New Position: Research Fellow in Ancient Metagenomics

The Institute of Genomics at the University of Tartu is seeking to appoint a postdoctoral Research Fellow in Ancient Metagenomics, as part of the Centre of Excellence “Estonian Roots” (CoE for transdisciplinary studies on ethnogenesis and cultural diversity).

The CoE aims to unravel the evolution of peoples and cultures on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea since people first arrived after the Last Glacial Maximum, by studying the interactions of people, cultures and environments within a novel transdisciplinary framework. This includes the generation, analysis and integration of multiple data types (e.g. ranging from ancient DNA, morphology-based zooarchaeology and palaeobotany, to linguistics analysis), to map the impact of biotic and abiotic factors on past humans and their cultures through time. One component of this is to study a diachronic record of ecosystem changes in the Eastern Baltic region through sedimentary DNA records, which will be the specific focus of the position advertised here.

The research fellow will work together with a range of colleagues involved in the CoE, in particular other researchers engaged in the analysis of ancient DNA at the Institute of Genomics, and will report to Prof. Kristiina Tambets as the line manager at the University of Tartu. The sedimentary DNA work package will be undertaken in close collaboration with Dr Ruairidh Macleod, a visiting researcher at the University of Tartu, but based at the University of Oxford. As such, it is expected that the fellow will be able to spend time both at the primary institute in Tartu, Estonia, and the secondary institution in Oxford, UK.

The research involved in this role will focus heavily on computational analysis – both the processing of raw sequencing data for phylogenetic identification and verification, and statistical analysis and modelling from results. It would also be greatly beneficial to the candidate to have experience of the ‘wet-lab’ side of ancient DNA research (DNA extraction, library preparation) for the optimisation of this with regard to downstream analyses. The research fellow will be expected to be self-motivated and also self-led to some degree, particularly in being able to undertake computational analyses and develop pipelines for the routine processing of data. In the first instance, the role of the position would be to undertake analysis of high temporal resolution sedaDNA records from lake sediment cores and archaeological sites in the Eastern Baltic region, and then integrate findings with other results from the project around human demographic history, cultural change, and e.g. specifically multispecies reservoir interaction model through time for plague. A key aim for the research which the fellow will undertake is to better integrate taxonomic identifications from sedaDNA data being generated with species distribution models (SDMs) through time, allowing predictions of the effects of changes in community composition upon aspects of past human populations, and responses to climatic variables through time.

See official requirements and apply here: https://ut.ee/en/job-offer/research-fellow-ancient-metagenomics