NEW OPPORTUNITY: Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sustainability & Social Innovation
The Bennett lab, in collaboration with the Office of the Principal, at McGill University is recruiting a Postdoctoral Associate to pursue applied research at the interface of sustainability, social innovation, and social-ecological transformation. We are seeking exceptional early-career scholars committed to connecting interdisciplinary research and knowledge of best practices to important sustainability challenges. Download above file for more information.
The Bennett lab, in collaboration with the Office of the Principal, at McGill University is recruiting a Postdoctoral Associate to pursue applied research at the interface of sustainability, social innovation, and social-ecological transformation. We are seeking exceptional early-career scholars committed to connecting interdisciplinary research and knowledge of best practices to important sustainability challenges. Download above file for more information.
| postdoc_ad_mcgill_seeds_2017.pdf |
Job Opportunity: Research Assistant
Looking for an opportunity to get involved in research?
The Bennett Lab is looking for enthusiastic field assistant(s) to help conduct exciting field work on ecosystem services this summer. We are working on a few projects including:
(i) Taking hands-on measurements of ecosystem services such as crop production, soil nutrients, and pollination in the Monteregie region (which is just south of Montreal) to assess how landscape configuration affects the provision of these important services.
(ii) Conducting surveys with local forest owners to better understand how forest management actions can influence carbon storage (and help to mitigate climate change) in the forests of southern Quebec.
The successful candidate must possess good communication skills in French and English in order to converse with local land owners. Download file for more information.
Looking for an opportunity to get involved in research?
The Bennett Lab is looking for enthusiastic field assistant(s) to help conduct exciting field work on ecosystem services this summer. We are working on a few projects including:
(i) Taking hands-on measurements of ecosystem services such as crop production, soil nutrients, and pollination in the Monteregie region (which is just south of Montreal) to assess how landscape configuration affects the provision of these important services.
(ii) Conducting surveys with local forest owners to better understand how forest management actions can influence carbon storage (and help to mitigate climate change) in the forests of southern Quebec.
The successful candidate must possess good communication skills in French and English in order to converse with local land owners. Download file for more information.
| researchassistantad_2018.pdf |
Letter to Prospective Students
Photo: Alex Tran
My lab works collaboratively on projects related to understanding the ecology behind ecosystem services management. Ecosystem services such as food, water, soil formation, and erosion control reflect the way in which societies extract resources from the environment. Despite their importance, management of most ecosystem services is poorly understood because it lies in a gray area between natural and social sciences. Many environmental crises, policy debates, and uncertainties in ecosystem management are related to lack of fundamental, empirically-grounded, theoretically consistent information about ecosystem services.
We employ a combination of fieldwork, multi-scale spatial analysis, and modeling to address questions about the provision, use, and management of ecosystem services. To learn more about the work done in my lab, check out the rest of our website. You will find descriptions of my current research interests as well as a list of recent publications, pages for the various students and postdocs involved in the lab, and links to information about graduate school at McGill. The NRS home page and the MSE graduate option page also provide much information relevant to prospective applicants.
I believe that graduate training is one of the most important tasks of a professor, and I tend to invest a lot of time and energy in my students. I am thus very selective in choosing students. I work hard to provide my students with mentoring and advice, space to work, equipment, funding, connections to the broader world of ecology, and a positive lab community. In turn, I expect my students to take an active role in their education and to work hard to do the best work they can do and to make a contribution to ecology, to the lab, and to society. While I spend considerable time with my students, I do not assign topics or projects. Instead, I plan to invest a considerable amount of time helping each student discover their interest and develop their own research questions. While the independent development of a research question can be quite stressful for some students, my opinion is that it is well worth it for the ownership students feel in their projects as a result.
In making decisions about whether to take on a graduate student, I look primarily at three things: the quality and interests of the applicant, the availability of funding, and the current number of students in the lab. In a student, I'm looking for research experience, publications in scientific journals, good grades, passion for science (and life!), and a strong interest in the work we do in the lab. It is not necessary to have all of these, but it helps to have at least a few.
If you are interested in being a student in my lab, please email me a short note introducing yourself, including your CV and an unofficial copy of your academic transcripts (to elena.bennett@mcgill.ca). It helps if you can be fairly specific concerning how your interests overlap mine and what you would be interested in working on during your time at McGill. I look forward to hearing from you!
--Elena
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
KEY INFORMATION
Departmental Deadlines for Application:
Canadian residents and citizens:
Funding sources:
For Canadians and Permanent Residents:
We employ a combination of fieldwork, multi-scale spatial analysis, and modeling to address questions about the provision, use, and management of ecosystem services. To learn more about the work done in my lab, check out the rest of our website. You will find descriptions of my current research interests as well as a list of recent publications, pages for the various students and postdocs involved in the lab, and links to information about graduate school at McGill. The NRS home page and the MSE graduate option page also provide much information relevant to prospective applicants.
I believe that graduate training is one of the most important tasks of a professor, and I tend to invest a lot of time and energy in my students. I am thus very selective in choosing students. I work hard to provide my students with mentoring and advice, space to work, equipment, funding, connections to the broader world of ecology, and a positive lab community. In turn, I expect my students to take an active role in their education and to work hard to do the best work they can do and to make a contribution to ecology, to the lab, and to society. While I spend considerable time with my students, I do not assign topics or projects. Instead, I plan to invest a considerable amount of time helping each student discover their interest and develop their own research questions. While the independent development of a research question can be quite stressful for some students, my opinion is that it is well worth it for the ownership students feel in their projects as a result.
In making decisions about whether to take on a graduate student, I look primarily at three things: the quality and interests of the applicant, the availability of funding, and the current number of students in the lab. In a student, I'm looking for research experience, publications in scientific journals, good grades, passion for science (and life!), and a strong interest in the work we do in the lab. It is not necessary to have all of these, but it helps to have at least a few.
If you are interested in being a student in my lab, please email me a short note introducing yourself, including your CV and an unofficial copy of your academic transcripts (to elena.bennett@mcgill.ca). It helps if you can be fairly specific concerning how your interests overlap mine and what you would be interested in working on during your time at McGill. I look forward to hearing from you!
--Elena
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
KEY INFORMATION
Departmental Deadlines for Application:
Canadian residents and citizens:
- March 15th for September registration
- October 15th for January registration
- January 15th for September registration
- August 15th for January registration
Funding sources:
For Canadians and Permanent Residents:
- FQRNT funding: http://www.fqrnt.gouv.qc.ca/nateq/bourses/
- NSERC funding: http://www.nserc.ca/index.htm
- Fellowships: http://www.mcgill.ca/gps/postdocs/fellowships
Interested students should also look at the following web-sites for information about graduate school at McGill:
http://www.mcgill.ca/nrs/
http://www.mcgill.ca/nrs/graduate/
http://www.mcgill.ca/mse
http://www.mcgill.ca/mse/programs/envroption/