24 month post-doctoral fellowship (Job Reference Number 015699)
UCD are seeking a post-doctoral fellow in pest-risk analysis and ecological modelling to join an active research team working on the analysis and communication of plant pest risks. The work is in collaboration with Met Éireann, the UK Met Office, DAFM’s Pest-risk Analysis Unit and a related project on forest pests. This research will support Ireland’s plant biosecurity policy and stakeholders in Ireland responsible for management of pests and pathogens.
The post-doctoral fellow will be based in UCD’s Earth Institute. The position is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and will be mentored by Dr Jon Yearsley.
Deadline: Apply before 5pm 22nd March 2023.
Application details (Job Reference Number 015699).
Online Pest Risk Analysis Modelling (OPRAM)
People: One postdoc, Barry Coonan (Met Éireann), Klara Finkele (Met Éireann), Padraig Flattery (Met Éireann), Deborah Hemming (UK Met Office), Tamara Hochstrasser (UCD) Conor McGee (DAFM), Jon Yearsley (UCD)
Project description
The primary goal of this project is to provide a practical visual tool that communicates scientific evidence to stakeholders involved in Ireland’s plant biosecurity policy and pest/pathogen-risk management. This supports the objectives of Ireland’s Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy 2020-2025 (DAFM 2019): “To minimise the threat posed to plants by the potential introduction and establishment of plant pests and diseases”.
This project addresses this goal with the following three objectives:
- To review the existing mathematical modelling approaches linking insect plant pest and pathogen outbreaks to the climate
- Develop visual tools that help support risk assessment of plant pests and pathogens, and inform their surveillance under a changing climate
- Develop a network of stakeholders that guides the development of the visualisation tools
The project is divided into the following work-packages:
- Stakeholder Consultation
- Review of available pest-risk modelling approaches
- Development and validation of a pest-risk tool for Ireland
- Development of an online pest-risk tool
Partners
Outreach & Publications
Funding
This work is funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM).
