Join us! We are recruiting a PhD student in functional freshwater ecology
Lars Iversen
How do complex life cycles shape freshwater biodiversity?
Freshwater insects live in two worlds. They develop underwater before emerging into terrestrial ecosystems as adults, exposing them to fundamentally different environmental conditions throughout their lives. How these contrasting life stages influence community assembly, biodiversity patterns, and ecosystem responses remains a major unanswered question in freshwater ecology.
We are seeking a fully funded PhD student to investigate how life-history strategies shape freshwater community-environment relationships across local habitats, watersheds, and continental gradients. Starting date 2027
The project combines functional ecology, community ecology, and biogeography using continental-scale functional trait databases together with field-collected dragonfly community and trait data from lakes across southern Québec. The student will integrate field observations with hierarchical ecological models to better understand how biodiversity responds to environmental change across scales.
The project forms part of the NSERC Alliance "Altered Lakes, Transformed Roles (ALTR)", a five-year collaborative research program involving researchers from universities and government agencies across Canada. The successful candidate will develop a unique combination of field, analytical, and quantitative skills through training in freshwater ecology, functional ecology, spatial modelling, and biodiversity science while working within one of Canada's largest freshwater research collaborations.
We welcome applications from students holding either a Bachelor's (Honours) or Master's degree in Biology, Ecology, Environmental Science, or a related discipline. The candidate is expected to have strong quantitative analytical skills, or a motivation to develop such. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a working proficiency in one or more of the programming languages commonly used in data science (e.g. Python or R) and experience working in the field
The student will be supervised by Professor Lars L. Iversen (McGill University) and Dr. Zofia Taranu (Environment and Climate Change Canada) and will join an outstanding research community through McGill University. Further information about the Department of Biology can be found at www.mcgill.ca/biology and detailed information on the research conducted in the Iversen lab can be found at www.lifeinmud.com and the Taranu lab at www.zofiaecaterinataranu.weebly.com
To apply, please send a cover letter describing your research background, research interests, and qualifications; a copy of your most recent transcript as well as a complete curriculum vitae to lars.iversen@mcgill.ca
Applications will be reviewed beginning July 2026 and will remain open until the position is filled.