Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
We invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Population Genetics Modelling and Environmental DNA, jointly supervised by Dr Gamze Gursoy in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and Dr Aylwyn Scally in the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge.
The successful candidate will work at the interface of environmental DNA, human population genetics, mathematical modelling, statistical inference, and genomic data science. The project will develop quantitative approaches for understanding how human genetic variation can be detected, modelled, interpreted, and protected in environmental DNA datasets. Environmental DNA is increasingly used to study biodiversity, ecosystems, pathogen surveillance, and human-associated environments, but it also raises new scientific and ethical questions when human genetic material is incidentally captured. This project will address these challenges by combining rigorous population-genetic modelling with computational and statistical methods for analysing complex, low-input, mixed, degraded, or environmentally sampled genomic data.
The role is primarily computational and theoretical, and is particularly suited to a researcher with a strong quantitative background in the mathematics of population genetics, statistical genetics, evolutionary modelling, applied probability, computational biology, or a related field. The successful candidate will contribute to the development of models and inference frameworks for environmental DNA data, with possible areas of focus including admixture, relatedness, ancestry inference, demographic history, allele-frequency modelling, contamination and mixture models, identifiability, uncertainty quantification, and privacy risks associated with human genetic signal in environmental samples.
The appointee will be expected to plan and manage their own research and administration, with guidance as required. They will take an active role in both research groups, contribute to the development of graduate student research skills, and participate in seminars, group meetings, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaborations across DAMTP, Genetics, and related departments.
Applicants should have completed, or be close to completing, a Ph.D. in We invite applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Population Genetics Modelling and Environmental DNA, jointly supervised by Dr Gamze Gursoy in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and Dr Aylwyn Scally in the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge.
The successful candidate will work at the interface of environmental DNA, human population genetics, mathematical modelling, statistical inference, and genomic data science. The project will develop quantitative approaches for understanding how human genetic variation can be detected, modelled, interpreted, and protected in environmental DNA datasets. Environmental DNA is increasingly used to study biodiversity, ecosystems, pathogen surveillance, and human-associated environments, but it also raises new scientific and ethical questions when human genetic material is incidentally captured. This project will address these challenges by combining rigorous population-genetic modelling with computational and statistical methods for analysing complex, low-input, mixed, degraded, or environmentally sampled genomic data.
The role is primarily computational and theoretical, and is particularly suited to a researcher with a strong quantitative background in the mathematics of population genetics, statistical genetics, evolutionary modelling, applied probability, computational biology, or a related field. The successful candidate will contribute to the development of models and inference frameworks for environmental DNA data, with possible areas of focus including admixture, relatedness, ancestry inference, demographic history, allele-frequency modelling, contamination and mixture models, identifiability, uncertainty quantification, and privacy risks associated with human genetic signal in environmental samples.
The appointee will be expected to plan and manage their own research and administration, with guidance as required. They will take an active role in both research groups, contribute to the development of graduate student research skills, and participate in seminars, group meetings, workshops, and interdisciplinary collaborations across DAMTP, Genetics, and related departments.
Applicants should have completed, or be close to completing, a Ph.D. in population genetics, mathematical genetics, statistics, evolutionary genetics, computational biology, bioinformatics, genomics, or a closely related quantitative field.