The College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism of the Sokoine University of Agriculture, in collaboration with Tanzania Forestry Research Institute (TAFORI) and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, hereby invites interested and qualified citizens of Tanzania (holding Master’s degree or equivalent) to submit applications for 2 PhD scholarships under the Danida financed project “Climate, pollinator biodiversity, crop pollination and people´s livelihoods” (CPBCPP). As the PhD projects are part of the CPBCPP project, the two PhD students will work closely together with a PhD student hired at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The two students will be enrolled at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, with research stays at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
The scholarship duration is a maximum of four years, and will commence on July 1, 2024. The PhD scholars will be supervised by a joint team of senior academics from the College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, TAFORI and the University of Copenhagen, and will be provided PhD level training in both university environments.
Requirements for the 2 scholarships:
The PhD scholarship #1
This PhD project will examine how changing climatic conditions influence pollinators diversity and pollination limitation of food crops grown by smallholder farmers along an elevation and climate gradient in the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAMs) in Tanzania. Along the elevation and climate gradient, the PhD candidate will estimate pollinator diversity and conduct pollinator experiments to estimate fruit-set of crops. To design climate-smart and pollinatorfriendly agricultural systems, the PhD student will also use future climate scenarios and species distribution models (SDMs) to model the future distribution of the pollinators of the crops grown in the EAMs. The PhD student should be prepared to collect data for approximately 8 months and work closely together with other SUA PhD students and a University of Copenhagen-based PhD student.
The PhD scholarship #2
This PhD project aims at testing the performance of beekeeping in increasing crop yield along an elevation and climate gradient in the Eastern Arc Mountains (EAMs) in Tanzania. To do so, the PhD candidate will randomly select 50 farms to implement beekeeping practices and 50 ‘control’ farms without beekeeping activities along the elevation/climate gradient. On the farms to implement beekeeping practices, TAFORI (with the help of selected PhD candidate) will be in charge of installing beehives. After approximately 6 months of letting the beehives develop, the PhD candidate will follow the same protocol as PhD scholarship #1 to estimate pollinator diversity and conduct the same pollinator experiments to estimate fruit-set. This will enable the PhD candidate to quantify the increase in fruit-set due to beekeeping along the climate gradient. The PhD student should be prepared to collect data for approximately 8 months and work closely together with other SUA PhD students and a University of Copenhagen-based PhD student.
Interested applicants should submit a letter of application indicating the scholarship being applied for (#1 or 2), a Curriculum Vitae, a concept note of a maximum of 2,000 words (outlining and justifying research questions/objectives, describing relevant theories, and indicating study approach/design and methods), scanned copies of certificates and names of two academic referees. Other important criteria for selection are:
- Professional qualifications relevant to the CPBCPP project
- Interest in conducting fieldwork, including working remotely and in challenging field conditions
- Field work experience, preferably focused on plant-pollinator interactions and natural history
- Experience with quantitative analysis of data, preferably in R
- Good interpersonal skills, an interest in working within a team, openness to different cultures and a flexible mindset • Other professional activities
- A curious mindset with a strong interest in combining fieldwork data with modelling • A valid driving licence
- The grade point average achieved
If further clarification is needed, please contact Dr Rose Kicheleri at rose.kicheleri@sua.ac.tz. All applications should be submitted electronically to rose.kicheleri@sua.ac.tz. The deadline for application is April 1, 2024 at 10.00 am East Africa Time (EAT).
Only short-listed candidates will be notified by April 15, 2024 and invited to revise their draft research proposal in response to comments from potential supervisors and to present this at an interview session at SUA, Edward Moringe Campus in Morogoro on May 15, 2024.
PhD SUACall_CPBCPP Project_22.02.2024 Final
