College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences
CriticalEarth: Multiscale Critical Transitions in the Earth System
The post
The College of Engineering, Mathematics & Physical Sciences wishes to recruit a Graduate Research Assistant Early Stage Researcher to support the work of Professor Mark Holland at our Exeter campus. This 3 year EU Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Innovative Training Network funded post is available starting September 2021 (earlier by negotiation) for three years. The post includes a PhD programme within the College.
The successful applicant will work on a project entitled “Deterministic extremes and climate tipping points” as part of the Marie Curie ITN project called CriticalEarth: Multiscale Critical Transitions in the Earth System.
The post will undertake mathematical research to characterise the influence of deterministic extremes on tipping points, and vice versa.
Extremes of observables from the climate system and tipping points are intimately related. The statistics of extremes may change abruptly on passing through a tipping point, and the presence of extremes may induce tipping though a noise-induced process. This project will use geometric and analytic features of dynamical systems to understand generic properties of probability distributions governing the extremes, and hence make predictions on when extremes are likely to occur in the future. This is especially important for extremes that occur rarely and intermittently in time and space. To evaluate their robustness and reliability the project will study bounds on the convergence rates to statistical equilibrium, together with giving a sensitivity analysis of the distributions that describe the extremes. This will then be used to investigate how extremes of one subsystem may cause tipping points in another. Theoretical work on low dimensional idealised systems such as one dimensional maps where extreme statistics of observables can be analytically computed and related to properties such as attractor local dimension will be validated (a) with numerical explorations on more realistic nonlinear climate system models and (b) with reference to palaeoclimate proxy records.
Your research will be supervised by Professor Mark Holland. As part of your role you will be expected to spend a period of 3 months on secondment to each of the University of Copenhagen and ENS Lyon.
About you
The successful applicant will be able to present information on research progress and outcomes, communicate complex information, orally, in writing and electronically and prepare proposals and applications to external bodies.
Applicants will be educated to first or masters degree level or possess an equivalent qualification/experience in a related field of study or equivalent experience and be able to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the discipline and of research methods and techniques to work within established research programmes. Applicants will be able to demonstrate the skills needed to undertake research in the mathematics of dynamical systems and applications to Earth System modelling.
Applicants must be eligible to be appointed as an Early Stage Researcher in the UK under the EC Horizon 2020 Marie-Sk?odowska Curie Action, Innovative Training Networks (ITN) Scheme. Therefore, at the time of recruitment, the candidate should;
Please ensure you read the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of this role by clicking on the attachment above.
The University of Exeter is a Russell Group university in the top 200 of universities worldwide. We combine world-class teaching with world-class research, and have achieved a Gold rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework Award 2017. We have over 22,000 students and 4600 staff from 180 different countries and have been rated the WhatUni2017 International Student Choice. Our research focuses on some of the most fundamental issues facing humankind today, with 98% of our research rated as being of international quality in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. We encourage proactive engagement with industry, business and community partners to enhance the impact of research and education and improve the employability of our students.
What we can offer you
For further information please contact Professor Mark Holland, e-mail m.p.holland@ex.ac.uk or telephone (01392) 723961.
Salary will be on a spot salary in the range £27,511 up to £34,804 per annum on Grade E subject to knowledge, skills and experience. In addition, allowances are payable in line with the Marie Curie Horizon 2020 requirements for Early Stage Researchers as follows: a Marie Curie allowance of up to £2940 per annum and a mobility allowance of £5075 per annum. Salary and allowance will be paid in pounds sterling. The successful applicant will be enrolled on a PhD and will use the research undertaken as part of their studies.
