strongest botanical/plant-science focused departments in North America, offering a wide range of research and educational programs (https://www.botany.ubc.ca/). Specializations range from the organismal to the molecular level.
The successful applicant will also join the Biodiversity Research Centre (http://www.biodiversity.ubc.ca/). The centre includes more than 90 faculty across the two UBC campuses (Vancouver and Okanagan) and provides exceptional opportunities to interact with an outstanding and collegial research community, develop strengths in research and graduate teaching, study and contribute to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum’s collections (http://beatymuseum.ubc.ca/), and participate in the Museum’s educational programs and outreach efforts. The Beaty Biodiversity Museum comprises a research collection of over 2.1 million natural history specimens over several major collections – Spencer Entomological Collection, Cowan Tetrapod Collection, Fossil Collection, Fish Collection, Marine Invertebrate Collection and the UBC Herbarium, which holds major collections of bryophytes, lichens & fungi, macroalgae and vascular plants.