MSCA-PF: Joint application at the University of Granada. Department of Ecology.
Professor Alexandro B. Leverkus Fierro, from the Department of Ecology at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) in 2026 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (for more information about the 2026 call, please consult this link).
Brief description of the institution:
The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. With more than 57,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and almost 7,000 members of staff, the UGR offers 97 undergraduate degrees, 157 master’s degrees (7 of which are double degrees) and 28 doctoral programmes via its 124 departments and nearly 50 centers. Accordingly, the UGR offers one of the most extensive and diverse ranges of higher education programmes in Spain.
The UGR has been awarded with the "Human Resources Excellence in Research (HRS4R)", which reflects the institution’s commitment to continuously improve its human resource policies in line with the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. The UGR is also internationally renowned for its excellence in diverse research fields and ranked among the top Spanish universities in a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, and international funding.
The UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking - Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). The 2025 edition of the ARWU places the UGR in 301-400th position in the world and as the 3-8 highest ranked University in Spain, reaffirming its position as an institution at the forefront of national and international research. From the perspective of specialist areas in the ARWU rankings, the UGR is outstanding in Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence and Dentistry & Oral Sciences (ranked between 51th-75th position), Computer Science & Engineering, Education and Hospitality & Tourism Management (between 76-100th position), and in the areas of Food Science & Technology and Business Administration (between 101-150th position). A little lower in the ranking, the UGR also stands out in the areas of Earth Sciences, Law, Management, Nursing, Psychology and Statistics, in which the UGR is positioned in the 151-200th position.
Additionally, the UGR counts with 4 researchers at the top of the Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) list, most of them related to the Computer Science and Mathematics scientific areas. It is also well recognised for its presence in the top 200 Universities in Europe at 83th place.
Internationally, the University of Granada is firmly committed to its participation in the calls of the Framework Programme of the European Union. For the duration of the prevoius Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, the UGR obtained a total of 124 projects with a total funding of more than €30 million. For the current Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, the UGR has obtained 136 projects, so far, with a total funding of more than €38 million.
Brief description of the Centre/Research Group:
The candidate will join the group on Ecosystem Restoration and Conservation, based at the Department of Ecology of the University of Granada. This dynamic and expanding group has been investigating multiple processes involved in ecosystem resilience from both basic and applied perspectives. Their main research lines include post-disturbance dynamics (incl. the effects of post-fire management) and ecological restoration through passive and active management. The group is currently conducting several field and review studies on the success of revegetation. Restoration outcomes are assessed with detailed analyses of plant performance, but also in economic terms. We manage and/or coordinate field sites located in the vicinity of the campus, across Andalusia, and at European scale. Multiple collaborations bring additional dynamism to this group and expand the scope and scale of the projects in the same institution, in nearby agricultural research centres, and nationally/ internationally. The group currently holds research grants funded by the University of Granada (C-EXP-267-UGR23), the Andalusian regional administration (BIOD22_002 & PP.AVA23.INV2023.30), the Spanish Government (PID2022-143099OB-I00), and the European Union (Horizon Europe Project No. 101084481), and its members participate in both informal and formal research networks. Multiple training opportunities are available in our group and faculty and through the group’s networks. Importantly, the recently granted project FIRE-TRAN from the Velux Foundation sets a strong foundation for an MSCA fellowship.
Project description:
The proposed MSCA-PF will be embedded within the framework of the FIRE-TRANS project, which investigates post-fire forest recovery across Mediterranean ecosystems through an integrated, multi-scale, and collaborative approach. FIRE-TRANS combines local experimental research, coordinated distributed networks, and remote sensing to understand how forest composition, structure, and functional traits shape regeneration trajectories after fire. The research line focuses on identifying the ecological mechanisms that drive post-fire recovery and their variability across environmental gradients and management contexts. It integrates field-based measurements of vegetation dynamics, plant functional traits, and soil properties with Earth Observation data to upscale findings and generate spatially explicit predictions of forest recovery.
The fellow may define their precise research based on their own interests and contributing to advancing this research. This may be done by addressing key questions related to the role of species traits, disturbance severity, and restoration interventions (e.g. seeding, planting, soil transfers) in shaping ecosystem resilience. The project offers opportunities to work with harmonised datasets from a growing international network of study sites, enabling both local and large-scale analyses.
FIRE-TRANS also emphasises open science, data integration with global trait and ecosystem databases, and stakeholder co-design, ensuring that scientific outputs are both methodologically robust and societally relevant. The fellow will benefit from a highly interdisciplinary environment, gaining experience in experimental ecology, network coordination, data science, and science–policy interfaces.
Research Area:
- Environment and Geosciences (ENV)
- Life Sciences (LIFE)
For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Alexandro B. Leverkus Fierro (leverkus@ugr.es):
- CV
- Letter of recommendation (optional)
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