MSCA-PF Supervision Opportunity: Integrative Ecology, Population Dynamics and Conservation Modelling

Description:

The Ecology and Demography Group led by Prof. Daniel Oro at CEAB-CSIC invites outstanding postdoctoral researchers to develop 2–3 year research projects under the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF 2026) programme.

Applicants who secure the support of Prof. Oro will benefit from strong institutional support and tailored MSCA-PF proposal training. CEAB-CSIC provides a dynamic and interdisciplinary research environment with excellent facilities for both field-based, laboratory, and computational work, including access to high-performance computing infrastructure. The centre is located on the Costa Brava, within commuting distance of Barcelona and Girona.

By the MSCA-PF deadline, candidates must hold a PhD, comply with mobility rules, and designate CEAB-CSIC as host institution. Candidates with expertise in ecology, population dynamics, conservation biology, or quantitative modelling are especially encouraged to apply.

Brief profile of the Centre / Research Group / PI:

Prof. Daniel Oro is a Professor of Research at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and member of the Department of Ecology and Complexity at CEAB-CSIC. He obtained his PhD in 1996 and has since built an internationally recognised research programme focused on population ecology, conservation biology, and ecological theory.

His work integrates ecological and evolutionary theory with a strong quantitative approach to understand population dynamics under global change. His research addresses the effects of drivers such as climate variability, invasive species, harvesting, and habitat alteration on animal and plant populations and communities. A central focus is the role of feedback mechanisms and non-linear dynamics (e.g. thresholds, tipping points, hysteresis) shaping ecological systems.

He has published over 280 scientific articles in leading journals (e.g., Ecology Letters, Global Change Biology, PNAS, Trends in Ecology and Evolution) and has extensive experience mentoring early-career researchers, including Marie Curie fellows. One of his main accomplishments is that all his PhD students and post-doc researchers (21 in total) are working in academic and scientific positions.

The group promotes a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and intellectually open environment, integrating field ecology, long-term datasets, and advanced modelling approaches.

Idea / Project description:

Research in the group focuses on understanding how ecological stability and resilience emerge across scales—from individuals to populations and ecosystems—under ongoing global change.

A central research line is the study of feedback mechanisms linking demographic processes, life-history strategies, and environmental variability. The group aims to develop integrative frameworks combining ecological theory, complex systems approaches, and quantitative modelling to explain and predict ecological dynamics.

Current research explores how individual heterogeneity, demographic buffering, and life-history trade-offs influence population resilience. A key objective is to understand how different species respond to perturbations such as climate variability, invasive predators, or anthropogenic impacts.

At the ecosystem level, the group investigates how species interactions, trophic feedbacks, and energy flows shape stability and resilience. This includes the use of long-term datasets from Mediterranean ecosystems, including coastal wetlands and subalpine grasslands, combined with approaches such as hierarchical Bayesian modelling, state-space models, and agent-based simulations.

The group also develops theoretical advances by integrating demographic models with complex systems theory, exploring concepts such as non-equilibrium dynamics, alternative stable states, and tipping points. These approaches aim to provide a predictive understanding of ecological responses to global change.

Applicants are encouraged to propose innovative projects aligned with these research lines, particularly those combining empirical data with theoretical or computational approaches.

Contact Person / Scientist in Charge:

Name and surname: Daniel Oro

Email address: d.oro@csic.es

ORCID: 0000-0003-4782-3007

Hosting Institution: CEAB-CSIC. Website: https://www.ceab.csic.es/en/

Research Area:

Life Sciences