The University of Oulu is one of the biggest and most multidisciplinary universities in Finland. We are an international science community working in close cooperation with research institutes, companies, and the public sector. Together we form a globally significant research hub, relentlessly pushing the boundaries of known for a more sustainable and intelligent future.

The Department of Ecology and Genetics has strong expertise and tradition in plant population genetics. Current research topics include population and evolutionary genomics of forest trees, quantitative genetics, biodiversity genomics, conservation genetics and molecular evolution. We offer a scientific environment that is enthusiastic about plant evolutionary genetics, a possibility to develop your genomics and bioinformatics skills and initiate international collaboration. The postdoctoral researcher will be part of Pyhäjärvi Lab working on various aspects of Scots pine genetics, evolutionary genomics of haploid and diploid life cycle states, patterns of gene expression, developing genomic tools for various forest tree species and applying genomic selection for trees. Pyhäjärvi Lab (oulu.fi/pyhajarvilab) collaborates closely with other European forest geneticists via the Horizon 2020 projects GenTree and B4EST.

The applicant should have a doctoral degree, recorded scientific expertise and interest in population, evolutionary and quantitative genomics. Experience in bioinformatics and gene expression analysis is an advantage. The successful applicant will contribute to evolutionary focused combined analysis of gene expression and nucleotide diversity data of Scots pine and analysing the performance and data from recently developed SNP chips for multiple European tree species in B4EST project (http://b4est.eu/) in collaboration with French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). The exact duties will depend on the persons skills and interests. The duties also include a small amount of teaching and supervising students.

The salary will be based on the level 5 of the demand level chart for teaching and research staff of Finnish universities. In addition, a salary component based on personal work performance will be paid (maximum of 50 % of the job-specific component). The successful candidate will receive the benefits provided by the University of Oulu to university employees, including free occupational health care services, and obtain access to high-quality public affordable childcare services.

Applications and further information

Apply online latest on Friday, 29 November 2019 at 23:59 (Finnish local time). Please include the following attachments in your application:

1. CV according to guideline of the Finnish Board on Research Integrity (https://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae)
2. list of publications according to the guidelines of the Academy of Finland (https://www.aka.fi/en/funding/apply-for-funding/az-index-of-application-guidelines/list-of-publications/)
3. contact details of at least two referees
4. a motivation letter (max 1 page)

The position is filled for 24 months as of 1 January 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter. A trial period of 6 months is applied in the position.

Further details are available from Academy Research Fellow Tanja Pyhäjärvi, tanja.pyhajarvi[at]oulu.fi.

About Oulu and Finland

Finland is one of the most livable countries in the world, with a high quality of life, equality, safety and excellent education system. The City of Oulu is Northern Finland’s largest city, with a population of over 200,000. Located in the Gulf of Bothnia in the Oulu River delta, the city has good access from anywhere (one hour flight from Helsinki). Oulu is a very easy-going and family friendly community with plenty  of  cultural  activities  as  well  as opportunities for exploring the beautiful, northern nature. As  the  world’s  northernmost  tech  hub,  Oulu  has  a  highly educated and innovative workforce and the University has a strong role in the community. Oulu is a marvelous place to  live,  work  and  enjoy  a  vibrant  academic  community. Welcome  to  the  home  of  science  with  Arctic Attitude!