Doctoral Researcher

The Department of Biodiversity Sciences at the University of Turku invites applications for a doctoral researcher/project researcher to work in the ERC-funded NATURETIME project. The doctoral researcher/project researcher position is offered a fixed-term full-time contract for 48 months (4 years). Employment begins on January ,1 2027, at the earliest, and no later than April 1, 2027. The doctoral researcher/project researcher will be working with the Biodiversity and Sustainability Solutions (BISONS) Lab. Our research team aims to contribute toward finding solutions for sustainable futures that can benefit people and nature. We focus on developing new insights on human-nature interactions and using that information to enhance biodiversity conservation and sustainability efforts. We are a growing international and interdisciplinary research group and draw from a range of approaches for our research, with a strong focus on digital data and methods. The successful candidate is expected to benefit from and collaborate with other team members, including the PI and approximately ten other researchers (MSc and PhD students, post-docs and project researchers), as well as with an extended network of international collaborators. Job description The selected candidate will be working under the ERC-funded project entitled “Understanding how nature reshapes human sense of time to foster well-being and sustainable futures” (NATURETIME). The project aims to understand how nature experiences influence human time perception and how time perception influences human behaviours towards nature. For this, the project will use virtual-reality experiments to understand how specific landscape features and nature experiences influence human time perception, and validate experimental results using real-world data obtained with citizen science. The project will also model the effects of nature on time perception at the landscape scale under different scenarios and employ behavioural experiments and Big Data analytics to understand how changes in time perception influence pro-environmental and sustainable behaviours. NATURETIME aims to generate actionable knowledge that can inform the design of cities and other living environments in a manner that improves human time perception regulation, boosts well-being, and stimulates the positive and sustainable behaviours needed to address ongoing environmental challenges. The research will be developed within the broader scientific objectives of NATURETIME. The specific focus of the work will be further developed together with the supervisory team, allowing the researcher to contribute intellectually to the development of the research while working within the overall scope of the project. The ideal candidate has a strong background in psychology, but other related areas may also be considered. The candidate should be able to demonstrate quantitative data analysis skills and a good understanding of experimental research design. Additionally, previous research experience or demonstrated interest in either time psychology or environmental psychology are advantageous. Earlier involvement in experiments using Virtual Reality (VR) environments is also considered beneficial. Experience or training in programming languages (e.g., R or Python) for data-analysis and willingness to develop these skills is considered an advantage. Evidence of capacity to communicate research to academic or non-academic audiences (e.g. scientific publications, presentations, popular articles, etc.) are considered an advantage. The successful candidate is not expected to have prior expertise in all methods used in the project and the position provides opportunities to develop further expertise in experimental research, quantitative methods, digital research tools, and interdisciplinary research. The doctoral researcher will be responsible for carrying out laboratory experiments in VR environments in collaboration with other project researchers. Other responsibilities include tasks related to participant recruitment, the planning of the experiments, data collection, and research documentation. The doctoral researcher will also be responsible for analysing the data obtained, interpreting the results and preparing scientific manuscripts for publication. The work will include appropriate research data management and adherence to research ethics and reproducible research practices. Willingness to participate and support teaching and supervision activities (no more than 5% of full-time working hours) is considered an advantage.