Opportunities to join the O'Connor Lab

Open positions

Two Post-doctoral positions:
Coastal Ocean Modeling for our Blue Carbon Future

The Climate Dynamics Laboratory at the University of Victoria is looking for two postdoctoral researchers to join their group.

We are seeking two engaged, enthusiastic individuals for postdoctoral research positions investigating the fate of Canada’s coastal oceans over the next century. The postdocs will work collaboratively to (1) produce regional ocean models of Canada’s coastlines (using ROMS and CICE), and (2) assess how these coastal oceans will respond to a warming climate by subjecting this regional ocean model to downscaled global climate model projections (using WRF). Regional ocean models will be developed first for the British Columbia coast, followed by the Canadian Arctic and Atlantic Canada. This work is part of a larger project on the blue carbon potential of Canada’s coastal marine ecosystems, and how environmental change will impact blue carbon storage in the future.

See the full position description on Dr. Singh's webpage here.

Interested applicants should submit (1) a cover letter, (2) an up-to-date CV, (3) two recent publications demonstrating the required background and expertise for the position for which you’re applying, and (4) contact information for three professional references. Please send this material to hansingh@uvic.ca by Nov 1, 2021 for full consideration.

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General Information

Summer Undergraduate Research Positions

Every summer, 3-5 undergraduates join the lab and participate in research in several capacities. If these are of interest, please contact Mary (oconnor@zoology.ubc.ca) with a brief statement if your interests, availability, and personal goals for undertaking a research experience. Typically we interview in Jan-Feb and make decisions in March for the summer.
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1. Volunteers. Volunteers are often seeking experience to build their CV for research positions later. So they need to learn 1-2 (or more) skills, and experience in the research process. These positions are between 6 - 12 hours / week (negotiated in advance), unpaid, and tasks are clearly defined: feeding animals, sorting samples, measuring temperatures, etc. 
2. Work-learn. These positions are paid (20 hours per week in the summer), and current or recent students are eligible. We always have 1, sometimes we have 2 of these.
3. Directed studies. This can be 3 or 6 credits, and is an independent research project (designed in collaboration with Mary or a current graduate student or postdoc to fit with ongoing research efforts). These are not paid, but can be done with work-learn (not overlapping hours, but in addition to).
4. NSERC USRA. This is a full time, paid, 1/2 technician and 1/2 time for research (e.g., for an honours project and/or contribution to an ongoing lab experiment). This requires a departmental competition and high GPA. Min 86% to be considered, and ~87 or higher to be competitive.

Prospective Graduate Students

If you’re interested in applying to work with me, here is an overview of my expectations, and what I will explore as we chat about grad school:​

1. You have done research and have some written product. Could be a report or thesis, but ideally is co-authorship on a paper. 
2. You can articulate why you want to go to grad school, why you want to join my group, and what are your thoughts for after grad school.
3. You can discuss one or two research problems that really interest you and that you have thought about.
4. You can work independently yet also can be an active contributor to our lab group.
   
   

Please email your CV, transcripts, and a statement of your research interests to oconnor@zoology.ubc.ca.

​If you are looking for more information about grad school in general, please check out this blog post on "The unwritten rules of getting in and getting on in grad school". 

Prospective Postdocs

In Canada most postdoc funding comes through fellowships awarded to the postdoc (rather than supervisor funds). I’ve included some links below, and most of these have provided support for postdocs to join my group over the last few years. These postdoctoral fellowships open to candidates of any nationality. If you think you might be a good fit for one of these to work with my group, please contact me and we can discuss a proposal.

Killam Postdoctoral Fellowships 
Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships
UBC Biodiversity Postdoc
UBC Ocean Leaders program
Bamfield Postdoctoral Fellowships (advertised when available)
Liber Ero Fellowship​

See our Lab Culture page for more details on what it's like to be in the O'Connor lab.