2 -year Post-Doc position in livestock and human population distribution modeling, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Brussels, Belgium).

Description. A 2-year post-doc position starting in September 2013 is available to work on the comparison of statistical distribution models applied to map livestock and human population through disaggregation of census data. The  appointee will join an innovative group of researchers led by Dr Marius Gilbert and working on the spatial epidemiology of several infectious and vector-borne diseases (http://lubies.ulb.ac.be/Spatepi.html).

Background and network. High-resolution maps of people and livestock are essential tools in environmental and agricultural sciences and particularly in spatial epidemiology, because the density of hosts (people, or livestock, or both) is a key variable affecting the emergence, persistence and spread of infectious diseases. Through this project, we aim to test and compare various methods that have been proposed so far, and to find innovative techniques to increase the spatial realism of outputs. The position is financed by the Belgian FNRS (http://www.fnrs.be/) as part of a larger project obtained together with the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL, Department of Geography), where a linked PhD position is simultaneously being advertised (contact. S. Vanwambeke, sophie.vanwambeke@uclouvain.be). In addition, the project will be run in close collaboration with two other key partners. First, with Dr Andy Tatem at the University of Southampton, UK, (AfriPop (www.afripop.org) & AsiaPop (www.asiapop.org) projects), where a separate and linked PostDoc position is soon to be advertised (contact A. Tatem, andy.tatem@gmail.com). Second, with Dr Tim Robinson at the International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.

Qualifications. The candidate should hold a Ph.D. in quantitative ecology, quantitative geography, mathematical modeling or biostatistics, and should have demonstrated computational, communication and writing skills (English).   Eligible candidates should not have been working in Belgium, or not have been Belgian residents between the 1st Sep. 2012 and the 1st Sep. 2013.

Applications. Applications will be reviewed immediately, and the position will remain open until a qualified candidate has been identified. Applications should include a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, PDFs of the 3 most representative publications, and a list of three references with email contact information.

Contact. Dr M. Gilbert, mgilbert@ulb.ac.be