热带木材法医追踪博士研究员

Are you passionate about the reducing illegal timber trade from tropical forests? Do you aspire developing scientific tools to curb illegal trade? Then this PhD position could be a good fit for you! We are looking for a bright and highly qualified team player in this applied research project.

The illegal trade in tropical timber is a major environmental problem. New international legislation aimed at curbing this trade requires independent techniques to verify timber origin. In this NWO-funded research project we develop these tools.

We have two PhD vacancies: this PhD analyses timber forensic data with geostatistical tools to verify timber origin; the other PhD focuses on radar remote sensing to detect logging activities. You can apply only to one of the positions.

You will use state-of-the-art timber forensics measurements and combine these with innovative predictive geostatistical models to verify the origin of tropical timber. Your results are used to develop a publicly accessible dashboard to validate claimed timber origin. Authorities, timber industry and NGOs are members of the project’s user committee. In addition, the project involves international partners in Central Africa, South-East Asia, and South and North America.

Your duties and responsibilities include: • Conduct wood chemical analyses of available wood samples with a mass spectrometer • Develop and test multivariate geostatistical models of forensic data to verify timber origin • Lead analyses and writing of multi-authored scientific publications, culminating in a PhD thesis • Collaborate with international partners and members of the user committee • Provide your data and results to the timber verification dashboard

Your team You will work at Wageningen University, with possible trips to visit international collaborators and conferences. No fieldwork is foreseen. The research is embedded within the Forest Ecology and Forest Management group and the Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing . You will be part of the Timtrace team, consisting of 2 PhD candidates, a post-doc and your supervisors. You are supervised by prof. dr. Pieter Zuidema prof. dr. Sytze de Bruin (PhD2); and dr. Mart Vlam.