Social Science Portal

With multiple agencies/entities, groups and task forces all working to find solutions for operational concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, the need for a space to share information is apparent. This forum serves as a platform to ask questions, as well as to share ideas, information, and solutions.

Please refer to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's website regarding infectious disease guidance for wildland fire incidents, Emergency Medical Committee.

This Research Social Scientist in the Pacific Northwest Research Station's Good, Services and Values Research Program. The Program mission is to conduct and communicate research to advance understanding of relationships among people and forest and rangeland ecosystems.

Responsibilities:

• Conduct and communicate research to advance understanding of relationships among people and forest and rangeland ecosystems.
• Improve knowledge of fundamental social and economic processes and their interactions with the natural environment.
• Examine the roles of policies, programs, and other institutions in interactions between people and natural resources.
• Describe and analyze the implications of changing demographics, socioeconomics, and technology on natural resources and their management.
• Conduct and use integrated multidisciplinary research to support development of management approaches accounting for socioeconomic, ecological, and biophysical interaction.
• Design a coordinated research effort that is responsive to the complexities of natural resource use and management in the Pacific Northwest.
• Describe the capacity of dynamic landscapes to provide for evolving human wants and needs.
• Research topics include: forest and rangeland restoration, wildland fire, community resilience, water and resource management, and collaboration and public engagement.

A postdoctoral researcher is being sought to lead an effort to analyze the governance network around management of western fire-prone forests under climate change for the benefit of ecosystems and human communities. This position is part of new a multi-disciplinary working group that aims to improve scientific understanding of western forests as social-ecological systems (SES) undergoing change and develop strategies for managing forests to mitigate risk and improve ecosystem health and socio-economic well-being. The postdoctoral researcher will inventory, classify, and map, as part of a network, the key public and private actors concerned with fire-prone forests in the Rocky Mountain region. The work will involve primary data collection about actors’ goals, strategies, and interactions; quantitative descriptive and inferential network analysis; and writing scholarly manuscripts and grant proposals.

Assistant/ Associate/ Full Professor of Soil Science and Restoration Ecology – Tenure-track, academic year (9 month) position within the Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences (NRES) Department at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo. Beginning date is September 10, 2020. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The successful candidate will teach courses that prepare students for a broad range of careers in environmental science and natural resource management. Scholarship should include the field of soil science, restoration ecology, and the interaction between social and biophysical systems at the landscape scale. Some potential areas of specialization may include restoration/conservation/landscape ecology, soil remediation, and land management that connect terrestrial and hydrological systems with social systems. Research experience related to conservation and planning of natural areas, managed landscapes, and protected areas at landscape scales and geospatial analysis skills that connects biophysical and social datasets are preferred. Given the interdisciplinary nature of this position, the successful candidate will collaborate with other Colleges/Departments at the university.

Cal Poly has a tradition of excellence in teaching and our motto is “Learn by Doing.” Strong interests in laboratory/field-based undergraduate teaching along with excellent written and oral communication skills as reflected by a peer-reviewed publication record that is commensurate with time/experience in career are required. The successful candidate will teach environmental management, soil science, and ecology courses in the NRES Department. Demonstrated experience collaborating with natural resource agencies and the ability to connect students with applied restoration efforts is highly desired. The successful candidate will also mentor undergraduate and graduate research projects, provide general academic and student club advising, participate in Future Farmers of America (FFA) land judging state finals held on campus annually, teach graduate level courses and nurture overall student development with a focus in restoration ecology.

Courses taught will depend on student demand. The successful candidate will have expertise to teach the following courses: Introductory Soil Science (SS 120), Introduction to Environmental Management (NR142), Introduction to Earth Systems (ERSC 144), and Natural Resource Ecology and Habitat Management (NR 306), in addition to developing new course(s) in restoration ecology, as well as landscape and/or conservation ecology. Additional expertise to teach the following courses is desirable: Fire Ecology (NR307), Wetlands (NR/SS 421), Soil Ecology (SS 422), Soil Morphology (SS 321), and Ecosystem Management (NR465). These courses are taken by NRES majors as well as by students from many of the departments within the College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences.

Advertised: December 16, 2019 (9:00 AM) Pacific Standard Time
Applications close: Open Until Filled

The Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia (UBC), invites applications for a tenure-track academic position in Indigenous Natural Sciences at the Assistant or Associate Professor level, to commence on July 1, 2021 or when a suitable candidate is found. The UBC Vancouver campus is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the xwmǝθkwǝýǝm (Musqueam).

Depending on the background of the successful candidate, this position will be housed in either the Department of Forest Resources Management, the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, the Department of Wood Science, or jointly between two of these.

Questions should be directed to Professor John Innes, Dean of Forestry at john.innes@ubc.ca or Professor Chris Gaston, Chair of Search Committee at chris.gaston@ubc.ca.