Full Professorship Ecology, in particular Vegetation Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation (W2/W3)

HUMANISTIC. SUSTAINABLE. ENTREPRENEURIAL.

To achieve its educational aims, Leuphana University has developed a unique program aligned with the ideas of liberal education and humanism and has founded the first public college in Germany. Based on disciplinary depth, Leuphana is rising to the challenge to increase scientific impact by means of methodological diversity and interdisciplinary cooperation.

The Faculty of Sustainability at Leuphana University of Lüneburg invites applications for the following Full professorship Within the Institute of Ecology:

Ecology, in particular Vegetation Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation
(w2/W3)

You are a committed researcher with an outstanding international research profile in the field of vegetation ecology and conservation. Your research mainly focuses on functional aspects of vegetation (but may span other taxonomic groups as well), and how functional biodiversity, as well as ecosystem functions and services, contribute to sustaining and creating sustainable landscapes. Your research strives to move the field of biodiversity conservation forward, thus making a key contribution to evidence-based conservation. You combine a range of biodiversity and conservation methods focusing on vegetation and its link to soils and management, ranging from replicated experiments (which can include field and controlled experiments) to observational field work in real-world landscapes. For example, to provide evidence-based solutions for sustainable land-use management decisions requires a strong grounding in functional biodiversity knowledge and experience from an ecological perspective, including knowledge of habitat and species characteristics and the interactive role of different global change drivers. In times of multiple and increasing demands on landscapes, which has brought the topic of multifunctionality into focus, a better integration of the field of Biodiversity Ecosystem Functioning (BEF) and delivery of ecosystem services and conservation outcomes is needed. The Faculty of Sustainability with its strong functional biodiversity and landscape management research in the institute of ecology and in other institutes, including the newly founded Socialecological Systems Institute (SESI), is the ideal place for you to contribute to achieving this goal.

Examples of core themes you could work on are: plant-soil interactions, global change research, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, invasive species and/or climate change as drivers of biodiversity loss, multifuntionality of landscapes within conservation and ecological restoration, functional traits and biodiversity conservation, or linking biodiversity and community assembly.

You combine excellence in your field with a track record of developing unique ideas and theories that you strive to test for their relevance in practice, preferably including experimental approaches at plot and/or landscape scales, thus impacting your academic field as well as society and the science-policy interface. You are active in interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary research and cooperate actively with a range of different academic and non-academic stakeholders.

The research topics addressed should be integrated into the Faculty of Sustainability’s teaching programmes at both undergraduate and graduate levels. You have a strong grounding in vegetation ecology and are able to teach both undergraduate and graduate-level courses in vegetation ecology. You have experience in teaching about biodiversity, vegetation ecology and conservation. You maybe even combine research-driven teaching in innovative formats that span ecological theory as well as conservation practice. Teaching responsibilities will include courses in ecology (i.e. biogeochemistry and global change, soil ecology and landscape ecology) with a strong focus on ecology and global change as well as ecosystem functioning and services (e.g. lectures, field and lab courses) within the B.Sc. Environmental Sciences & Global Environmental Science and Sustainablity (GESS) and the M.Sc. Sustainablity Science. Applicants should have a proven experience in the supervision of students (bachelor, master and PhD) relative to career opportunity.

Requirements include extensive experience with practical ecological work and a strong track record (relative to opportunity) with respect to publications and the acquisition of third-party funding. The professorial position will be filled in accordance with pay grade W2/W3 (university professor).

Formal requirements according to § 25 of the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act (NHG) are: a university degree relevant to the open position for example in ecology or environmental science or others; a doctoral degree in ecology and related fields; experience and aptitude in teaching; an ability to engage in independent academic research, as demonstrated by the outstanding quality of your dissertation as well as additional academic achievements obtained (e.g. in the course of being an assistant professor, during your postdoctoral lecturer qualification or habilitation in Germany).

At Leuphana you will find an academic community that is open for many different perspectives and cultivates dialogue among different disciplines as well as between research and practice. With spirit and initiative, we address the challenges facing civil society in the 21st century. Pursuing our idea of liberal education, our students are enabled to think, question and act upon it. Our professors foster the awareness of gender and diversity aspects in teaching as well as research.

For further information, please contact the Dean of the Faculty Prof. Dr. Henrik von Wehrden (henrik.von_wehrden@leuphana.de) or the deputy head of the Institute of Ecology Prof. Dr. Vicky Temperton (vicky.temperton@leuphana.de).

Leuphana University is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from women, disabled persons, and people from other minorities who will be given priority consideration if as equally qualified as other applicants.

Please submit your application consisting of the following materials in two separate PDF files: a) motivation letter, CV, full publication list, full credentials and contact details of two academic referees, copies of academic degrees and b) five key relevant publications (combined as one pdf). Guidance on the required application materials can be found here:
https://www.leuphana.de/en/university/open-positions/professorial-positions.html#c703383

Please submit your application by September 19, 2021, using the keyword Ecology, preferably electronically to beko@leuphana.de or to the President of Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Post Box 2440, 21314 Lüneburg, Germany. Please be aware that we cannot return applications sent physically.

By submitting your application, you consent to your data being stored and processed for the purpose of the recruitment process. Please note our Data Protection Notice for Applicants:

in English: https://www.leuphana.de/fileadmin/user_upload/newspool/stellenausschreibungen/professuren/Datenschutzhinweise_Professuren_EN.pdf

or in German: https://www.leuphana.de/fileadmin/user_upload/newspool/stellenausschreibungen/professuren/Datenschutzhinweise_Professuren.pdf