Postdoctoral fellowship opportunity 2020



Postdoctoral fellowship opportunity about socio-ecology of the
Northwestern form Argentina of the Instituto de Ecología Regional (IER, CONICET-UNT,
Argentina)

Project: The anthropocene in the NWA: definition of socio-ecoregions of the NWA and socio-ecological study for participatory decision-making; the Puna as a case study.
Advisor: Andrea E. Izquierdo
Co-advisor: H. Ricardo Grau
Institution: Instituto de Ecología Regional (http://www.ier.conicet.gob.ar/)
Time frame: 2 years, starting april 2020.
Candidate profile: Ph.D. in Natural Sciences, Social or Geographic Sciences, with skills in ethnographic methods (surveys, participative or co-design technics and analysis of social data), geographic information system applied, and data base handling.
Requirement: availability to field-travel in hard conditions (>altitude, isolation, few amenities, etc) and ability to communicate in Spanish.

Summary
Land use changes, in combination with climate change, are the main components of global change. Based on the theoretical framework of coupled natural-human systems or socio-ecosystems, in recent years some conceptual schemes have been developed to understand the consequences and implications of these changes for ecosystems and their populations. This project proposes: 1) to analyze the demographic and land-use trends of NWA ecoregions for last 60 years identifying the main agents of change, and elaborate a spatially explicit model of socio-ecological units of the NWA that combine biophysical and human data, and 2)at regional scale, carry out a socio- ecological analysis of the Puna as a case study, conceptualizing the different agents of change, their interests and level of influence (management practices, institutions, organizations and social
networks). Both objectives will constitute the basis to propose planning and adaptation measures to socio-environmental changes that promote the balance between productive development of the different social groups and the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

If interested send Curriculum Vitae including two references and cover letter to:
Andrea E. Izquierdo (aeizquierdo@gmail.com), cc Ricardo Grau (chilograu@gmail.com )