Research Fellow

Job title:

Research Fellow

Company

University of Southampton

Job description

Applications are invited from researchers to work as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the University of Southampton’s world-leading Geochemistry Research Group ( ). In the School of Ocean and Earth Science at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton you will join a community of
500 researchers and support staff drawn from physics, chemistry, biology, geoscience, and engineering, with a strong focus on marine biology and marine environment, to work in a project at the interface between geochemistry, palaeoclimate, and biomineralisation.This post is funded through a Royal Society fellowship to Dr David Evans, with line management of the post to be shared between Dr Evans ( ) and Prof. Gavin Foster ( ). The project additionally involves a number of researchers from across the UK and is closely linked to a growing team at the University of Southampton focused on driving forward the societal impact of palaeoclimate datasets by mechanistically understanding biomineralisation processes and boundary condition changes, funded via both the Royal Society and Dr Evans’ ERC-selected Starting Grant.The chemistry of seawater can be thought of as an integrated record of a number of Earth-system processes that drive the carbon cycle. Of key importance amongst these is the rate of silicate weathering, because this process ultimately draws CO2 out of the atmosphere and buries it in marine sediments. This acts to lock carbon out of the ocean-atmosphere system and is thought to be one of the processes regulating Earth’s climate on long timescales. Existing records of weathering derived from changes in the isotopic composition of seawater (especially Li) indicate that the major global CO2 decline since the extinction of the dinosaurs was driven by, or associated with, a large shift in silicate weathering. However, it is now clear that existing records may equally reflect the impact of evolution on biomineral proxy archives, such that we do not know to what extent silicate weathering rates have changed through geological time.In this post the applicant will develop new Cenozoic records of the isotopic composition of major ions in seawater, to be built into a numerical model with the aim of disentangling the evolutionary impact on biomineral records from seawater chemistry change for the first time. To do so, the applicant will develop novel techniques in plasma-based isotope geochemistry and apply these to a suite of exceptionally well-preserved fossil samples spanning the last 60 million years. Ultimately, the project aims to unambiguously determine whether a climatic or tectonically-driven change in silicate weathering occurred over the course of the Cenozoic.A successful candidate should have:

• A PhD or equivalent professional qualifications and experience in geochemistry.
• Experience in the operation of both single and multi-collector plasma mass spectrometer instruments and associated clean laboratory sample preparation.
• Experience in methodological development in the measurement of novel geochemical systems.
• Experience in building or running carbon cycle box models.
• Skills in hypothesis-testing, experiment design, analysis of data sets and writing scientific manuscripts and reports.
• Demonstrate strong drive, ambition and motivation, with the capacity to deliver on challenging tasks and to meet deadlines both individually and as working as part of a team.
• Express a desire to apply cutting edge geochemical techniques to understanding Earth’s long-term carbon cycle.

This post is a fixed-term appointment for two years.Applications for Research Fellow positions will be considered from candidates who are working towards or nearing completion of a relevant PhD qualification. The title of Research Fellow will be applied upon successful completion of the PhD. Prior to the qualification being awarded the title of Senior Research Assistant will be given.For further enquiries please contact Dr David Evans ( )

Expected salary

Location

United Kingdom

Job date

Sun, 11 Aug 2024 02:19:30 GMT

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