Research School in Future Silviculture announces a call for PhD projects

Research School in Future Silviculture

Sweden is a country where forests have been and still are of great importance. The use and utilization of the forest is an issue where the balance between forest production and the environment is in focus. Growth in Swedish forests has declined over the past 15 years.  Biodiversity and the role of forests in climate change are now key social issues that require more knowledge. In order to both sustainably use and safeguard forest biodiversity, a coherent basic science research program is needed that addresses large and complex issues and develops new analytical tools. It is against this background and in line with SLU:s investment in Future Sustainable Forest Management that the Research School in Future Silviculture is established with a focus on the future sustainable use of forests. The Research School Future Silviculture is part of the Wallenberg Initiative in Forest Research (WIFORCE) at SLU and will be coordinated and integrated appropriately within SLU with the Research School SILVA at the Faculty of Forestry (https://www.slu.se/en/graduate-schools/silva-research-school/about-research-school-in-forest-sciences/).

Unique opportunities for PhD students

The Research School aims to provide doctoral students with the necessary basic scientific knowledge to be able to analyze, develop and actively contribute to research on the future sustainable use of forests.

The Research School includes both university-based and industry and collaboration-based doctoral students funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, as well as the opportunity for other doctoral students to participate in courses and activities without having direct funding from the program. Through teaching by leading researchers in each field, the doctoral students get both a solid scientific foundation and cutting-edge knowledge. The Research School also aims to familiarize doctoral students with Swedish forestry and form a strong, professional and international network in both academia and industry.

Doctoral students in academia and industry

Collaboration between academia, industry and other forestry actors is of crucial importance for knowledge transfer with the surrounding society. Industry- and collaboration-based doctoral students promote collaborations and exchanges in terms of relevant issues, research results and access to expertise and networks.

An industry- and collaboration-based doctoral student completes their doctoral education at SLU and is simultaneously employed by a company or government agency in Sweden. The doctoral student is enrolled at the Faculty of Forestry at SLU, and has a main supervisor within the academy, as well as a mentor/supervisor at the collaborative organization. 

A strong professional network

The Research School in Future Silviculture creates opportunities for doctoral students to achieve international research excellence with forestry relevance. Through a purposeful education program with adapted courses, international exchanges and study visits to Swedish companies, a strong transdisciplinary and international professional network of doctoral students, senior researchers and representatives from the forestry arena is formed. SLU and the programs within WIFORCE continuously organize various events with representatives from academia and society, which provides further opportunities for networking.

What can you apply for?

In this call, preliminary up to 12 doctoral projects can be granted. The Research School finances 100% of the doctoral student's direct salary costs for 48 months according to the usual salary increase via SLU:s doctoral salary ladder. Each doctoral project also includes 250,000 SEK in running costs. The department is responsible for part of the project's co-financing, how much depends on the Vice-Chancellor's forthcoming decision on tripart co-financing. The current call closes on August 20, 2024. Further calls for a) industrial/collaborative doctoral projects with employment outside SLU are planned for the autumn of 2024 and b) more doctoral projects with employment at SLU are planned for 2026.

What type of projects can be supported?

Doctoral projects can be applied for basic natural science projects where the links to abiotic and biotic limitations, conditions and consequences of forest management in Sweden's forests are investigated.

Examples

Possible proposals for doctoral projects may include the following themes and questions in relation to current and future forest management:

• Developing tools for biodiversity assessment and mapping
• Remote sensing and forest monitoring
• Landscape heterogeneity linked to growth, biodiversity, carbon balance and biotic impacts
• Biodiversity and carbon balance
• Genetic biodiversity
• Soil biological and biogeochemical conditions
• Growth and forest damage linked to climate variability and extreme weather conditions
• Breeding and climate conditions
• Plant-animal interactions

Evaluation criteria

- The main applicant must be employed at the Faculty of Forestry and be a docent.

- The application will be assessed based on:

• The originality and scientific quality of the project
• The supervisor’s basic scientific competence
• Competence and suitability of the supervisor for the supervisory task
• The feasibility of the project
• The project's relevance to the goals of the graduate school

- It is also meritorious if the project contributes to new synergies between different scientific disciplines.

- Applicants may only be the main applicant on one application.

- The application must be electronically signed in Edusign by the head of the main applicant's department.

- Incomplete applications will not be assessed.

- Received applications will be evaluated and prioritized and awarded by the steering group based on a predetermined grading template: Assessment criteria for doctoral positions in Future Silviculture. If necessary, external reviewers will be engaged, these may be foreign. To ensure that the assessment is done in an equal and efficient way when foreign reviewers are used, we therefore ask you to prepare your application in English.

Instructions for your application

The application should be written in English to allow for external review and should include: 

- Project description (maximum five A4 pages excluding references, 11 font Times New Roman):

• Scientific justification and objectives of the project
• Methodology
• Preliminary and previous results relevant to the doctoral project
• Justification of the suitability of the project for doctoral studies

- Justification of the relevance of the proposed project to the field of Future Silviculture, max two A4 pages.

- CV of Main Supervisor, maximum three A4 pages:

• Name, position, academic title and department
• Docent, date
• PhD year
• List of ongoing projects and research grants
• List of doctoral students for whom you are and have been the main supervisor
• Current composition of the research team

- List of publications from the main supervisor from the last 10 years including highlighting the five most important publications (since 2014).

• Link to the Google Scholar profile

- Create a pdf file of the entire application

- The application must be signed digitally in Edusign by the head of the main applicant's department

- Incomplete applications will not be assessed

This is how PhD projects in the Research School Future Silviculture call are evaluated

Grading scale for assessment of:

Supervisor's basic scientific competence:

4 = Conducting excellent, internationally recognized research.
3 = Conducting very good internationally competitive research
2 = Conducting good nationally competitive research
1 = The scientific quality of the supervisor's research is insufficient

Competence and suitability of the supervisor for the supervisory task:

4 = Excellent competence for the supervisory task
3 = High competence for the supervisory task
2 = Good competence for the supervisory task
1 = Insufficient competence for the supervisory task

Feasibility of the project: Assessment of the feasibility of the doctoral project based on methodology and the supervisor's method/technical competence.

4 = Very high
3 = High
2 = Doubtful
1 = Unlikely

The originality and scientific quality of the doctoral project:

4 = Very high
3 = High
2 = Sufficient
1 = Insufficient

The relevance of the doctoral project to the goals of the graduate school (basic scientific knowledge to be able to analyze, develop and actively contribute to research on the future sustainable use of forests):

4 = Very relevant
3 = Relevant
2 = Less relevant
1 = No relevance

Applications should be submitted electronically to SLU via the following e-mail address Registrator-sfak@slu.se. Mark your e-mail and your application with the current diary number "SLU.sfak.2024.3.2.5-137".

Apply no later than August 20, 2024.

Contact persons at the Research School in Future Silviculture:

Scientific Directors

Hjalmar Laudon, hjalmar.laudon@slu.se

Ove Nilsson, ove.nilsson@slu.se

Acting (tillförordnad) Coordinator

Maria Israelsson Nordström, maria.nordstrom@slu.se