A PhD position is available in Ecological Genetics Research Unit (see http://www.helsinki.fi/bioscience/ecology/merila.htm for more details) at the University of Helsinki, Finland, as a part of the recently funded Finnish Centre of Excellence in Evolutionary Genetics and Physiology which also includes the research groups of Professor Craig Primmer, see http://users.utu.fi/primmer and Professor Mikko Nikinmaa http://www.sci.utu.fi/biologia/fysiologia/nikinmaa_eng.htm

The PhD-project will focus on inheritance, selection and evolution of quantitative traits in the Siberian jay (Perisoreous infaustus) on the basis of data collected during a long-term (1974- ) population study of individually marked birds. All birds have been also collected for blood and genotyped for nine microsatellite loci - also this data is available for exploitation.

The project allows also interactions and collaborations with people working with development new analytical methods, e.g. http://www.rni.helsinki.fi/~boh/ for analyses of quantitative traits, as well as with people working with molecular population genetics, genomics and quantitative genetics in our group.

The successful applicant will be expected to have a great deal of scientific enthusiasm and at least some inclination towards numerical methods (lot of the work will be analyses conducted with 'animal model' and perhaps with Bayesian approaches).

Informal inquires and applications should be addressed to Prof. Juha Merila (juha.merila@helsinki.fi). Applications should include a full CV, a statement of previous experience as well as an outline research interests and names and contact details of two referees. Review of applications will commence at March 20 2006 with the preferred starting date prior to May 2006. The funding is guaranteed up to 4 years. The salary is settled according University of Helsinki regulations (ca. 1800 euro/month).