Three year appointment at ETH Zurich (funded at the ETH Zurich PhD student salary scale). The position will be based in Zurich, but will require extended periods of fieldwork in Kodagu, India. The PhD students might be required to do some course work at ETH Zurich as partial fulfillment of the PhD requirements.

Coffee agroforestry worldwide is being increasingly intensified, principally through a decline in shade tree cover and its diversity, with potentially multiple and negative long term effects on crop production, resilience to climate change, ecosystem service delivery and biodiversity. We seek to quantify the trade-offs inherent in agroforest management, with a view to understand how management of coffee smallholdings can contribute to more sustainable landscapes and resilient production systems.

Location
ETH Zurich, Switzerland, with fieldwork in Kodagu, India. Primary affiliation: Ecosystem Management, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems. Secondary affiliation: Plant Ecology, Institute of Integrative Biology.

Supervisors
Prof. Dr. Jaboury Ghazoul (Ecosystem Management, ETH Zurich), Dr Christoph Kueffer (Plant Ecology, ETH Zurich), Dr Smitha Krishnan (EM).

We are seeking highly motivated applicants with a desire to work on tropical forest ecology as part of a dynamic team. You must have good B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in ecology, agroforestry, or other related field. Very good spoken and written English are essential; knowledge of German would be advantageous but not required. Applicants should enjoy working in challenging tropical field conditions, and also be prepared to spend substantial time doing field-based work. An ability to work both independently as well as part of a team is essential.

The Professorship of Ecosystem Management comprises around 20 researchers and staff and has a diverse international composition. Research within the group tackles a range of topics relating to plant ecology, conservation and ecosystem management. See our web site for more details (www.ecology.ethz.ch).

Application
Send (1) a letter of motivation describing your research interests and reasons for doing a PhD; (2) a full CV, including any relevant experience; and (3) names and addresses of two referees, to Ankara Chen by e-mail: chen-at-env.ethz.ch. Please quote reference MOCA in the subject line. Closing date for applications is 31 July 2012. The position is open to candidates of all nationalities, although applicants from India are particularly welcome. We expect to interview short-listed candidates in late August or early September.
For informal enquiries contact Jaboury Ghazoul.

Starting Date
Latest January 2013.

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