Category Archives: News

STOIKOS kick-off meeting

The STOIKOS team is now complete! To celebrate, today we held our inaugural project meeting.

PI Marcos Fernández started us off by giving an overview of the theory and empirical evidence underpinning STOIKOS, and laying out the project’s objectives and the exciting work ahead. Team members Roger Grau, Xin Song, Écio Diniz, Zhenhong Hu, Alba Martín, Eladio Rodríguez, Filipe Andrade, Arnald Marcer, and Roberto Molowny-Horas talked about about their research background and their role within the STOIKOS project. Collaborators Catherine Preece, Jordi Sardans, Peter Manning, Estela Romero, Josep Peñuelas, Alba Anadon, Guille Peguero, Quico Sabater, Zaki Saati, and Xavier Picó introduced their work and contributed to a lively scientific discussion.

kick-off_meeting_program Download

The EDM team is hiring PhD students to work on STOIKOS

The EDM team is seeking up to 3 PhD candidates to join the STOIKOS project. Full-time contracts are offered for 3 years (with a potential extension of one additional year) starting October/November 2023. The annual gross salary will be €17,651 for years 1 and 2, €18,912 for year 3, and €23,641 for year 4. While funding will initially come from STOIKOS, candidates will be required to apply to predoctoral grants such as FI, FPU or LaCaixa.

The PhD positions will develop research lines already defined, but may also incorporate other topics depending on the expertise and interests of the candiate. The research lines are:

Assessing elementome shifts, competition and the role of elemental diversity using bryophytes in experimental microcosms
Establishing the link between organism functioning and elemental composition across and within species
Beyond natural ecosystems: elementomes, elemental diversity and crop performance
Modelling elementomes and elemental diversity effects on ecosystem functioning, niche differentiation and evolution
Investigating the drivers of destabilisation of natural ecosystems

Further details on the research lines, tasks, requirements, and the selection process can be found at https://www.creaf.cat/work-with-us/predoctoral-researcher-stoikos-project-erc-starting-grant.

The deadline for applying is 30 September 2023.

For any enquiries, please contact Dr. Fernández-Martínez: m.fernandez@creaf.uab.cat.

The STOIKOS web page is now live!

The web page for the ERC-funded project ‘Elemental ecology: towards an element-based functional ecology (STOIKOS)’ is now up and running. Here, you can find out about the project’s aims, the research team, and project updates. We look forward to sharing STOIKOS progress and research outcomes.