[Taxacom] PhD studentships at University of Reading, UK

[Julie A. Hawkins]

3 PhD positions
Application deadline: November 15th 2013

Applications are invited from suitably qualified applicants for three EU-funded PhD studentships at the University of Reading, UK

Full details of the positions and the application procedures are at http://medplant.eu/open-positions/ Click on ESR6, ESR11 and ESR12 for full details.
Eligible candidates will not have spent more than 12 months in the UK in the last 3 years and will usually be EU nationals. See full details for eligibility criteria.

*MedPlant PhD Fellowship 6: Transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in Nepal

The University of Reading (UoR), the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and the University of Aberdeen (UoA) announce an opening for a fully funded PhD Fellowship (Early Stage Researcher) under an EU FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) entitled Phylogenetic Exploration of Medicinal Plant Diversity, MedPlant (www.MedPlant.eu<http://www.MedPlant.eu>). This 3-year PhD scholarship will commence Spring 2014. The successful candidate will participate in a Marie Curie international training network and will work in a cross-disciplinary international environment with other Marie-Curie PhD students, researchers, authorities, NGOs and industry.

"Transmission of medicinal plant knowledge in Nepal" will use cultural and species phylogenies to assess the patterns of vertical and horizontal transmission in plant use in Nepal. Using quantitative ethnobotanical techniques to source data on plant use, the ESR will test whether closely related species are adopted where an ancestral species is not available, and the extent to which there is "phylogenetic conservation" through vertical transmission of traditional knowledge. The results of the ESR project will be interpreted in the light of Dr. Will Tuladhar-Douglas´ (UoA) on-going work investigating the historical and continuing trade networks independently managed by Nepal-based ethnic groups operating between Tibet, the Himalayas and the Deccan Plateau.

*MedPlant PhD Fellowship 11: Tools for identification in support of legal and safe use of medicinal plants

The University of Reading and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announce an opening for a fully funded PhD Fellowship (Early Stage Researcher) under an EU FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) entitled Phylogenetic Exploration of Medicinal Plant Diversity, MedPlant (www.MedPlant.eu<http://www.MedPlant.eu>). This 3-year PhD scholarship will commence Spring 2014. The successful candidate will participate in a Marie Curie international training network and will work in a cross-disciplinary international environment with other Marie-Curie PhD students, researchers, authorities, NGOs and industry.

"Tools for identification in support of legal and safe use of medicinal plants" will investigate the composition, adulteration and substitution of medicinal plant preparations.   Specifically, species used in Ayurveda will be selected and DNA markers used to resolve issues relating to species delimitation and discrimination. DNA work will be integrated with the traditional aspects of herbal monography and outputs will include a clearer understanding of the potential of DNA markers in ensuring the safe and legal use of medicinal plants.


*MedPlant PhD Fellowship 12: evolutionarily distinct, globally endangered and potentially valuable medicinal plant species

The University of Reading and the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew (RBG Kew) announce an opening for a fully funded PhD Fellowship (Early Stage Researcher) under an EU FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) entitled Phylogenetic Exploration of Medicinal Plant Diversity, MedPlant (www.MedPlant.eu<http://www.MedPlant.eu>). This 3-year PhD scholarship will commence Spring 2014. The successful candidate will participate in a Marie Curie international training network and will work in a cross-disciplinary international environment with other Marie-Curie PhD students, researchers, authorities, NGOs and industry.

"Evolutionarily distinct, globally endangered and potentially valuable medicinal plant species" will use a mega-phylogeny of European plants, reconstructed from publically available and newly generated sequence data, to identify EDGE species. Evolutionary Distinctiveness scores will be calculated from the mega-phylogeny, and endangerment estimated using herbarium-based distribution estimates of IUCN status. The two statistics will be used to calculate EDGE scores. In addition to evolutionary distinctiveness, we will identify potentially useful medicinal species using phylogenetic approaches. Species which could usefully be the focus of further research and are in urgent need of conservation action will be highlighted in this way.


Dr Julie Hawkins
Reader in Plant Systematics and Evolution
0118 378 6546  http://www.reading.ac.uk/biologicalsciences/