PhD fellowship in "Unique fossil toothed whales from Denmark" at the Department of Natural History, Museum of Southern Denmark
A 3-year PhD fellowship is available at the Department of Natural History, Museum of Southern Denmark, Gram, in collaboration with Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, with an expected start September 1st, 2025, or shortly thereafter.
About the project
The origin of whales is one of the most fascinating stories in natural history and Denmark has a surprisingly rich fossil whale assemblage. Previous studies of fossils from the late Miocene Gram Formation (Tortonian) in Southern Denmark has yielded new descriptions and important knowledge of several whale fossils representing at least five species. The global scarcity of well-preserved fossils from key-moments in time imply that important chapters of the evolutionary history of whales are still poorly described. This includes the early diversity and rapid diversification of toothed whales in the Oligocene and early Miocene. This results in a poor understanding of their basal phylogenetic relationship, and key aspects regarding their early evolution, such as the development of echolocation, specializations in hearing abilities, skull asymmetry and brain structure, as well as regression of olfactory functions. The late Oligocene to early Miocene deposits of the Brejning Clay Formation layers of Denmark are unique in having yielded several extremely well-preserved braincases and partial skulls of toothed whales.
The project involves combining cetacean palaeontology, evolution and anatomy with CT scanning, laser scanning and 3D surface photogrammetry to describe fine anatomical details and otherwise hidden structures in multiple unique fossils (Danekræ / Danish Fossil Trove specimens) from a critical time period shortly after the origin of the toothed whales. The aim is to bring new insight into the diversity and systematics of early toothed whales, anatomical adaptations, phylogenetic relationships and evolution of functions.
The project has three major goals:
- Publishing taxonomic descriptions of least three of the unique Oligocene fossil toothed whale, likely to become reference specimens (holotypes) of at least two new genera and species.
- Placing the fossils in a generated phylogenetic context and reveal new information on how key adaptations in early toothed whales evolved.
- Adding the taxonomic and phylogenetic insight gained to that of material described from later time periods to understand changes in diversity and distribution of toothed whales over time, both locally (the Danish area) and regionally (The North Sea Basin).
The position is available for a 3-year period and your key tasks as a PhD student are:
- To manage and carry through your research project
- Attend PhD courses
- Write scientific articles and your PhD thesis
- Communicate your research to a broad audience
- Collection and outreach work for the department
Principal supervisor is Head of Department of Natural History, Mette Elstrup, Museum of Southern Jutland, mese@msj.dk, +45 25884369
Co-supervisor is Assistant Professor, Morten Tange Olsen, Evolutionary Genomics Section, University of Copenhagen, morten.olsen@snm.ku.dk, +45 42661525.
Requirements
Applicants should hold an MSc degree in biology, geology or similar with knowledge of palaeontology, vertebrate morphology, phylogeny, marine mammal biology or equivalent with good results and good English skills. In the assessment of your qualifications, emphasis will also be laid on previous publications (if any) and relevant work experience, including training in formal morphological descriptions, taxonomy, phylogenetic analysis, morphometric analysis, CT- and surface imaging interpretation and/or systematic literature review and fund application.
As a PhD fellow, you need to have good social skills, be innovative and goal-oriented, be able to work both independently and as part of a team and be willing to conduct the planned secondments. Having or acquiring a driver’s license is a requirement. Employment requires an acceptable criminal record.
Terms of employment
Employment will start: September 1st 2025, or shortly thereafter.
The PhD study must be completed in accordance with The Ministerial Order on the PhD program (2013) and the University of Copenhagen’s rules on achieving the degree. A PhD position in Denmark is a salaried position, where salary, pension and terms of employment are in accordance with the agreement between the Ministry of Finance and The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations on Academics in the State.
The PhD fellow will be employed by the Museum of Southern Jutland and have their workplace at the Natural History Department at the museum by Gram claypit, Gram. They will be inscribed at the PhD school of the University of Copenhagen and will be closely associated with the research group at Globe Institute, Section for Molecular ecology and Evolution.
About the workplace
The workplace is the small, locality-based Gram Claypit Museum situated in the forest 1,5 km north of the village of Gram, next to the type locality of the Gram Formation. The day-to-day colleagues will be Principal Supervisor Mette Elstrup, the museum interpreter, the janitor and in the opening season the museum hosts and fossil hunter guides. The specimens are located at our collection facility in Brunde, Rødekro, where the natural history preparator works. Attendance at the workplace in Gram with regular visits to Brunde is required for the PhD fellow. There are public transport options to Gram and Rødekro from the cities of Haderslev and Kolding. In the city of Haderslev nearby Gram, there is a social network of international students inscribed at University Collage Syd and the PhD fellow is welcome to join their social activities.
The PhD fellow will be associated with the research group at Globe Institute, Section for Molecular ecology and Evolution and is encouraged to participate in their academic and social events for professional sparring with fellow PhD students. Attendance at PhD courses will also be organized via the University.
More information
Applicants are encouraged to contact the principal supervisor, Mette Elstrup, Museum of Southern Jutland, mese@msj.dk, +45 25884369. A detailed project description and time schedule can be obtained by request.
Application
Your application must be submitted electronically by clicking ‘Apply now’ below. The application must include the following documents in PDF format:
- Motivated letter of application (max. one page)
- Proposed project plan, including suggestion for methods and expected results (max. three pages)
- CV incl. education, experience, language skills and other skills relevant for the position
- Master of Science diploma and transcript of records. If not completed, a certified/signed copy of a recent transcript of records or a written statement from the institution or supervisor will do
- Publication list (if relevant)
- Letters of recommendations and/or professional references
The Museum wishes our staff to reflect the diversity of society and thus welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.
The closing date for applications is June 15th 2025.
We reserve the right not to consider material received after the deadline, and not to consider applications or letters of recommendation that do not live up to the above-mentioned requirements.
The further process
Interviews for the position will be held by the end of June/early July at the Museum by Gram Claypit, or alternatively via Team, Zoom, or equivalent.
About the host and secondment institute
The Museum of Southern Jutland is a State-recognised Museum covering art, cultural history and natural history in the municipals of Haderslev, Sønderborg, Tønder and Aabenraa. The museum has ca. 150 employees and run nine exhibit localities in Southern Jutland as well as the Historical Centre Dybbøl Banke and Dybbøl Mølle. The museum is a national category 5 museum based on the internationally important collections. The strategy for 2024-2028 titled "Bridging the past and future of the borderland" can be found here. The Department of Natural History aims to understand the life of the late Miocene Gram Sea based on fossils from formations represented in the underground of Southern Jutland, with a particular research focus on fossil whales and whale evolution.
The University of Copenhagen is the largest and oldest university and research institution in Denmark, with more than 40,000 students, close to 3,000 doctoral students and over 9,000 employees. The Section for Evolutionary Genomics is composed of multiple research groups focusing on genomic, proteomic, morphological, distribution and other data, to investigate broad reaching questions of cross-disciplinary interest. This includes population- and phylogenomic techniques to both model and non-model organisms, as well as development of new tools based around the study of degraded biomolecules (e.g. ancient and environmental DNA), to ask questions in biodiversity, human-environment interactions, museomics, archaeological science and metagenomics.
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