Many populations of albatrosses and petrels have declined dramatically, primarily due to bycatch in commercial fisheries or predation at nesting sites by invasive species. Understanding the outcomes of management actions is challenging because most petrels are nocturnal at colonies and nest in burrows. Advances in passive acoustic recording could offer the opportunity for cost-effective population monitoring even at remote archipelagos.

We are looking for a MSc student to join our team at Carleton University in collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey. The student will lead a study funded by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), analyzing 8 years of white-chinned petrel audio recordings and burrovv surveys at Bird Island, South Georgia. The project will involve the development of toolsto help determine the ability of acoustic monitoring to detect changes in attendance patterns and numbers of non-breeding and breeding white-chinned petrels. The results will help inform development of methods for measuring recovery and recolonization of petrels after rodent eradications, including on the main island of South Georgia. The position start date is September 2024. The student will be supervised by Dr. Rachel Buxton in collaboration with Prof. Richard Phillips.

Essential Skills and Qualifications: BSc degree in ecology, conservation science, data science, geography, applied statistics, or a related field; strong research, leadership, and communication skills; enthusiasm and kindness; experience managing and analyzing data.

Desirable Skills: GIS/mapping; coding in R; bird identification; experience of analyzing acoustic recordings

Application details: Applicants should send the fallowing to Rachel Buxton (Rachel.Buxton@carleton.ca) and Richa1·d Phillips (raphil@bas.ac.uk) by March 15, 2024:

1. Letter of interest summarizing your experience;

2. Curriculum Vitae;

3. Contact details for three references; and

4. University transcripts (unofficial are fine).

Note that existing funding is only sufficient to cover Canadian citizens.

Please use the subject line: Seabirds and acoustics application.