Are you interested in modelling biodiversity to inform decision-making?
Would you like to learn more about machine learning and Bayesian statistical modelling?
Then this PhD position could be interesting for you! Apply here before May 5th 2023!
This PhD project is part of the programme BIOPATH “Pathways for an efficient alignment of the FInancial System with the needs of Biodiversity” , funded by the Foundation for Environmental Strategic Research. BIOPATH aims to assess, develop and test existing and novel approaches for the integration of biodiversity into financial decision-making in collaboration with financial and industrial partners. The PhD student will be involved with developing and using quantitative models to assess trends and impacts on biodiversity resulting from human activities including efforts to conserve or restore biodiversity. The modelling to be done by the PhD student encompasses artificial intelligence as well as process-based statistical methods to assimilate biodiversity data in the context of causal analysis and optimisation of conservation action.
The PhD student is expected to review and develop methodological aspects, to consider alternative biodiversity metrics, to handle knowledge gaps and to characterise uncertainty. The performance of the models developed in this project in a real-world scenario will be evaluated in a case study about integrating biodiversity in forest management.
Part of the project is devoted to apply CAPTAIN – Conservation Area Prioritization Through Artificial Intelligence – to quantify trade-off between costs and benefits of area and biodiversity protection, using multiple biodiversity metrics.
Another part is to work with joint species distribution modelling to build statistical models to evaluate impacts on biodiversity.
This project will be supervised by Ullrika Sahlin (Lund University), Daniele Silvestro (University of Fribourg and University of Gothenburg), and Henrik Smith (LU) but will involve strong interactions with other leading scientists within the BIOPATH program, in Sweden and abroad. The work may include research visits to the University of Gothenburg, University of Fribourg (Switzerland), and University of Exeter (UK).