Professor Richard Duncan at the University of Canberra is looking for a PhD candidate to investigate cost effective management strategies for wild deer in Australia. 

The selected candidate will conduct original research to evaluate the costs and benefits of different deer management strategies, including ground-shooting, aerial shooting and fencing. The work will be carried out in close collaboration with state and local government agencies and will include analysis of data collected in deer control programs. The aim is to use these data to quantify the costs of control and to model the long-term impacts of control on deer populations to identify the most cost-effective control strategies.

The opportunity is available for someone with a strong academic record and previous research experience, ideally with good quantitative skills and a prior publication record.

Both domestic and international students are encouraged to apply.

The successful candidate would apply for a PhD scholarship through the University of Canberra (applications close 30 September 2019 and scholarships in 2019 were $27,596 per year tax free) with the aim of starting the project in February 2020.

The project will includes additional funding from The Australian Centre for Invasive Species Solutions (CISS) that includes: (1) a top-up scholarship of $5,000 in addition to the PhD scholarship; (2) operating costs of $7,000 annually; (3) conference attendance of up to $3,500 annually. The CISS have been involved in some dubious collaborations of late so it is refreshing to see a re-focus on their core stated purpose.

The PhD project will be co-supervised by Professor Richard Duncan at the University of Canberra and Dr David Forsyth at the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries.

At the University of Canberra, the candidate will be based in the Institute for Applied Ecology, a dynamic research Institute that achieved Australia’s highest rating for research performance in environmental science in the latest evaluation.

For further information and to submit an expression of interest contact Richard Duncan at Richard.Duncan@canberra.edu.au or Dave Forsyth at dave.forsyth@dpi.nsw.gov.au

https://researchprofiles.canberra.edu.au/en/persons/richard-duncan

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/science-and-research/staff/staff-profiles/forsyth-david

The expression of interest should include a cover letter and CV, including details of your degrees and level of attainment (e.g. class of honours), publications, research and field experience, and statistical and/or modelling experience.

Applications close 31 July 2019.