You will make a leading contribution/contribute to a NERC-funded project Sex-specific fitness landscapes in the evolution of egg-laying vs live-birth working closely with Prof Kathryn Elmer (Glasgow) and Prof Oscar Gaggiotti (St Andrews) along with co-Is Prof Maureen Bain (Glasgow) and Prof Mike Ritchie (St Andrews) and European external partners.

The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the formulation and submission of research publications and research proposals as well as help manage and direct this complex and challenging project as opportunities allow.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Perform the following activities in conjunction with and under the guidance of the Principal/Co Investigator:

1. Plan and conduct assigned research individually or jointly in accordance with the project deliverables and project/group/School/College research strategy.

2. Document research output including analysis and interpretation of all data, maintaining records and databases, drafting technical/progress reports and papers as appropriate.

3. Develop and enhance your research profile and reputation and that of The University of Glasgow/School/Research Group, including contributing to publications of international quality in high profile/quality refereed journals, enhancing the research impact in terms of economic/societal benefit, and gathering indicators of esteem.

4. Contribute to the presentation of work at international and national conferences, at internal and external seminars, colloquia and workshops to develop and enhance our research profile.

5. Contribute to the identification of potential funding sources and to assist in the development of proposals to secure funding from internal and external bodies to support future research.

6. Collaborate with colleagues and participate in team/group meetings/seminars/workshops across the research Group/School/College/University and wider community.

7. Contribute to the organisation, supervision, mentoring and training of undergraduate and/or postgraduate students and less experienced members of the project team to ensure their effective development.

8. Perform administrative tasks related to the activities of the research group and School, including Budgets/Expenditure.

9. Carry out modest Teaching activities (e.g. demonstrating etc) and associated admin as assigned by the Head of School and in consultation with Principal Investigator.

10. Keep up to date with current knowledge and recent advances in the field/discipline.

11. Engage in continuing professional development activities as appropriate.

12. Undertake any other duties of equivalent standing as assigned by the Director of School/PI.

13. Contribute to the enhancement of the University’s international profile in line with the University’s Strategic Plan, World Changers Together

For appointment at grade 7:

14. Perform the above duties with a higher degree of independence, leadership and responsibility, particularly in relation to planning, funding, collaborating and publishing research, and mentoring colleagues.

15 Establish and sustain a track record of independent and joint published research to establish and maintain your expert reputation in the subject area.

16. Survey the research literature and environment, understand the research challenges associated with the project & subject area, & develop/implement a suitable research strategy.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential:

A1 SCQF Level 10 (Honours degree) in a relevant subject or a cognate discipline, or equivalent.

A2 Specialist theoretical and practical knowledge of some of evolutionary biology, genomics and computational biology

A3 A comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of the wider subject area or subject specialism (evolutionary biology)

A4 Research experience analysing and interpreting genome-scale NGS datasets

For appointment at grade 7:

A5 Normally Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 12 (PhD) or alternatively possess the equivalent in professional qualifications and experience, with experience of personal development in a similar or related role(s)

Desirable:

B1 An awarded (or near completion) PhD in subject specialism or equivalent.

B2 Expert knowledge of reproductive biology and / or parity mode evolution

Skills

Essential:

C1 Project or subject specific skills (evolutionary biology, genomics, computational biology)

C2 Research creativity and cross-discipline collaborative ability as appropriate

C3 Excellent communication skills (oral and written), including public presentations and ability to communicate complex data/concepts clearly and concisely

C4 Excellent interpersonal skills including team working and a collegiate approach

C5 Appropriate workload/time/project/budget/people management skills

C6 Extensive IT and data analysis/interpretation skills as appropriate for this project

C7 Self motivation, initiative and independent thought/working

C8 Problem solving skills including a flexible and pragmatic approach

For appointment at grade 7:

C9 A comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of current issues and future directions within the wider subject area or subject specialism

C10 Knowledge of project specific technical models, equipment or techniques

C11 Sufficient depth of relevant research experience, normally including sufficient postdoctoral experience in a related field, appropriate to an early career researcher

Experience

Essential:

E1 Sufficient relevant research experience (or equivalent) appropriate to an early career researcher

E2 Project or subject specific experience (genomics, computational skills)

E3 Experience of scientific writing

E4 Proven ability to deliver quality outputs in a timely and efficient manner

E5 Evidence of an emerging track record of publications in a relevant field

For appointment at grade 7:

E6 A track record of presentation and publication of research results in quality journals/conferences

E7 Experience of making a leading contribution in academic activities

E8 Ability to demonstrate a degree of independence as illustrated by identification of project objectives from assessment of the literature, design & analysis of experiments & drafting of papers.

E9 Experience in undertaking independent research

Desirable :

F1 An emerging national or international reputation

Please note that as part of your application you must address and demonstrate how you meet EACH of the essential/desirable criteria.

Additional Information

Research Objectives. Our long-term vision is to show how and why transitions between egg-laying and live-bearing evolve. We will accomplish this in the current Pushing the Frontiers grant by pinpointing the functional traits that matter, determining their genetic basis, and illuminating their evolutionary mechanisms and outcome. To build towards this goal, this project leverages a distinctly informative oviparous-viviparous common lizard hybrid zone (see e.g. Recknagel et al 2021 Nature Eco Evo). This project involves a multi-year in situ experiment to track individual fitness and phenotypes across life stages and reshuffle oviparous-viviparous-hybrid genomes through directed genetic crosses. We will identify the genetic basis of i) eco-physiology and reproductive traits and ii) fitness components using genome-wide approaches. With that, we will build fitness landscapes based on the most important genetic variants, and identify if and how these differ between males and females. Drawing together this new information, we will carry out a simulation study to explore the evolutionary genetic conditions under which the transition between oviparity and viviparity could have taken place, and evaluate the impact of different model parameters (mating, selection, genomic architecture, gene flow) on outcomes.

The PDRA will make a leading contribution to the genomic and evolutionary analysis of empirical data (genomic and phenotypic), selection and fitness landscape analysis, and evolutionary modelling of parity mode evolution (in SLiM or similar). The position is primarily focussed on data analysis and interpretation, with the on-site experiment and data collection being conducted by the field- and lab-based team members. The PDRA will be based in Glasgow and work closely with co-Is in St Andrews, with some travel between sites expected.

The College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences (MVLS) was re-shaping to create 8 new Schools that bring staff together around thematic strengths, across the strategic pillars of education, research and innovation.  More information on the College re-shape can be accessed here: MVLS 2025.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 6/7, £33,232 - £36,924/£40,247 - £45,163 per annum

This post is full time and is funded for up to 36 months

The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.  If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

Closing date: 23:45 on 12 February 2025