Response diversity describes the variation in how individuals, species, or functional groups respond to environmental change and the concept is increasingly recognised as a key driver of ecosystem resilience. Understanding and promoting response diversity is therefore essential for conserving biodiversity and supporting resilient ecosystems in a changing world.
The CIDE-CSIC, in collaboration with the University of Valencia, invites applications for a Doctoral Candidate position within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network ReDiLEEP (https://redileep.eu/). ReDiLEEP brings together leading universities, research institutes, and non-academic partners across Europe and beyond to advance response diversity research and translate new knowledge into ecosystem management, restoration, and biodiversity policy.
The Doctoral Candidate will contribute to this effort by investigating response diversity through the lenses of trait based ecology and temporal ecological datasets at regional and global scales in natural vegetation. The project will focus on how climatic extremes affect the capacity of response diversity to stabilize ecosystems through compensatory dynamics within and among species. To address these questions, the candidate will combine analyses of existing datasets with experimental work, ranging from simple bioassays to advanced metacommunity experiments conducted under controlled conditions. The position offers opportunities for interdisciplinary research, international collaboration, and exchange visits with partners across the ReDiLEEP consortium, complemented by a comprehensive programme of scientific and transferable skills training.
Research Project DC8
Disruption of compensatory dynamics under extreme climatic events. DC8 will investigate how climatic extremes disrupt compensatory dynamics and alter the stabilizing effects of response diversity in plant communities. The candidate will examine how temporal and spatial asynchrony among species, and among individuals within species, changes under increasing climatic variability and extreme events. Specifically, the project will test whether functional traits can predict changes in the degree of overlap in species performance, phenology, and demographic responses under climatic stress, and whether such changes reduce the capacity of RD to promote ecosystem stability.
The project combines observational, experimental, and macroecological approaches across multiple spatial scales. First, regional datasets of plant phenology and multi-year collections of seed material from contrasting climatic conditions will be used to quantify temporal and spatial patterns of synchrony and asynchrony among populations and species. Second, field experiments, common garden studies, and controlled growth-chamber experiments will assess how climatic extremes influence trait variation and response dynamics among individuals and species. Finally, the candidate will use global vegetation time-series data from the LOTVS initiative (https://lotvs.csic.es/) to evaluate how compensatory dynamics contribute to community stability worldwide and to determine whether extreme climatic events weaken these stabilizing mechanisms across ecosystems. By integrating functional trait ecology, long-term ecological monitoring, and experimental approaches, the project will advance our understanding of the mechanisms linking response diversity, climatic extremes, and ecosystem resilience.
More information on the doctoral network can be found here: https://redileep.eu
Your Responsibilities
- Create a Personal Career Development Plan (PCDP) outlining research objectives, timelines, skill development goals, and career aspirations. Organize, prepare and follow up biannual meetings of the supervisory teams.
- Design and conduct laboratory microcosm experiments to investigate how different environmental drivers influence species responses, community dynamics and ecosystem stability.
- Analyse experimental and field data using state-of-the-art statistical approaches.
- Actively communicate results to the developers of predictive models within ReDiLEEP.
- Disseminate your research through publications in leading international journals and presentations at international conferences and workshops.
- Participate actively in ReDiLEEP network training, secondments, dissemination, reporting, and cohort activities.
Secondments and Network Training
The position includes planned secondments at other collaborating institutes of the ReDiLEEP consortium.
The successful candidate will join an interdisciplinary cohort of doctoral researchers and benefit from ReDiLEEP training in response diversity methods, data management, reproducible code, R/Tidyverse, machine learning and AI for ecologists, visualisation, evidence-based policymaking, science-policy communication, and policy brief writing.
Employment Conditions
- The position is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Networks framework and will follow the applicable MSCA Doctoral Network conditions and the CSIC employment regulations.
- Gross salary: In accordance with the regulation of the Marie Curie Fellowship
- Duration: 36 months, full-time.
- Place of work: Moncada, Valencia, Spain
- Start of employment: Expected starting date is 01 March 2027, subject to final MSCA eligibility verification, doctoral programme enrolment, and completion of administrative onboarding.
Where to apply
E-mail: fradebel@ext.uv.es
Requirements
Research Field: Biological sciences
Education Level: Master Degree or equivalent
Skills/Qualifications
- Master's degree in Ecology, Environmental Sciences, or related disciplines.
- A strong interest in community ecology, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
- Experience with ecological experiments and/or quantitative data analysis
- Strong data analysis skills (preferably in R).
- Excellent English.
Specific Requirements
Applicants must meet the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network eligibility requirements at the recruitment date:
- Mobility rule: applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity, such as work or studies, in Spain for more than 12 months during the 36 months preceding the recruitment date.
- Applicants must not already hold a doctoral degree.
- Applicants must be doctoral candidates and be enrolled, or eligible to be enrolled, in a doctoral programme at the University of Valencia.
- Applicants must work full-time and exclusively for the ReDiLEEP project during the appointment, in accordance with the applicable MSCA rules.
- Exceptions to the mobility rule apply for compulsory national service, refugee status, and temporary protection.
Languages: ENGLISH
Level: Excellent
Research Field: Biological sciences
Additional Information
Benefits
- A 36-month full-time doctoral position at CSIC in an international MSCA Doctoral Network.
- Stimulating scientific environment in an internationally connected, open, and friendly working environment.
- Relocation and integration support through the CSIC-WIT office, including guidance on visas, residence permits, social security, and daily-life integration.
Eligibility criteria
MSCA Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must meet the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network eligibility requirements at the recruitment date:
- Mobility rule: applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity, such as work or studies, in Spain for more than 12 months during the 36 months preceding the recruitment date.
- Applicants must not already hold a doctoral degree.
- Applicants must be doctoral candidates and be enrolled, or eligible to be enrolled, in a doctoral programme at the University of Valencia.
- Applicants must work full-time and exclusively for the ReDiLEEP project during the appointment, in accordance with the applicable MSCA rules.
- Exceptions to the mobility rule apply for compulsory national service, refugee status, and temporary protection.
Selection process
How to Apply
Please submit your application in English by 30/10/2026 as a single PDF file to fradebel@ext.uv.es. Applications should include:
- A cover letter describing your motivation for the position, relevant experience, and fit with DC8.
- A curriculum vitae.
- Copies of degree certificates and transcripts.
- A short statement confirming your MSCA mobility-rule eligibility for Spain including countries of residence, work, and study during the previous 36 months.
- Contact details of two referees who may be contacted for a reference.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interviews in English. According to the current recruitment timeline, eligibility screening is planned for mid November 2026. The final selection will be communicated shortly after.
Recruitment will follow open, transparent, and merit-based recruitment principles and the MSCA Code of Conduct for the recruitment of researchers. Applications will be assessed on eligibility, scientific excellence, motivation, fit with the project, quantitative and modelling skills, and potential to contribute to the ReDiLEEP doctoral network. Selection committees will be composed to ensure diverse expertise, appropriate gender balance, international perspective, and absence of conflicts of interest.
Additional comments
For scientific questions about the project or application process, please contact Francesco de Bello. For questions regarding salary, employment conditions or other HR-related matters, please contact internacional.cide@csic.es. The CSIC is committed to diversity, equal opportunities, and inclusive recruitment. We welcome applications from qualified candidates of all backgrounds.
Website for additional job details: https://redileep.eu
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