Department: Biology
Vacancy ID: 044723
Closing Date: 23-Nov-2026
Maynooth University is committed to a strategy in which the primary University goals of excellent research and scholarship and outstanding education are interlinked and equally valued.
The Forest Ecology and Global Change lab at Maynooth Biology Department is seeking a Post Doctoral Researcher to work on the “Ancient Woodlands Ireland” research project (funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine, and the National Parks and Wildlife Service).
The Ancient Woodlands Ireland project combines existing methodologies with novel approaches to deliver an all-island Ancient Woodlands Inventory for Ireland. The multidisciplinary project is drawing on expertise in GIS and remote sensing, paleoecology, contemporary ecology, and history to assess temporal changes in woodland cover in Ireland over the last 400 years. Ultimately, the project will provide valuable data that can be used to enhance the protection of Ireland’s ancient woodlands and help prioritize sites for woodland restoration.
The successful candidate will work primarily with Dr John Devaney and Prof Fiona Walsh on Task 5 of the project – the assessment of ancient woodland plant and soil indicators. The appointee will conduct vegetation surveys at selected ancient and recent woodland sites across Ireland. This new data will be supplemented with information in existing national forest vegetation datasets to generate ancient woodland indicator plant species lists for Ireland. A second goal of the research post is to evaluate the potential use of soil microbiome data as an indicator of woodland ancientness. DNA will be extracted from soil samples collected from ancient and recent woodland sites across Ireland, and soil microbiomes will be compared using phylogenetic cluster analysis.
Salary
Post-Doctoral Researcher (2026): €47,273 p.a. (1 point)
Appointments will be made in accordance with public sector pay provisions.
Closing Date
23:30hrs (local Irish time) on Monday, 23rd of November 2026.
Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified above. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system.
Late applications will not be accepted.
Maynooth University is an equal opportunities employer
The position is subject to the Statutes of the University