Postdoctoral Researcher for the Agricultural Ecosystems and Game Species Conservation Group Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya in Spain

CTFC (Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya) is recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher for the Agricultural Ecosystems and Game Species Conservation Group within the Biodiversity Management and Conservation Programme. The post is based in Solsona, Catalonia (Spain), with possible partial remote work, and is a full-time position (37.5 hours/week).

The role is centered on helping to prepare a European research and innovation proposal led by CTFC in the area of agricultural biodiversity and the resilience of food production systems. The proposal will focus on conservation challenges in agricultural landscapes, particularly birds, and on generating scientific evidence and practical solutions that reconcile biodiversity conservation with productivity, farm viability, and ecosystem services. The project requires a multi-actor approach, involving farmers, land managers, conservation organisations, public administrations, researchers, and agri-food stakeholders.

The selected researcher will contribute to the scientific and technical design of the proposal, including the definition of objectives, hypotheses, methodology, work packages, and impact framework, and will coordinate drafting and integration of proposal sections with the CTFC team and consortium partners. If funding is secured, the candidate may play a key role in the scientific and technical coordination of the project. The position also includes participation in ongoing CTFC group projects such as data analysis, scientific manuscripts, technical reports, synthesis documents, presentations, and knowledge-transfer outputs.

The group’s scientific focus includes biodiversity research, population ecology, and spatial ecology, with strong links to conservation and sustainable management of agricultural systems. CTFC is a well-established research and knowledge-transfer center with around 200 staff members, more than 140 scientific publications per year, and a broad portfolio of forest, landscape, biodiversity, and bioeconomy research.

Eligibility highlights: a PhD in Ecology, Conservation Biology, Environmental Sciences, Agronomy, or a related discipline is required; applicants should also have a university degree in Biology, Environmental Sciences, Agricultural Engineering, Forestry Engineering, or a related field. Strong English is required, and Catalan and/or Spanish are desirable. Experience with R or equivalent statistical tools, reproducible data management, and a strong publication record are expected. Particularly valuable is experience with agricultural biodiversity, farmland birds, Horizon Europe proposals, European project evaluation criteria, participatory or transdisciplinary research, and work with stakeholders in agriculture and conservation.

Funding and contract: the position is a scientific-technical contract initially linked to proposal preparation activities, with an expected duration of one year and a possible extension depending on the outcome of the funding call. The indicative gross annual salary is €30,000–€36,000. The call is associated with Horizon Europe.

Application deadline: 2 October 2026, 14:00 (Europe/Madrid). Applications must be submitted via the CTFC application website.