Forestry Stewardship and Stakeholder Engagement for Coordinated Mountain Pine Beetle Management – Post-Doctoral Position

Term:  2 Years
Start date:  May 22, 2023 (with some flexibility)
Location:  Carleton University, Ottawa or in Western Canada
Annual Salary:  $ 52,000 (including benefits and a 2.5 % salary increase after year 1)

Dr. Stephan Schott in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University is looking to hire a Postdoctoral Fellow to contribute to the multidisciplinary large-scale project TRIA–FoR: Transformative Risk Assessment and Forest Resilience Using Genomic Tools for the Mountain Pine Beetle outbreak. The position is funded by Genome Canada, and other co- funders. The interdisciplinary research project seeks to develop risk management frameworks to support communities and government agencies in responding to Mountain Pine Beetle outbreaks and other infestations in Western Canada and to prevent further eastward spread.

The Postdoc will be working with Stephan Schott, Vivian Nguyen and their interdisciplinary team on the evaluation of multiple objectives and trade-offs in forestry use and management with a focus on Mountain Pine Beetle management. This will include assessment of the costs, benefits and risk of various management options and the coordination of policies and forestry management across jurisdictions and provinces. The Postdoc will join the Social Ecology and Conservation Collaborative and will collaborate with other students, faculty and Postdoctoral fellows in the School of Public Policy and Administration, the Biology Department and Department of Geography and Environmental Studies.

Roles and responsibilities:
The Postdoc will assist in literature reviews, data collection, data analysis, dissemination of results, and the organization of workshops and field work in BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The postdoc will independently conduct economic and risk and tradeoff analysis, multiple objective analysis with quantitative and qualitative methods, and will help to organize and validate research results, data collection and research steps with community partners, stakeholders, rightsholders and research collaborators. The postdoc will work with our team to prepare and conduct workshops, focus groups, semi-structured interviews and surveys together with our partners. The work will require regular travel to communities in Western Canada (with already secured funding) , engaging with relevant stakeholders and rightsholders, and the organization of workshops with stakeholders in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.

The candidate will be mainly supervised by Dr. Stephan Schott (Carleton University) in the School of Public Policy and Administration: https://carleton.ca/sppa/stephan-schott/ with some co-supervision from Dr. Vivian Nguyen in the Department of Biology: https://carleton.ca/isap/people/vivian-nguyen/.

Qualifications:
The successful candidate will have a PhD degree in either economics, forestry management, environmental or integrated sciences, business, public policy or a related field. Experience in quantitative analysis and/or conducting qualitative research such as surveys or focus groups, workshop coordination and administration, and semi-structured interviews is an asset.

Candidates are also expected to show evidence of a commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and the promotion of a respectful and collegial learning and working environment demonstrated through the application materials.

Applications including CV, contact information for two references, a short statement of research interest and suitability for the research position can be submitted to: stephanschott@cunet.carleton.ca no later than April 24 2023.

All suitable candidates are encouraged to apply. Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration is strongly committed to diversity within their community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons/persons of color, women, Indigenous/Aboriginal People of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas. For this position individuals of indigenous descent with experience with Indigenous engagement in natural resource management, environmental stewardship and food security will receive priority.

More about Dr. Stephan Schott:
Stephan Schott is a Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University with a PhD in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics. He has extensively worked in interdisciplinary teams with Indigenous governments and communities, natural scientists, engineers and social scientists from other disciplines. He has substantial research and teaching experience in Northern Canada since 2006 where he managed and is leading several major research projects. His research currently focuses on risk perception and policy coordination in forestry management, food security and Northern fisheries, sustainable livelihoods, alternative energy and sustainable development in the Arctic, the economic impacts of mining on local communities and local business development, wildlife management and knowledge co-evolution.

More information about the team and the project:

https://tria-for.ualberta.ca/
https://carleton.ca/schott/
https://carleton.ca/sppa/stephan-schott/