Description
The Doctoral School of Natural Sciences of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań offers opportunities to study and conduct scientific research in the international, as well as in the national and regional dimension. The University constantly updates and expands its research programmes and educational content, with particular emphasis on their interdisciplinary character.
Discipline: Biological sciences
Additional recruitment to the Doctoral School of Natural Sciences beyond the limit of places - Principal investigator: dr hab. Zuzanna Rosin-
Wójcik NCN 2022/47/B/NZ8/0235
Project description:
Loss of farmland biodiversity is currently one of the most important conservation problems in Europe and other parts of the world. Agriculture intensification, that is associated with reduction of valuable non-crop habitats and deterioration of crops’ ecological value, has been considered the most important factor so far. For the last two decades an enormous scientific and conservation effort have been made to counteract the negative effects of agriculture intensification, yet populations of farmland birds, pollinators and other taxa continue to decrease. One reason for this fail may be undervaluation of human rural settlements in the context of farmland biodiversity. Villages and their old farmsteads have been lately recognized as one of the most biodiversity-rich environments in agricultural areas. Human settlements are main environments for common species, such as house sparrow, tree sparrow, house martin and barn swallow. Importantly, a substantial part of farmland bird decline is associated with common species linked to rural human settlements. This is because economic development and current requirements for energy efficient buildings drive changes that result in substantial reductions of villages’ ecological values, such as nesting sites in buildings.
Old settlements significantly contribute to global CO2 emissions, therefore their modernisation is EU’s priority to reduce energy consumption in rural areas. New requirements for energy efficient housing in EU include extra-insulated roof and walls which may make old renovated and newly emerged buildings biodiversity unfriendly (i.e. poor in nesting sites). The planned and ongoing changes to building architecture in rural landscapes apply to the developed and developing part of the world. Due to these changes several declining building-nesting bird species in Europe are at high risk of further population declines. This means that a conflict between two sustainability goals, reduction of greenhouse gas emission and biodiversity conservation, occurs extensively in rural areas all over the world. For this conflict to be solved, building modernisation must include measures effectively reducing its negativeeffects on biodiversity. Installing nest-boxes may be an efficient on-site restoration to compensate the loss of nesting sites for some building-nesting species.
To our best knowledge there is no study that evaluated compensation for lost nesting sites in rural settlements in a comprehensive way, i.e. evaluated the losses associated with modernisation and gains from nest-boxes supply and accounted for background changes and temporal trends. It is therefore unknown whether nesting site supply is a sufficient countermeasure for village modernisation and what factors could interact with its effects.
The project is designed to implement and evaluate compensatory measures targeted to reduce the negative effect of rural building modernisation on bird diversity in farmlands. By using a robust study design we will explicitly evaluate (1) the effect of nesting sites supply on bird diversity in modern villages and their adjacent crops and (2) how this effect interacts with amount of habitat structures providing food and shelter for birds. By comparing gathered data with our existing data form 2017 we will also determine how temporal changes in village structure relate with farmland bird population dynamics in villages and surrounding crops. This project will deliver much needed scientific evidence for an easy and cost-effective measure that has potential to greatly reduce loss of farmland bird diversity associated with village modernisation. The project directly captures and bond the both key components of sustainable development, biodiversity and society.
Additional requirements:
- Language skills: Polish (obligatory; fluent level), English (obligatory, B1 level at least)
- Experience in statistical modeling in R programming
- Experience in performing experimental studies in the field
- Knowledge of avifauna of central-eastern Europe (bird species identification)
- Experience in bird counting.
Recruitment:
Selection Committeee
Chairwoman: dr hab. Zuzanna Rosin-Wójcik
prof. UAM dr hab. Michał Budka
dr Sylwia Pustkowiak
prof. dr hab. Witold Wachowiak
prof. UAM dr hab. Krzysztof Zawierucha
Secretary: dr Katarzyna Grajek
Schedule of the Doctoral School enrolment procedure:
- acceptance of documents: from 1 to 21 July, 2025
- admission process: from 28 to 31 July, 2025
- announcement of the list of candidates qualified for admission: 1 August, 2025
Recruitment fee
The recruitment fee is 75 EUR.
Form of the selection procedure
One-stage procedure.
Language of the selection procedure, including interviews:
Polish or English language.
Required documents:
Candidates are required to:
1. Complete the registration form and upload a digital photograph sized 20 mm x 25 mm with a resolution of at least 300 dpi.
2. Indicate the academic discipline in which they intend to conduct their doctoral research.
3. Consent to the processing of personal data for admission purposes.
4. Submit a CV.
5. Upload a motivation letter specifying the academic discipline in which they aim to earn their doctoral degree.
6. Provide a scan of a diploma confirming higher education qualifications at Level 7 of the Polish Qualification Framework, along with a diploma supplement. For 2024/2025 graduates who have not yet received their diplomas, a certificate confirming Level 7 qualifications, along with academic records, must be submitted, subject to section 3.
7. Attach a statement of documented achievements and supporting documents (for documents in languages other than Polish or English, a certified translation must be included). Applicants should indicate:
a) Up to three scientific achievements.
b) Up to three additional accomplishments, as defined by the criteria in § 11.
8. Submit a research project proposal, or in the case of admission tied to a research project, a detailed plan for grant project implementation, including a bibliography (up to 8 pages of standard text, max. 15,000 characters with spaces).
9. Upload an application for admission to the doctoral school, generated from the IRK system.
10.Pay the admission fee.
Candidates applying based on exceptional academic achievements must include a scan of the following:
1) For first-cycle graduates: the diploma and supplement.
2) For students completing the third year of a unified master’s programme: a certificate indicating their academic average from years 1 to 3, along with a transcript.
Candidates educated outside Poland must additionally submit:
1) A scanned copy of their higher education diploma and supplement for both first- and second-degree qualifications (Bachelor’s and Master’s), in the original language and a certified translation into English or Polish.
2) A scanned copy of their passport (for foreign applicants).
Evaluation criteria
The following shall be taken into account during the admission procedure:
1. A minimum grade of "very good" or equivalent from a second-cycle (master’s) or unified master’s degree diploma (5 points). Candidates applying on the basis of exceptional scientific achievements (e.g., grant awarded under the “Pearls of Science” competition) will also receive 5 points.
2. Evaluation of up to three documented scientific achievements submitted during registration in the IRK system, assessed according to the detailed criteria of the candidate's accomplishments (maximum of 20 points).
3. Assessment of other documented activities, based on up to three achievements indicated by the candidate, as per the specific criteria for the discipline (maximum of 5 points).
4. The outcome of the interview, which assesses:
a) The candidate’s knowledge and competencies relevant to their intended research, including discipline-specific expertise.
b) Research methodology appropriate to the chosen discipline. The interview has a maximum duration of 30 minutes and awards up to 50 points.
5. Evaluation of the research project prepared for admission, or in the case of recruitment tied to a grant project, the author’s concept for implementing the project (maximum of 20 points). Assessment focuses on:
a) Formulation of the research objective and presentation of the research problem. Page 6 of 9
b) Originality of the research idea and approach to solving the research problem.
c) Methodology suited to the indicated discipline.
d) Awareness of the current state of research, supported by a basic bibliography.
e) The project’s significance for the development of the chosen discipline.
Condition of admission to the Doctoral School
Each candidate may be awarded a maximum of 100 points in the selection procedure.A candidate will be admitted to a doctoral school if he or she is awarded a sufficient number of points awarding a place on the ranking list, within the limit of candidates for a given scientific discipline; the candidate must also obtain at least 60 points from the entire selection procedure.
Education Program
Education at the doctoral school lasts 8 semesters. Education at the Doctoral School is offered on the basis of a framework curriculum and an individual research plan and ends with the submission of a doctoral dissertation.
The framework curriculum at the doctoral school includes a catalogue of modules of compulsory classes, elective compulsory classes and optional classes. It also:
1) defines their schedule
2) defines the way in which the classes are taught
3) defines how learning outcomes are verified.
Education begins on 1st October, 2025.
Supervisors
A doctoral student works under the supervision of a supervisor or supervisors, or a supervisor and auxiliary supervisor, who will be appointed by the Deputy Rector at the request of a doctoral student (within 3 months of the start of his or her studies at the Doctoral School).
Scholarships
The doctoral scholarship amounts to PLN 5000 (gross-gross) per month before the mid-term evaluation and PLN 6259 (gross-gross) per month after the mid-term evaluation. The scholarship is awarded for a maximum of 4 years.
Disability allowance: PLN 1040.07 gross.
