Looking for PhD Candidate – New Zealand
New Zealand Winegrowers
52 Symonds Street, Level 3
Auckland, New Zealand 1010
Help NZ’s wine industry make giant steps – two fully funded PhD
scholarships up for grabs!
New Zealand Winegrowers are inviting enthusiastic students to
apply for a three year, fully funded PhD scholarship, and play a
leading role in a project aimed at helping New Zealand vineyards
to have a more sustainable future.
Be part of a cutting edge project.
Closing Date:
05/31/2016
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work within
New Zealand’s exciting $1.5 billion, world–renowned wine
industry, which is leading the way globally in research and
innovation.
The ultimate aim of the project is to increase our knowledge on
the factors influencing vineyard longevity and sustainability and
help protect the future of the industry.
Vineyards around the country are being studied to understand how
the impacts of conventional vs ‘future’ management techniques
contribute to the longevity and sustainability of the crops. Over
multiple grape harvests, microbiological, chemical, weather and
grapevine physiology data will be gathered for analysis.
Your goal will be to help us understand and identify interesting
evolutionary and functional relationships within and between
organisms, and the impact of vineyard management has on these
relationships, by figuring out:
- How to reliably explore the data for causal relationships?
- How to model the interactions between organisms and environment?
- What statistical methods best accommodate the complexity of this experiment?
Are you up for the task?
We’re looking for a motivated PhD student who’s interested and
excited about researching data-driven model and method
development to help us advance New Zealand’s vineyard
sustainability and longevity prospects.
You’ll need an Honours in Statistics, Bioinformatics (or
equivalent), strong research potential, and be able to commence
work by June 2016 (second student to start in 2-3 years’
time).
Ideally, you’ll have fundamental knowledge in multivariate data
analysis, and statistical computing and database management. It’s
important that you’re also a great communicator, who’s
comfortable and keen to work collaboratively with a group of
statisticians, biologists, chemists and wine industry
representatives.
International students are encouraged to apply.
The scholarship includes a tax-free stipend of NZ$25,000 per
year, for three years. The scholarship is fully funded
through the New Zealand Winegrowers (NZW) Vineyard Ecosystems
Programme, a partnership with the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
A second PhD student will be sought in 2-3 years’ time, however,
we encourage potential applicants to make contact.
Our successful student will be placed at the University of
Auckland within an internationally renowned research group, and
will have access to a wide range of academic support.
You’ll have the opportunity to hone your presentation and
communication skills by making and attending presentations,
seminars, conferences within New Zealand’s wine industry.
As part of this project you’ll be exposed to and working with
some of the great minds behind New Zeeland’s 6th largest export
industry, and will get the chance to work with colleagues across
Auckland University’s Department of Statistics, School of
Biological Sciences, and School of Chemical Sciences.
How do I apply?
Applications must include:
- A current CV
- Full academic transcripts
- A covering letter, and
- Contact details of two referees
Please email your application to Dr. Mark Eltom (mark.eltom@nzwine.com) and Dr. Steffen Klaere (s.klaere@auckland.ac.nz).
See you in New Zealand!